The Middle East conflict widened further on Monday as U.S. and Israeli forces kept pressure on Iran and Iranian-linked attacks spread to targets in Israel and nearby Arab states. The Associated Press described strikes on several fronts, along with reports of casualties and disruptions to transportation, shipping and regional economic activity.
The expansion came after a Saturday joint U.S.-Israeli strike that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a development that drew reactions ranging from jubilation to condemnation. With Khamenei dead, Iran’s provisional governing council was expected to name a new supreme leader, and the AP report said Iran’s theocracy had faced growing dissent over the economy that had morphed into anti-government demonstrations.
In the United States’ response, President Donald Trump said the U.S. objectives included destroying Iran’s naval and missile capabilities and preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and he said he expects the operation to take 4 to 5 weeks. The AP report also said three U.S. service members were killed in the Saturday attack on Iran, and another died on Monday from wounds sustained during the initial operation, according to U.S. Central Command.
Alongside the strikes, the AP report said the U.S. military announced that Kuwait “mistakenly shot down” three American fighter aircraft during a combat mission, adding that all six pilots ejected safely. The report positioned the incident as one more complication amid intensifying regional fighting and heightened air-defense activity.
On the ground, the AP described Iranian attacks and their effects across the country. It said the Iranian Red Crescent Society reported that attacks on 131 Iranian cities had killed at least 555 people so far, and it said strikes in Tehran apparently took Iran’s state television off the air.
The report also described battlefield activity beyond Iran, including Israeli actions in response to attacks attributed to Hezbollah. It said Israeli forces struck targets in southern Lebanon and that the strikes killed 52 people. In Israel itself, the AP reported 11 deaths, including nine in a strike on a synagogue in the central town of Beit Shemesh.
Elsewhere, the AP said Iran’s retaliatory missiles and drones targeted Israel and Gulf countries hosting U.S. forces, and it described attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, where it said a fifth of all traded oil passes. The report added that shipping companies suspended vessels’ traffic through the Suez Canal, and it described fire and smoke at the U.S. Embassy compound in Kuwait after an Iranian attack.
The AP report said Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, said it intercepted dozens of missiles and attack drones and that one person was killed. In Iraq, it said an Iraqi Shiite militia claimed a drone attack Monday targeting U.S. troops at the airport in Baghdad, and in Pakistan it said at least 22 people were killed in clashes with police in the north and in Karachi after hundreds of protesters stormed the U.S. consulate.
The widening conflict also created a ripple effect for travelers, as the AP said airspace closures in countries including Israel, Qatar, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain stranded or diverted hundreds of thousands of people. It described athletes heading to the Winter Paralympics in Italy, as well as Daniil Medvedev, who said he was among the small group of players and team members that the ATP Tour is trying to help leave Dubai.