TOP DEVELOPMENTS
The West Asia conflict, triggered by US-Israeli attacks on Iran, entered the tenth day with oil prices surging as Tehran continued retaliatory strikes on Gulf, Arab countries hosting US military bases. Here are the top developments:
Iran names Khamenei's successor: Iran's ruling clerics have appointed slain leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's son, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, as the country's new supreme leader, defying threats from the United States and Israel.
Putin, China back new supreme leader: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday pledged "unwavering support" to Iran's new supreme leader while China said it is opposed to any targeting of Mojtaba Khamenei.
Israel, Iran trade fire: Explosions rocked Tehran and Tel Aviv as both Iran and Israel traded fire on Monday. One person was killed and another severely injured after several blasts were reported in Tel Aviv.
Crude oil prices surpass $100 a barrel: Oil prices eclipsed $100 per barrel for the first time in more than three and a half years Sunday as the Iran war hinders production and shipping in the Middle East.
Gulf countries report fresh attacks: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait all reported new attacks. Saudi Arabia reported two deaths from a "projectile" attack while Bahrain's health ministry said Monday that an Iranian drone attack on the island of Sitra overnight wounded 32 civilians. Bahrain also reported attacks on its Al Ma'ameer oil facility, which caused a fire.
Israel used white phosphorus bombs: Human Rights Watch has alleged that Israel had "unlawfully" used white phosphorus over residential parts of a southern Lebanese town, during its attacks last week.
Thousands gather in Tehran to pledge allegiance to new Iran leader
Thousands of people flocked on Monday to a central square in the Iranian capital to pledge allegiance to the Islamic republic's new leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, AFP reported.
The crowds which gathered in Tehran's Enghelab square saw many carrying the Iranian flags and portraits of Mojtaba Khamenei, son of late supreme leader Ali Khamenei who was killed in US and Israeli strikes on February 28.
Hezbollah said on Monday that it had targeted the Israeli Home Front Command base in Ramla, near Tel Aviv, with "advanced missiles" as the war between the pro-Iranian group and Israel hit the one-week mark.
In a statement, the group said it had targeted the base with a "salvo of advanced missiles" in response to "the criminal Israeli aggression that has struck dozens of Lebanese cities and towns and the southern suburbs of Beirut".
France's Emmanuel Macron said Monday that "profound" changes to Iranian leadership could not occur "through American-Israeli bombings alone", adding that war in the Middle East could continue for "several weeks".
"I don't think you can achieve profound regime change or changes in the political system through bombings alone," Macron said aboard France's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier currently stationed in the Mediterranean.
The war triggered by US-Israeli strikes on Iran, "in this intense phase", could last "several days, perhaps several weeks", he said.
Israel's foreign ministry said Monday that Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei was a "tyrant" like his slain father, and would continue what it described as the Iranian "regime's brutality".
In a post on X featuring a picture of Mojtaba Khamenei and his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, holding guns, the ministry wrote: "Mojtaba Khamenei. Like Father Like Son".
"Mojtaba Khamenei's hands are already stained with the bloodshed that defined his father's rule. Another tyrant to continue the Iranian regime's brutality," the ministry said.
US President Donald Trump is reviewing "all credible options" for controlling oil prices amid the joint US-Israeli operation against Iran, the White House said Monday, insisting that the current spike was "short-term."
"President Trump and his entire energy team have had a strong game plan to keep the energy markets stable well before Operation Epic Fury began, and they will continue to review all credible options," White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement to AFP.
US President Donald Trump said he would hold a news conference Monday, his first formal question-and-answer session with reporters since launching military operations against Iran.
Trump said on his Truth Social network that the news conference would take place at around 5:30 pm in the ballroom of his Doral golf club near Miami, where he spent the weekend, before returning to Washington.
The toll from Israeli strikes on Lebanon rose to 486 people killed and 1,313 wounded since the start of fighting last week, the Lebanese health ministry said Monday.
"The toll of the Israeli aggression from dawn on Monday, March 2, until Monday afternoon, March 9, has risen to 486 martyrs and 1,313 wounded," the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry had previously reported a death toll of 394. AFP could not independently verify these figures.
The EU's top diplomat called Monday for a 2024 ceasefire to be upheld to prevent Lebanon from "sliding into chaos," saying Israel's "heavy-handed" response to Hezbollah attacks was further destabilising the region.
"Israel should cease its operations in Lebanon," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a statement after crisis talks with a dozen Middle East leaders including Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.
She likewise called for Hezbollah to "disarm and cease all actions against Israel," saying: "Diplomacy and a return to the ceasefire offer the best chance of averting Lebanon from sliding into chaos."
US President Donald Trump urged Australia on Monday to grant asylum to the visiting Iranian women's football team, after players refused to sing the national anthem while playing there.
"Australia is making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the Iran National Woman’s Soccer team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social network.
