Main points
- A charter flight for Irish citizens is being organised by the Government to depart the Middle East region in the coming days
- US president Donald Trump has said he is “not happy” with the UK’s response to the situation in the region
- At least 787 people have been killed in Iran alone from the US-Israel strikes, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society
- Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee told The Irish Times as many as 2,000 Irish citizens are actively trying to leave Gulf states
- The says it has been exposed to over 1,000 attacks since the war began, with a drone hitting a car park near the US consulate in Dubai.
- The cost of home-heating oil has soared with the average price of 500 litres at almost €700 compared with €498 last Friday
Key reads
- War on Iran enters fourth day amid mounting death toll across Gulf
- Inside the plan to kill Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
- Why have the US and Israel attacked Iran? Why has Dubai been hit?
Our live coverage of this story is concluding for the evening. We’ll have more coverage of developments from the Middle East tomorrow.
Read Keith Duggan and Harry McGee’s piece for Wednesday’s front page to catch up on the day’s key events.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said that there is no evidence that Iran is building a nuclear bomb but noted that Tehran’s refusal to grant IAEA inspectors full access to facilities is “cause for serious concern”.
In a post on X, he wrote: “I have been very clear and consistent in my reports on Iran’s nuclear programme: while there has been no evidence of Iran building a nuclear bomb, its large stockpile of near-weapons grade enriched uranium and refusal to grant my inspectors full access are cause for serious concern”.
“For these reasons my previous reports indicate that unless and until Iran assists the IAEA in resolving the outstanding safeguards issues, the agency will not be in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful”.
Thousands attend funeral of victims who died following air strike on girls’ school in Iran
Thousands of mourners attended the funeral of victims of an air strike on a girls’ elementary school in Iran.
The air strike was the worst mass casualty event since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran.
The attack on Shajareh Tayyebeh school during the US-Israeli bombing campaign killed up to 168 people, dozens of them children, who were attending class on Saturday morning.
Mourners filled the streets of Minab on Tuesday for their funeral.
The girls’ small coffins, draped with Iranian flags, were passed from a truck and borne by the crowd across a sea of upraised hands towards the grave site, Reuters reported.
The UN human rights office demanded an investigation into the strike, which its spokesperson called “absolutely horrific”.
Iran said deaths from the attacks so far, including the 165 girls killed during the school bombing, has reached 787.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it has destroyed approximately 300 missile launchers in Iran and struck several targets in Lebanon.
“In the past 24 hours, hundreds of fighter jets and aircraft have been striking hundreds of targets simultaneously in Iran and Lebanon,” the IDF said in a statement, adding that 4,000 munitions have been deployed in Iran since the start of the operation over the weekend.
“As part of the defensive effort, the Israeli Air Force continues to conduct successive waves of strikes against the Iranian regime’s ballistic missile arrays and air defence systems,” the statement said.
Three paramedics have been killed and six were wounded in Lebanon’s Tyre district as they were recovering victims after an air strike, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) office in Lebanon.
The WHO said health workers “must never be targeted”.
Dubai Authorities have put out the fire in the vicinity of the US consulate in Dubai due to a drone strike. No injuries were reported, Dubai’s media office said. Smoke was seen rising from an area near the consulate, two witnesses told Reuters.
The US state department said it is facilitating charter flights from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan for citizens who wished to leave, Reuters reports.
It said that more than 9,000 Americans have returned from the Middle East since the US and Israel started the war on Saturday.
The United Arab Emirates said on Tuesday it was exposed to over 1,000 attacks since Iran launched retaliatory strikes in the region in response to US-Israeli strikes, according to a foreign ministry statement, Reuters reports.
The UAE foreign ministry said it has not taken any decision to change its defensive stance towards Iran’s attacks, but reserves the right to defend itself.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that all personnel were accounted for after a drone struck a parking lot adjacent to the US consulate in Dubai.
Disruption will continue at Dublin Airport tomorrow, with all 12 flights scheduled to and from Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi cancelled.
In relation to plans for a charter flight, Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee said: “I am highly aware of the large numbers of Irish citizens in the UAE as the current conflict continues. In this context, I asked our Consular Crisis team today to activate plans for an assisted departure.”
“Our team will now take the necessary steps to finalise a first Government of Ireland charter flight for Irish citizens to depart the region from Oman Airport in the coming days, providing security and operational considerations permit,” she added.
“This first charter flight will be targeted at Irish citizens currently in UAE, particularly those who are non-resident, and who are vulnerable and require assistance most urgently.”
“Those citizens requiring most assistance will be contacted directly by my Department in the coming days,” McEntee said.
“I would ask for everyone’s patience as our most vulnerable citizens are contacted in this first phase of our response to this crisis.”
She said her department will continue to offer consular assistance to all citizens in the region and that they should “register with the appropriate Embassy if they have not already done so and continue to follow our Embassy social media accounts for the latest updates.”
Separately, the Government said: “There are a small number of Irish citizens in Iran, most of whom have been resident in the country for many years.”
A statement said that Irish diplomatic staff in Tehran were temporarily relocated to Dublin at the end of January and Ireland’s embassy to Iran is “functioning from the offices of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade”.
It added: “Consular assistance is being provided to Irish citizens in Iran by Departmental and Embassy staff at headquarters, and in the region”.
The statement said: “The Embassy will return to Iran as soon as circumstances permit.”
State to organise charter flight for Irish citizens to leave Middle East region
A charter flight for Irish citizens is being organised by the Government to depart the Middle East region in the coming days. The first charter will be for Irish citizens in the UAE particularly those who are vulnerable and require assistance most urgently as well as those who are non-resident.
Those citizens who require such assistance will be contacted directly over the coming days, a Government spokesperson said.
It is understood that between 250-300 people could be helped to leave the region on the first flight.
Israel has stepped up air strikes against Iranian missile launchers and factories and Iran has continued to retaliate across the Gulf region.
The US-Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 787 people, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society.
The Israeli military said it conducted a wave of air strikes on sites that produce and store ballistic missiles, in Tehran and Isfahan.
Strikes caused two explosions at a broadcasting facility in Tehran, Iranian state TV said, adding that no one was injured.
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu maintained, however, that Iran was rebuilding “new sites, new places” underground for making atomic bombs. He offered no evidence to support his claim.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military hit Beirut with more air strikes and said it had moved additional troops into southern Lebanon and taken new positions at several strategic points close to the border.
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon later said its peacekeepers saw Israeli troops going into and then out of Lebanon.
But Israel’s army said its troops are still operating in Lebanon.
Trump seemed to leave open the possibility for more extensive US military involvement, telling the New York Post on Monday that he was not ruling out the possibility of boots on the ground. – AP
Trump ‘not happy’ with UK and threatens to ‘cut off all trade’ with Spain
Speaking to media at a meeting in the White House with German chancellor Friedrich Merz, US president Donald Trump said he was “not happy” with the UK over Iran.
He said he was upset with British prime minister Keir Starmer, who has not joined the US-Israel attack on Iran but did let US forces use UK bases.
“I’m not happy with the UK,” Trump said.
“It’s taken three, four days for us to work out where we can land,” Trump said.
“This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with,” he said.
Trump said the US would cut off all trade with Spain after Spain refused to let the US military use its bases for missions linked to strikes on Iran.
“Spain has been terrible,” he told media at the White House. He said he had instructed treasury secretary Scott Bessent to “cut off all dealings” with Spain.
“We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain,” he added.
The Government will keep an “urgent review” of energy prices as because of the potential for an energy crisis similar to that following the invasion of Ukraine, our Parliamentary Correspondent, Marie O’Halloran, reports.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the Dáil the utilities regulator and the Competition and Consumer Authority should “closely monitor” for price gouging on energy costs.
People who have complaints “should immediately complain” to the competition authority and the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, he added.
“We will keep this under continual review in terms of how it develops over the next number of days and weeks,” he said.
A number of TDs highlighted reports of significant increases in energy costs. Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said “energy companies are already cynically capitalising” on the Middle East crisis “with blatant price-gouging”, including “skyrocketing prices” for home heating oil.
Independent Ireland leader Michael Collins highlighted the case of an elderly lady quoted €950 on Friday.
“She was putting together the money for the weekend to ring them yesterday morning and it has gone up to €1,080.” He called for the “temporary freezing of carbon tax to give some people a little bit of ease in this shocking time”.
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín called for the carbon tax to be scrapped if the price of diesel and petrol increase beyond current levels.
He said experts predicted the price of petrol could increase by 70 cent a litre to €2.44 and diesel could increase by 81 cent to €2.53.
“That would bring a full tank for petrol and diesel in this country above €150. These are eye-watering figures,” he said.
“A fill of home heating oil cost about €1,000 in the State, and it has increased to about €150 in just four days,” he said. “This should not be happening because the supply chain purchased oil before the crisis in Iran.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Tánaiste Simon Harris told the Oireachtas budgetary oversight committee that there will be “economic implications” arising from the conflict, pointing to short-term falls in financial markets and increases in oil and gas prices.
In his opening remarks at the committee, Harris said that there will be on “immediate pass-through” to retail prices but that an ongoing war in the region and the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz “would likely increase inflation and damage economic growth”.
The Government has told the competition watchdog to carry out an investigation of the energy market amid concerns over the impact of the crisis in Iran on prices, our Political Correspondent, Jack Horgan Jones reports.
Opposition parties have sought to bring pressure on the Government after reports that prices for some energy products – particularly home heating oil – were already being hiked in the wake of US-Israeli bombing of Iran and counterstrikes in the region.
A spokeswoman for Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke said that he has written to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) asking it to carry out a review of the retail energy market.
“The current crisis in the Arabian Gulf, a key provider and conduit for energy supplies worldwide, may contribute to upward pressures on energy prices. It is important to ensure that any such upwards pressure does not lead to price increases for the consumer which are not proportionate,” the Minister’s spokeswoman said on Tuesday afternoon.
The issue was raised at a meeting of the Cabinet subcommittee on the economy, which convened on Monday.
According to Burke’s spokeswoman, his “concerns are further informed” by a perceived lack of competition and transparency in the energy market which were highlighted by the Cost of Business Advisory Forum last year.
Burke has asked the CCPC to engage during the review with other stakeholders and regulators such as the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities.
“He is hopeful that as the review progresses, any obstacles currently preventing the market from operating efficiently and in an optimum manner can be identified,” his spokeswoman said.
The CCPC can carry out investigations prompted by market evidence, or on the request of the minister of the day. Asked earlier on Tuesday if it had any concerns about the reported hikes in the cost of home heating oil, and if it would be doing anything in response to the issue, a spokeswoman for the CCPC said businesses were required to set prices for products and services independently.
“Prices must be clearly communicated to consumers in advance of any purchase. The CCPC is very mindful of the impact any increase in fuel prices may have on consumers and businesses, and will be monitoring the situation closely.”
The United States military has carried out strikes against more than 1,700 targets in Iran, US central command said on Tuesday.
In a fact sheet, US central command said the strikes, which started on Saturday, had targeted Iranian Naval Service ships, submarines, and anti-ship missile sites along with command and control centres.
Additionally, the UK will send helicopters with counter-drone capabilities and a warship to protect British military personnel in Cyprus, prime minister Keir Starmer has said as the Middle East war continues to spiral.
Starmer confirmed the UK would be sending HMS Dragon, one of the Royal Navy’s six Type 45 air defence destroyers, after RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus was hit by a drone. – Reuters/PA
Cairns calls on Martin to rule out US military use of Shannon Airport
Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns called on the Taoiseach to rule out any use of Shannon Airport by the US military.
Our Parliamentary Correspondent Marie O’Halloran writes:
Cairns criticised his refusal to “condemn the breach of international law” by the US and Israel.
She said the UN was not perfect “but it is the best that we’ve got. And I think you should be doing a lot more to try and defend that.”
The Cork West TD told the Taoiseach that from reading his statement “you wouldn’t even know that the US was involved”.
She added: “You can’t just say that you support international law. You have to defend it when it matters. You have to call out the US when they trample all over it.”
Trump has bombed seven countries since taking office without consequence for his actions, she said. “The strategy of appeasing the Trump administration has not worked. It is past time, European leaders, including you, need to stand up for international law”.
The entire Middle East “is already a tinderbox, and this war is spiralling out of control,” she said with more than 700 people killed including 168 schoolchildren and the death was toll rising.
The Taoiseach said however “international law has not been adhered to and hasn’t been for quite some time, by many, many actors”.
He would condemn the killing of children anywhere in any situation, he said. “Children and innocent civilians must always be prioritised without question.”
Martin stressed the absence of a rules-based order was “very dangerous to small nations” which depend on such order for security.
He said “we’re not a military nation. We don’t have military power. We’re fundamentally a peacekeeping nation.”
Ireland’s contribution to trouble spots around the world has been through peacekeeping, humanitarian aid and contributing Irish personnel to conflict resolution all over the world.
“That is our contribution. And to try and characterise the Irish position as anything else is disingenuous.”
Key global shipping route ‘closed’, says Iranian general
The prices of crude oil and natural gas have spiked due to the conflict in the region and the halting of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Missiles have been fired in both directions over the strait, a choke point for shipping between Iran and the United Arab Emirates through which approximately one-fifth of global oil and significant quantities of gas are transported annually.
Earlier, The Guardian reported that brig gen Ebrahim Jabbari, an adviser to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards said “the strait of Hormuz is closed”, threatening to bomb ships that tried to pass through the strait which is roughly 33km wide at its narrowest point.
“Don’t come to this region.”
Reuters reports that five ships in the area have been struck by Iran so far.
Bacik accuses Taoiseach of engaging in ‘double speak’
Labour leader Ivana Bacik told Taoiseach Micheál Martin “you cannot bring yourself to condemn outright these attacks. Instead, you engage in what I would say is double speak.”
She said the Taoiseach criticised the UN which “while imperfect, represents the embodiment of a multilateral world order, a multilateralism of the rule of law”.
Bacik added: “And worse again, in a fortnight you’re going to genuflect before the man responsible for this global disorder, and you’ll do so in the name of the people of Ireland, all without offering any principled criticism of Trump’s war mongering.”
“Trump’s war has consequences,” with 200 children killed in a strike in an Iranian primary school, 25,000 Irish citizens stranded and “we’re all waiting to learn what exactly Trump means when he says, ‘we haven’t even started hitting them hard’. Terrifying words.”
There was a “chaotic White House, which is destabilising what was already a tinderbox in the Middle East, destroying innocent lives, disrupting the global economy, pushing the most vulnerable people into harsh poverty here in Ireland” with skyrocketing energy bills.
The Taoiseach acknowledged Labour’s consistent in its view of Iran but said “the international rules-based order has been powerless to do anything about Iran”.
He said “there have been previous interventions by previous American presidents with consequences that were long lasting in a negative sense.”
Bacik believed the Taoiseach was “soft pedalling a national response” in its failure to condemn the Israeli and US attacks, for fear of upsetting Washington ahead of St Patrick’s day.
She said “there are no good guys here, but the Iranian regime is brutal”, but the Israeli and US attacks on Iran were illegal.
“And we should be able to say that very clearly.” She pointed out the Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez “has been very clear in condemning the attacks, in refusing to allow Spanish bases to be used by the US. So why can’t we have that clarity here?”
“Why can we not hear the Irish government condemning clearly the US Israeli strikes as in breach of international law?” she asked.
“There is, I think a clear indication that you’re soft pedalling a national response in fear of upsetting Washington ahead of Patrick’s Day. I think that has to be the conclusion that we all must draw.”
Martin said “there’ll be many” St Patrick’s Days “but the relationship is much deeper and much more substantial than that. Let’s be honest about that too.”
He said a much broader UN Security Council was needed without the veto of China, the US and Russia. He said Africa should be represented as well as South America.
“What we’re getting is veto after veto after veto. We can’t get peacekeeping missions approved by the UN Security Council.”
McDonald criticises Government response to conflict
In the Dáil, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has criticised the Government’s response to the conflict in the Middle East, Parliamentary Correspondent Marie O’Halloran reports.
McDonald told Taoiseach Micheál Martin the UN Charter explicitly prohibited force except in cases of self-defence or UN security authorisation. She said “pre-emptive is not a substitute for legality”.
But the Government’s response “has been limited to expressions of concern and calls for restraint. Calling for restraint on all sides blurs the reality of who initiated this aggression.”
Only days ago the Taoiseach spoke of Ireland being able to “stand militarily with states engaged in conflict. This language undermines Ireland’s neutrality, and neutrality matters precisely at moments like this.”
She added: “We’re already seeing the consequences of all of this here, with fuel prices rising sharply in recent days, the price gouging has already started. This needs to be stopped in its tracks, and you need to drop any notion or plan of increasing carbon taxes in the coming weeks.”
McDonald asked: “Will you condemn the US Israeli strikes without qualification? Will you state clearly that they are in breach of international law, because Irish neutrality demands that the Taoiseach is unequivocal on both these questions.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said “Ireland is in favour of multilateral rules-based international order,” and “we believe these issues ultimately, in terms of sustainable resolution of this has to be via the diplomatic channels”.
But he said “the multilateral order has been dysfunctional for quite some time” and the UN Security Council “has been paralysed and it has been powerless for quite some time in terms of prevention of war and prevention of conflict, and indeed in terms of holding progressive regimes to account”.
Iran he said, for decades, has sponsored Hamas and “terror all over the Middle East”. It sponsored Hizbullah and supported Assad, “and were key in keeping Assad and the brutal regime of Assad in power for a long, long time, and sent drones to the Russian military to kill innocent Ukrainians”.
He hit out at Sinn Féin’s opposition to the EU’s €90 billion loan to Ukraine and “if anybody else took the Sinn Féin view, the happiest man globally, would be Putin”.
He acknowledged there was “no UN mandate for this action” but he said it was not possible to get UN mandate even for peacekeeping because the UN is so paralysed and dysfunctional”.
Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva on Tuesday ruled out any negotiations with the United States for now.
Ali Bahreini, ambassador of the Iranian mission to the UN in Geneva, told reporters that Iran had not contacted the US either directly or indirectly about holding talks to de-escalate the conflict or about resuming negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
US president Donald Trump said earlier on Tuesday that Tehran wanted to talk but it was “too late”.
Asked about the prospects for any talks, Bahreini said: “For the time being we are very doubtful about the usefulness of negotiation ... The only language for talking with the United States is the language of defence.”
“I don’t think it is a time for having any kind of negotiation from our side,” he added.
Iranian and US negotiators held talks in Geneva last Thursday which Oman, their mediator, said had produced progress, but the US and Israel began their air strikes on Iran two days later, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other senior Iranian officials and triggering a regional crisis.
Iran has retaliated by firing missiles and drones at neighbouring Gulf Arab states and at Israel and by strangling shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil and huge volumes of gas skirt its coastline.
Trump has suggested the war could take four or five weeks, while Netanyahu has said it is “not going to take years”.
A source familiar with Israel’s war plan told Reuters on Tuesday that the Israeli campaign had been planned to last two weeks and was moving faster than expected. – Reuters
The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) general secretary has said the “deliberate targeting of schools strikes at the very heart of humanity”.
The union said it “agrees unequivocally” with Education International, which condemned recent military strikes, including on a girls’ school in Iran, that “schools must never be targets”.
INTO general secretary John Boyle said schools must be protected as “safe spaces for children and teachers at all times”, adding that the union stood with global colleagues in demanding an “immediate end to attacks on civilians”.
The union said it remains concerned for the safety of members and Irish teachers across the Middle East, and urged those based in the region to register with the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Iranian state media reported over 160 were killed in a strike on a girls’ school in the town of Minab in southern Iran on the first day of the US and Israeli attacks.
Iraq will be forced to cut its oil production by more than 3 million barrels per day in a few days if oil tankers cannot move freely through the Strait of Hormuz and reach its loading ports, two Iraqi oil officials have told Reuters.
As of Tuesday, Iraq has decreased production from the Rumaila oilfield by 700,000 barrels per day and cut 460,000 barrels per day from the West Qurna 2 field, the officials said.
Export disruptions from the Strait of Hormuz slowdown pushed storage to critical levels in Iraq’s southern ports, they added. – Reuters
Strikes hit building of body tasked with electing new supreme leader of Iran
The building of Iran’s assembly of experts has been targeted in an air attack, Reuters reports.
The assembly of experts is a council of about 90 senior clerics that is tasked with electing Iran’s new Supreme Leader.
The building is located in the city of Qom, south of Tehran. Local media showed footage of the building severely damaged in the strikes, AFP reports.
The Israeli military has separately ordered Iranian civilians to leave areas near a Tehran industrial area and Payam Airport, near Tehran, warning it will be carrying out operations in the coming hours.
A spokesperson for the Israeli military earlier said it has launched its ninth wave of strikes in Tehran, targeting infrastructure of what it called the Iranian regime.
Iranian news agencies reported explosions were heard in Tehran and in Karaj, west of the capital.
At least 40 people have been killed and 246 wounded in Israeli attacks on Lebanon on Monday and Tuesday, a spokesperson for Lebanon’s health ministry has told Reuters.
The spokesperson said a death toll of 52 given by the health ministry on Monday had been a technical error.
The Opposition, meanwhile, appears to be somewhat divided on whether the Taoiseach should undertake the traditional presentation of shamrock to US president Donald Trump this St Patrick’s Day.
Political Correspondent Jack Horgan-Jones reports:
Speaking to reporters in Leinster House on Tuesday morning, Labour’s foreign affairs spokesman, Duncan Smith, said he felt at this stage the event should not proceed.
“When is enough, and what are we going to benefit from it? I think a message does have to be given at this stage. It would just feel totally incongruous if the bowl of shamrock was handed over,” he said.
Smith suggested a “different choreography” would be preferable. “If it was a meeting across the table the discuss the issue at hand, to discuss global security, then have that. But to have a St Patrick’s Day friendship event, with that photo at the end, that would feel incongruous ... that’s something that we shouldn’t do this year.”
Senator Patricia Stephenson, the Social Democrats foreign affairs spokeswoman, said she didn’t relish the prospect of a bowl of shamrock being handed over – but suggested the visit should go ahead, albeit with a focus on “calling out” the US and Israeli attack, which she said was a breach of international law.
“It makes me very uncomfortable, the whole imagery of it – but I also believe in political dialogue.
“Dialogue is really important and having those channels of communication is really important. If he’s to go, I really want to see him using that space for political dialogue for the interest of the Irish people, for the interest of the EU, and for global peace,” she said.
Qatar was “surprised” by “unjustified” Iranian attacks on Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, which were “thwarted” by the country’s military on Monday, the country’s ministry of foreign affairs has said.
The ministry’s spokesman, Majed al-Ansari, said there were attempts to attack Hamad International Airport, though the missiles were downed by the country’s defensive measures, Al-Jazeera reports.
Al-Ansari said almost 8,000 people were stranded in Qatar due to airspace closures caused by the war.
The spokesman added that Iranian jets were shot down on Monday after entering Qatari airspace.
They were heading for Doha before they were targeted, and authorities are still searching for their crews, he added, without elaborating further.
Strikes in central Israel reported
Israel’s military has reported strikes in the Tel Aviv area of Israel from Iranian missiles.
“Search and rescue forces, together with numerous emergency teams, are currently operating at the impact sites in central Israel,” the military said.
“The circumstances of the impact are under review.”
Israel’s ambulance service said it was treating three people at the sites who were lightly injured.
Israeli police said there were several impact areas involving munition fragments within the Tel Aviv district. – Reuters
Opposition calls on Minister for Energy and regulators to address ‘price gouging’
The Opposition is looking to pile pressure on the Coalition over the economic fallout from the crisis – particularly calling out what it says is “price gouging” on home heating oil.
Political Correspondent Jack Horgan-Jones reports:
Social Democrats energy spokeswoman Jennifer Whitmore said there were instances of home heating oil going up by between 10 and 20 per cent “pretty much overnight”.
Speaking to reporters at Leinster House on Tuesday morning, she said the fuel being sold in Ireland would already have been in the country before any price shock emanating from the conflict.
“I want to be very clear – the home heating oil that people are using, that home heating oil was in the stocks ... there was no rationale or reason to increase those prices to that extent.”
She said the Minister for Energy, Darragh O’Brien, had to get on top of the matter, as did the Commission for the Regulation of Utilites and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commissioner.
Whitmore said that wholesale prices for energy had been dropping while households were paying more.
Labour Party foreign affairs spokesman Duncan Smith said the economic impact would be “felt by ordinary working people in Ireland”.
“This Government has turned its back on cost-of-living packages, and that is something I think they need to bring back on the table,” he said.
“We will see it not just at the petrol pump, but we will see it at the aisles of our supermarkets as well in the coming weeks.”
Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke has acknowledged a “very significant increase” in energy prices amid escalating conflict in the Middle East.
Burke said energy prices reached “about €48 euro per kilowatt” on Monday, which he described as a “very significant increase”.
“When you look at the peak in Ukraine, it hit €348, so that was a very extreme time.
“So, there’s always going to be concerns, everything we do in business really is related to energy, a lot will depend on that, a lot will depend on the duration and what the disruptions are, a lot is uncertain right now.”
On Tuesday morning, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he did not want “anyone taking unfair advantage of consumers” due to the escalating conflict.
Mr Martin acknowledged “there will be implications from it over time, if the situation doesn’t stabilise in the short term”.
But he added: “Given the fact that people have an adequacy of supplies right now and given that a lot of our oil is coming from the North Sea, which comes from Norway, there shouldn’t be these kind of increases that people have been commenting on yesterday.” – PA
Trump says it is ‘too late’ for talks with Iran
US president Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday that Tehran wanted to talk but it was “too late”, as the United States continued its military operation against Iran.
“Their air defence, Air Force, Naval Service, and Leadership is gone. They want to talk. I said “Too Late!” he said in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has strategic reserves of air defence systems capable of countering aerial threats for a prolonged period, a defence ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The spokesperson added that the UAE will not accept any infringement on its sovereignty or the safety of its territory.
The country also has sufficient strategic reserves of basic goods to cover needs for between four and six months, the UAE’s economy minister said.
The minister added that the country can quickly find alternative markets and respond to various crises. – Reuters
Some 186 missiles and 812 drones have been launched from Iran towards the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since the beginning of the conflict, its defence ministry has said.
Of the 186 missiles launched against the country, 172 were destroyed and 13 fell into the sea. One missile landed on UAE land.
Of the 812 Iranian drones, 755 were intercepted it said, with the remaining 57 falling within UAE territory.
A further eight cruise missiles were detected and destroyed.
Three people have died since the beginning of the conflict, while 68 people have been injured.
Northern Ireland is the “least energy secure” and “most exposed” part of the UK to global oil and gas shocks, MLAs have been warned as the Middle East war extended into a fourth day.
David Honeyford, Alliance MLA for Lagan Valley, said Stormont ministers need to devise a “contingency strategy” if prices rise further given the North’s dependency on home heating oil.
The majority of households (61 per cent) in Northern Ireland use oil as their primary method of household heating, compared to just 5 per cent across the UK. – PA
Ryanair’s priority is repatriating customers in Jordan, O’Leary says
Ryanair’s priority is repatriating its customers from Jordan and it does not have much spare capacity to help with other repatriations, though it will try to help where possible, chief executive Michael O’Leary said on Tuesday.
“Certainly wherever we can help with repatriations, we would try to be helpful,” he told a news conference in Warsaw. “But our focus is our customers who are currently stranded in Jordan.” – Reuters
Global oil and gas prices jumped on Tuesday as the US-Israeli war on Iran halted energy exports from the Middle East, with Tehran attacking ships and energy facilities, closing navigation in the Gulf and forcing production stoppages from Qatar to Iraq.
Oil prices have risen more than 15 per cent since Friday and the benchmark Brent Crude contract gained 6 per cent on Tuesday to above $82 per barrel, the highest since July 2024.
European gas prices, meanwhile, have soared 40 per cent, adding to a 40 per cent surge on Monday.
Sugar, fertiliser and soy prices have all risen too.
The conflict risks triggering a renewed spike in inflation that could choke off economic recovery in Europe and Asia if the war is prolonged in a region that accounts for just under a third of global oil production and almost a fifth of natural gas. – Reuters
European allies may boost Cyprus defences following Iranian drone strike
Michael Jansen in Nicosia writes:
Cyprus remains on alert fearing spillover from the US-Israel war on Iran after a British base on the island came under attack.
A “security threat” was declared and lifted after ten minutes on Tuesday morning at Britain’s Akrotiri air force base.
The alert followed a strike on Monday by drones targeting the airbase at Akrotiri. Military analysts believe the attack was carried out by Iran’s ally Hizbullah in Lebanon.
France plans to send air defence systems to Cyprus after a British base on the island came under attack, according to a report.
Paris could dispatch a frigate as well as anti-missile and anti-drone systems to the country, the semi-official Cyprus News Agency has reported.
Britain has yet to decide whether it will send a warship to defend its base in Cyprus, a source close to the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.
It followed a report in the Times stating that ministers had discussed such a deployment.
In a joint statement with the leaders of France and Germany, British prime minister Keir Starmer said the European bloc would allow the use of British bases to take “proportionate defensive action” to destroy Iranian missiles “at source in their storage depots, or the launchers which are used to fire the missiles”.
Falling debris from an intercepted drone caused a major fire at the United Arab Emirates major oil-trading hub of Fujairah, the latest in a series of incidents to affect major energy facilities in the Middle East.
Civil defence units are working to bring the blaze under control, the Fujairah Media Office said in a post on X.
Another fire was reported in the area earlier on Tuesday, while operations at a major storage terminal and an oil refinery were suspended a day earlier.
Oil and European natural gas prices have spiked as the war in the Middle East spreads.
Saudi Arabia’s biggest refinery and the world’s largest liquefied natural gas export plant in Qatar halted operations after drone attacks, and shipping traffic through the crucial Strait of Hormuz has slowed to a trickle, following hostilities that started over the weekend when the US and Israel attacked Iran and Tehran retaliated by firing projectiles across the region.
Fujairah is a critical port and one of the largest oil storage and trading centres in the Middle East. It holds strategic importance for United Arab Emirates with its location outside the Strait of Hormuz.
With a pipeline linking storage tanks in the area to Abu Dhabi’s oilfields, Fujairah also serves as a crucial alternative export route for the UAE. Still, the pipeline does not have enough capacity to fully replace all of the emirate’s oil flows through the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. – Bloomberg
Two drones have been intercepted in Dhofar, and a third crashed near the Salalah Port, Oman’s state news agency has reported.
No injuries have been reported. The US embassy in Oman’s capital of Muscat said it has lifted a shelter-in-place order for all areas except for the city of Duqm and a 100km radius around Salalah.
A fuel tank at Oman’s Duqm commercial port was hit earlier on Tuesday when the facility came under attack from several unmanned aircraft, the state news agency said.
Oman had been acting as mediator in talks between the US and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear programme before the attacks on Iran.
Turkey is engaging with all parties to find a way to end the war in Iran and return to negotiations, foreign minister Hakan Fidan has said.
Turkey, a Nato member and neighbour of Iran, had for weeks urged Washington and Tehran to reach an agreement during their rounds of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme and missile capabilities, warning that the region could not handle any more destabilisation.
Fidan told members of Turkish media on Tuesday that Turkey was “sensitively carrying out necessary initiatives with all our counterparts” to achieve peace in the region, and added it was critical to preserve the stability of Iran and the region.
“There isn’t a single-layered negotiation, there is a multilayered negotiation,” Fidan said, according to a transcript of his comments shared on Tuesday.
“We have been talking to the Europeans for a few days ... If you want peace, let’s work together. We are urging them to take action. The Gulf nations are now facing a serious situation,” he said.
In his strongest yet opposition to the attacks against Iran, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that they were a “clear violation” of international law.
Fidan warned against the conflict engulfing the whole region and affecting energy supplies. He added that the closure of the Hormuz Strait, where one-fifth of global oil trade skirts Iran’s coast, could “push the United States to obtain a quick result”.
He said Iran was trying to “create costs” for the US and its partners by attacking Gulf states and energy infrastructure, but added that he didn’t believe Tehran could obtain the desired result that way.
“By bombing these places, Iran will say they should pressure the United States and end the war, but that doesn’t seem like it will happen. I don’t know how much Iran has left,” he said, adding that Tehran could instead “bother” Israel with missile strikes. – Reuters
Britain is planning to send a warship to defend its Royal Air Force Akrotiri base in Cyprus from Iranian attacks, the Times newspaper reported on Tuesday.
An Iranian-made drone strike hit a runway at the Akrotiri base in the early hours of Monday, and Britain has said UK assets were targeted by Iran.
The Times report, citing three sources, said UK defence minister John Healey had a meeting on Tuesday with senior military figures, in which they discussed sending HMS Duncan to the region.
The Ministry of Defence did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.
Earlier on Tuesday, the semi-official Cyprus News Agency (CNA) said France plans to send anti-missile and anti-drone systems to Cyprus. – Reuters
Lebanon was pulled deeper into the war in the Middle East on Tuesday as the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hizbullah launched missiles at Israel for a second consecutive day and Israel sent troops into the south and carried out waves of air strikes.
Israel’s neighbour to the north and the theatre of numerous conflicts between Israel and Hizbullah, Lebanon had avoided spillover from the US-Israeli attack on Iran until Monday, when Hizbullah opened fire with drones and missiles.
With dozens of people killed in retaliatory air strikes, Hizbullah’s move to enter the conflict has sharpened long-standing divisions in Lebanon over its status as an armed group – the only Lebanese faction to keep its weapons after the 1975-1990 civil war.
The government on Monday took the unprecedented step of outlawing Hizbullah’s military activities. The pro-Hizbullah al-Akhbar newspaper on Tuesday condemned this as a “capitulation to dictates, which could even lead to the outbreak of civil war”.
Towers of smoke rose from the Hizbullah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut as Israel launched new air strikes.
Many thousands of Lebanese have fled homes in areas that bore the brunt of a major war between Israel and Hizbullah in 2024. The United Nations said that, by Monday, an estimated 29,000 people, including 9,000 children, had fled.
The Lebanese health ministry on Monday reported that 52 people had been killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon and more than 150 wounded. It has not issued an update on Tuesday.
The Israeli military reported more air strikes in Beirut on Tuesday, saying it had hit “command centres, weapons storage facilities, and satellite communication components belonging to Hizbullah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut”.
“These assets were operating under civilian cover,” it said.
The Israeli military said it had taken steps to mitigate civilian harm, including the use of advanced warnings. – Reuters
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the Middle East has “not been safe for quite a long time, and Iran must take a significant degree of responsibility for that,” noting its arming of Hizbullah, its support of Assad and its arming of Hamas.
“And notwithstanding a lot of treaties over about 20 years, Iran has never pulled back from [a] nuclear-enrichment programme, so a lot of that has been, I think, a factor in the instability in the Middle East that we witnessed.”
He added: “We will wait and see where how this conflict evolves. I think it’s important de-escalation would occur, that we would get to negotiating tables as quickly as possible, bring back stability.”
Martin said there was a “dilemma” about how the international rules-based community could engage or “ensures change” in “regimes that are as repressive as Iran is”. – PA
There has been “no change” to Ireland’s security status or threat level amid the escalating conflict in the Gulf, Tánaiste Simon Harris has said.
“We’re continuing to monitor the situation globally and any potential impact for Europe,” he said.
Harris said “all options are on the table” to assist Irish citizens in the region.
Speaking to reporters before a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, he said “whatever can be done to practically and effectively and efficiently” help would be done.
“There are a number of options. One, commercial flights could resume. At the moment, that doesn’t look particularly likely.
“Two, Ireland could charter flights directly. It may not be possible to get the flights into the epicentre, if you like, of the conflict – that wouldn’t be desirable for anybody’s safety, but the likes of Oman and others could be considered.
“And then, thirdly, there’s a possibility in the hours ahead of European countries moving together. So all of this is being considered in real time.”
Meanwhile, Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee said a “relatively low number” have left the Middle East.
Asked if she had relayed concerns about the safety of Irish citizens to counterparts in the US or Israel, McEntee said: “I’ve made my concerns very clear, I’ve been very clear in my response to the conflict itself.
“This is a conflict that does not have congressional support, it does not have a UN mandate. This is not the route that we would have chosen.
“We want this conflict to end as soon as possible. We’ve made that very clear.
“This will be relayed in any contacts that we have or any engagement, be it with our US counterparts or anybody else.”
Asked if she had any engagement in the last four days with the US or Israel, she said: “We’ve had engagement more broadly, and I’ll be engaging as well with colleagues in this regard.” – PA
The UN human rights office urged the “forces” behind an attack on a girls’ school in Iran to investigate and share insights into the “horrific” incident, without naming them.
“The High Commissioner (Volker Turk) calls for a prompt, impartial and thorough investigation into the circumstances of the attack. The onus is on the forces that carried out the attack to investigate it,” UN human rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a Geneva press briefing, describing the incident as “horrific”.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said US forces “would not deliberately target a school”, after Iranian state media reported more than 160 were killed on the first day of the US and Israeli attacks on Iran. – Reuters
Israel has issued further evacuation orders for residents of more than two dozen towns in southern Lebanon, Reuters reports.
Earlier, the Israel Defense Forces said it is conducting “targeted strikes against Hizbullah terrorist infrastructure”.
“Hizbullah chose to attack Israel on behalf of the Iranian regime, and it will bear the consequences of its actions,” it said on X.
Saudi Arabia has condemned an Iranian attack targeting the US embassy in Riyadh, and stressed it reserved the right to respond, a foreign ministry statement said.
The kingdom reaffirmed its full right to take all necessary measures to defend its security and vital interests, including the option of responding to any aggression, the statement said. – Reuters
UN nuclear watchdog IAEA said on Tuesday there was some recent damage to entrance buildings at Iran’s underground Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP).
It said no “radiological consequence” is expected and no additional impact at the FEP has been detected, noting it was “severely damaged in the June conflict” following US bombings.
The Taoiseach added that the UN Security Council has been “paralysed” for “many years”.
Reiterating criticism of the UN that he made yesterday, Martin said the United Nations is an urgent need of reform, and the Security Council, as it’s currently constituted, is “not fit for purpose because of its composition”.
He said there is “no question” US strikes on Iran took place without a UN mandate. – PA
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said there is “no excuse for prices going up at the pumps yesterday” because Irish oil “is coming from the North Sea and we don’t want any price gouging going on”.
“We don’t want anyone taking unfair advantage of consumers and people because of this right now,” Martin said.
Speaking before a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Martin said: “We met the competition and consumer authority yesterday and we have asked them to examine the industry and the sector, in terms of any unfair pricing practices.” – PA
The Government is developing a list of its “most vulnerable” citizens who need assistance leaving the Gulf.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee said this includes elderly people, pregnant women and those with medical conditions.
Speaking to reporters before Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, she said airlines are prioritising those who were cut off in transit without accommodation, residency or hotel bookings.
“Separately we are, of course, based on the contacts that we’ve had directly from people ringing our contact lines, as well as those who are we are aware of, we are developing a list of those who are perhaps most vulnerable, elderly, those who might have medical conditions.
“There are people out there who are pregnant, and who are advanced in their pregnancy, so we want to make sure that if we have a chartered flight, that we have a very clear list of who will be on those flights, making sure that those who are most vulnerable, those who aren’t residents, who don’t have accommodation, are prioritised in that regard,” she said. – PA
The death toll in Iran from US-Israeli strikes has risen to 787, according to state media, citing the Iranian Red Crescent.
The Government is looking at all available options to repatriate Irish citizens from the Gulf region, Minister of State for International Development and Diaspora, Neale Richmond has said.
Vivienne Clarke reports:
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast and RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland, Richmond said the advice for the estimated 22,000 Irish citizens in the region was to register with the embassy and to follow advice from local authorities.
The Minister added that a number of Irish people were on flights out of Abu Dhabi yesterday, and more would do so today.
Efforts at present were focused on people “stuck in transit”.
Asked about the possibility of flights being chartered for Irish citizens, Richmond said the Government was working with European partners to look at all options.
The advice for Irish citizens was to stay in touch with airlines and not to go to airports. Helplines are being operated by the Irish Embassy in Abu Dhabi, and the Embassy is co-ordinating all operations for the Irish in the region.
China called on all sides of the Iran war to ensure the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, a key maritime chokepoint.
“China urges all parties to immediately cease military operations, avoid escalating tensions and safeguard the safety of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” China foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Tuesday at a press briefing in Beijing.
Tanker traffic through the critical artery has effectively halted since the US and Israel began a bombing campaign over the weekend that has prompted Iran to respond with missile strikes across the region.
Senior gas executives say China is pressuring Iranian officials to avoid action that would disrupt Qatari gas exports or other energy shipments making their way through the Strait of Hormuz.
As the buyer of the vast majority of the Islamic Republic’s oil, China provides a vital economic lifeline for Iran. But the world’s largest energy importer depends more heavily on the wider the Gulf region for both oil and gas supplies, and cargoes of both require transit through the narrow waterway.
Qatar, which accounts for a fifth of global liquefied natural gas, is a particular concern. After an Iranian drone attack on Monday, Qatar halted production at Ras Laffan, the world’s largest LNG export facility – the first complete halt in nearly three decades of operation. – Bloomberg
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said it has observed disruptions to trade and economic activity, surges in energy prices and volatility in financial markets.
The Washington-based financial institution said it is “closely monitoring developments in the Middle East”.
“The situation remains highly fluid and adds to an already uncertain global economic environment. It is too early to assess the economic impact on the region and the global economy. That impact will depend on the extent and duration of the conflict,” it said.
Irish troops serving on the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) are “all well and accounted for”, a Defence Forces spokesman has said.
Vivienne Clarke reports:
Comdt Alex Quigley said operations were ongoing and protection measures were in place amid the current “heightened intensity”.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland, he said: “The important thing to know is that even in times of heightened intensity like this, the Irish Defence Forces personnel are trained and prepared to operate in these environments.
“So the framework operations are still ongoing and the monitoring of the cessation of hostilities and supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces are still ongoing.
“But during these periods there are times when the personnel may be deployed to the bunkers due to incoming strikes, and we saw some of them yesterday, but the important thing is that from the bunkers they are still able to maintain a situational awareness to enable the troops to still fulfil the mandated tasks.”
Quigley said there were air strikes in the area and that protection measures could be scaled up to match the intensity of the situation.
The troops were able to maintain “situational awareness” from the bunkers and remain in communication with forward posts.
Irish troops had undergone a six-month training programme before their deployment that prepared them for situations such as this, he said.
“The troops are well led and they’re well prepared to operate in periods of both heightened intensity and low intensity. So, that would be the most important thing there.”
Air defence systems in the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait are doing an “excellent job”, Ireland’s Ambassador to the three countries has said.
Alison Milton acknowledged the “really difficult situation” experienced by Irish citizens living in the region with “explosions going off during the night, warning messages beeping on our phones” and “not knowing what’s going to happen yet”.
However, in a video posted on X, she said the three countries are “very secure”.
“They are crisis-ready, they have been preparing for this for a while and we have confidence in their systems.”
She urged citizens living in the Middle East to register with the Department of Foreign Affairs citizen-registration platform.
“We will do our best to protect our citizens at this time. Our thoughts are with you all. We know that this is really, really difficult and we are here to help you,” she said.
A fuel tank at Oman’s Duqm commercial port was hit on Tuesday when the facility was attacked by several unmanned aircraft, the state news agency said, citing a security source.
The attack comes a day after Qatar halted its production of liquefied natural gas – about a fifth of global supply – while Saudi Arabia suspended production at its largest domestic refinery.
Major Israeli gasfields, including Leviathan, were offline, and most output in the Iraqi Kurdish region had been shut down as Iran continued to target infrastructure, including energy facilities, ports and airports, over recent days.
Oman had been acting as mediator in talks between the US and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear programme before the attacks on Iran.
The resulting damage at Duqm was contained and no casualties were recorded, Oman’s news agency added. Duqm had also been targeted by two drones on Sunday, wounding one worker.
The Abu Dhabi government’s media office said on Monday a fire broke out after the Musaffah fuel tank terminal was targeted by a drone, without impacting its operations.
Abu Dhabi state oil giant ADNOC operates a facility in Musaffah from which fuels are transported by trucks and through a 1,600km pipeline network. – Reuters
France plans to send anti-missile and anti-drone systems to Cyprus after a British base on the island was attacked by drones, the semi-official Cyprus News Agency said on Tuesday.
An Iranian-made drone hit a British military airbase in Cyprus on Sunday, causing a small amount of damage, but no injuries. Two further unmanned drones were intercepted heading towards the Mediterranean island on Monday.
The Israeli military deployed additional forces to southern Lebanon overnight, to take up what a military spokesperson on Tuesday described as defensive positions to protect Israeli civilians and strategic sites from any potential Hizbullah attack.
“We’re only at the borderline area in a defensive manner to prevent attacks against civilians and very strategic important points,” he said in an online briefing with reporters.
However, a Lebanese official told Reuters that Israeli troops were carrying out incursions along some parts of the Lebanese border.
Witnesses said the Lebanese army had pulled out of at least seven forward operating positions along the border. – Reuters
The US embassy in Jerusalem has said it is not in a position to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel “at this time”.
“As a result of the current security situation throughout the region,” it has directed all employees and their family members to continue to shelter in place until further notice.
It noted that the Israeli ministry of tourism has begun operating shuttles to the Taba border crossing, though it said it could not make any recommendation for or against the shuttle.
“If you choose to avail yourself of this option to depart, the US government cannot guarantee your safety. The information is provided as a courtesy to those wishing to leave Israel,” it said.
US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said the embassy is receiving “a lot of requests” from US citizens in Israel regarding evacuation.
Noting the “very limited options” in a post on X, he said the best option is to use the shuttle bus to the Taba crossing.
Explainer: Why have the US and Israel attacked Iran?
US relationship with UK ‘not what it was’, Trump says
US president Donald Trump said it was “sad to see” the relationship with Britain was “not what it was” after UK prime minister Keir Starmer initially held off giving military support to the strikes against Iran.
Trump said the likes of France had been more supportive and said he had never expected to see the once “most solid of all” relationships change in this way.
“It’s very sad to see that the relationship is obviously not what it was,” Trump told the Sun newspaper on Tuesday, his second interview to a British newspaper in as many days where he criticised the British leader.
Starmer said late on Sunday that he would allow the US to use British military bases for defensive strikes after they were not used in the initial attack on Iran.
Trump said the US did not need Britain to wage war in the Middle East but added: “It’s not going to matter, but (Starmer) should have helped ... he should have.
“I mean, France has been great. They’ve all been great. The UK has been much different from others.” – Reuters
The US embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, was attacked by two drones, according to an initial assessment by the country’s ministry of defence.
The attack resulted in a “limited fire and minor material damage to the building”, it said.
Riyadh, which has an estimated population of about eight million, is about 1,300km from Tehran.
Air France has cancelled its flights to and from Tel Aviv, Beirut, Dubai and Riyadh until Thursday, the airline said in a statement on Tuesday.
Citing security risks due to the conflict in the Middle East, it said the safety of its customers and crew was a top priority and that it will assess the situation before resuming flights. – Reuters
The US Embassy in Kuwait has closed until further notice while the US state department said it has ordered non-emergency US government employees and family members of government personnel to leave the country.
In an updated travel advisory for Kuwait the US state department said the government “cannot offer emergency services to US citizens in Kuwait due to the safety risks”.
The US embassy in Riyadh confirmed it had come under attack and urged Americans to avoid the building, posting on X: “Avoid the Embassy until further notice due to an attack on the facility.”
It advised all US citizens to maintain a “personal safety plan”, saying: “Crises can happen unexpectedly while travelling or living abroad.”
Drones strike US embassy in Riyadh
Early on Tuesday, two drones, apparently from Iran, struck the US embassy in Riyadh, causing minor damage and starting a fire, Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said this morning its naval forces had destroyed the main command building and headquarters of a US airbase in Bahrain.
The IRGC said in a statement that it had launched a large-scale drone and missile attack on the base in the Sheikh Isa area early in the morning, with 20 drones and three missiles striking their intended targets.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio on Monday warned that “the hardest hits are yet to come from the US military” in the offensive against Iran.
Netanyahu says US-Israel war on Iran ‘not going to take years’
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said he expected the war against Iran was “not going to take years”, as the conflict widened, with Israel attacking Iran-backed Hizbullah targets in Lebanon and Iran hitting Gulf states that host US bases.
Netanyahu rejected the idea of the conflict lasting years, as with previous wars in the region.
As the war entered its fourth day on Tuesday, explosions shook buildings across Tel Aviv as air defences intercepted incoming Iranian missiles.
Israel attacked the complex that houses Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB in Tehran and targeted Hizbullah militants in towns across Lebanon.
US orders ‘non-emergency’ staff to leave Bahrain, Jordan and Iraq
The US state department said this morning it had ordered non-emergency personnel and their families to leave Bahrain and Jordan.
The department said in a post on X that it had updated travel advisories for Bahrain and Jordan “to reflect the ordered departure of non-emergency US government personnel and family members of government personnel”.
In an updated Iraq travel advisory, the department said it had on Monday “ordered non-emergency US government employees to leave Iraq due to security concerns”, Agence France-Presse reports.
🚨 SECRETARY RUBIO: The hardest hits are yet to come. The next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now. The world will be a safer place when we are done with Operation Epic Fury. pic.twitter.com/AVQYtmUX21
— Department of State (@StateDept) March 2, 2026
Conflicting US messages about how long attacks in Iran may last
The US has sent conflicting messages about how long a war with Iran might last as Israel launched new air strikes, with the widening conflict reverberating across the Middle East and upending energy markets.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth rejected the idea of an “endless” war with Iran. But president Donald Trump later insisted there was no fixed timeline. Both refused to rule out putting American troops on the ground.
“Whatever the time is, it’s okay – whatever it takes,” Trump said. “Right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks. But we have capability to go far longer than that.”
Irish citizens in UAE could be bussed to Oman
Irish authorities are considering bussing citizens stranded in the United Arab Emirates to Oman before flying them home if flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi remain heavily restricted because of the Iran conflict.
Senior officials and Ministers met in Dublin on Monday to discuss the escalating crisis in the region after a combined US-Israeli attack on Iran killed Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and other senior regime figures.
US and Israel continue assault on Iran
Fears of a protracted and complex war deepened as missile strikes were exchanged by countries across the Gulf on Monday, pushing the Middle East into a new chapter of volatility.
The immediate consequences were evident in reports of hundreds of lives lost and thousands displaced within the region, and the more privileged fretting over spiking fuel and energy prices in Europe and the West.
At the White House in Washington on Monday, US president Donald Trump said the United States would continue attacking Iran for as long as it takes to leave it incapable of posing a threat, indicating that an expanding war in the Middle East could continue for weeks or more. Read Keith Duggan’s full report here.