"Don’t do it, Mr. Prime Minister, give ASYLUM. The US will take them if you won't," added Trump, referring to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said Monday the G7 was "not there yet" in terms of any release of strategic oil reserves, after talks with his counterparts of the world's leading industrialised nations.
Asked if they had agreed on releasing stockpiles, Lescure said: "We're not there yet. What we've agreed upon is to use any necessary tools, if need be, to stabilise the market, including the potential release of necessary stockpiles".
Lufthansa and Air France on Monday extended the suspension of flights to key destinations in the Middle East as the US-Israeli war on Iran continued into a second week.
The German aviation giant said it was cancelling flights to and from Dubai and Abu Dhabi, as well as Dammam in Saudi Arabia, until March 15.
The group, which also operates Eurowings, Austrian, Swiss and Brussels airlines, said services to Tel Aviv in Israel were now axed until at least April 2.
Air France said it had extended the suspension of flights to and from Tel Aviv and Beirut until March 13 inclusive.
Israel announced on Monday that its military had killed the head of Hezbollah's Nasr unit operating in part of southern Lebanon during renewed fighting with the Iran-backed armed group.
Defence minister Israel Katz "was briefed on the elimination of the commander of Hezbollah's Nasr Unit", Abu Hussein Ragheb, during an overnight strike, a statement from the defence ministry said.
US President Donald Trump on Monday told the New York Post he was "not happy" with the appointment of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei to replace his slain father as Iran's supreme leader
"Not going to tell you. I’m not happy with him," Trump told the Post from his Doral golf club near Miami, when asked about his plans for the younger Khamenei.
Iran's security chief Ali Larijani said Monday that security in the strategic Strait of Hormuz cannot be restored as long as the war with the United States and Israel continues.
"It is unlikely that any security can be achieved in the Strait of Hormuz amid the fires ignited by the United States and Israel in the region," said Larijani in a post on X, after France said it and its allies were preparing a "defensive" mission to reopen the waterway.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Monday accused Hezbollah of working towards the "collapse" of the state for the sake of Iran's interests, a week after it launched an attack on Israel, starting a new war in Lebanon.
"Whoever launched those missiles wanted to bring about the collapse of the Lebanese state, plunging it into aggression and chaos... all for the sake of the Iranian regime's calculations," Aoun told top European officials in an online meeting.
Aoun described Hezbollah as "an armed group outside the state, which places no value on the interests of Lebanon or the lives of its people", calling for "direct negotiations under international auspices" with Israel to stop the war.
A long war in the Middle East could unleash a "substantial stagflationary shock on the global and European economy", top EU official Valdis Dombrovskis said Monday.
"In a more benign scenario where the conflict is contained within a couple of weeks, one can expect that it would not have major effect on the global and European economy," the EU economy commissioner told reporters.
But he said if it became "more protracted" with continued maritime disruption and attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure, it could result in a "stagflationary shock" with higher energy prices.
The United States secretary of state says “well on our way” to destroy Iran’s ability to threaten its neighbors and the world with missiles.
Speaking Monday at a State Department ceremony to honour Americans wrongfully detained abroad in countries including in Iran, Rubio said the goal of the continuing U.S. air strikes is to eliminate Iran’s ballistic missile stockpile, its ability to produce them and its ability to launch them.
“We are well on our way to achieving that objective” he said, adding that it is being done “with overwhelming force, with overwhelming precision.”
Hezbollah on Monday welcomed the selection of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran's new supreme leader, pledging allegiance after his predecessor and father Ali Khamenei was killed in US-Israeli attacks.
"We in Hezbollah extend our warmest congratulations and blessings on this occasion. We renew our pledge of loyalty to this blessed approach and our steadfastness on the path of allegiance," the group said in a statement.
Hezbollah entered the Middle East war a week ago by attacking Israel in response to Ali Khamenei's killing.
President Emmanuel Macron said on a visit to Cyprus on Monday that France and its allies were working to put together a "purely defensive" mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
He said the mission would be aimed at escorting vessels "after the end of the hottest phase of the conflict" in the Middle East to ensure the flow of oil and gas.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that 11 countries had tapped Kyiv for help in how to counter Iranian drones, being launched by Tehran across the Middle East as retaliation for US-Israeli strikes,reported AFP.
"As of now, there are 11 requests from countries neighbouring Iran, European states, and the US. There is clear interest in Ukraine's experience in protecting lives, relevant interceptors, electronic warfare systems, and training," Zelensky said.
Ukraine touts itself as having world-class drone defence capabilities, built up through fending off nightly barrages of Iran-style attack drones launched by Russia.
Several more explosions were heard across Doha and warning sirens sounded in Manama on Monday, according to AFP, as Iran pressed its aerial campaign against Gulf neighbours.
The oil-rich Gulf states have been targeted by waves of drones and missiles since Tehran launched its retaliation campaign in the wake of the US and Israeli attacks against Iran.
Turkey's defence ministry says NATO defences have intercepted a ballistic missile that entered the country's airspace.
Monday's interception was second since the start of the Iran war. Iran has fired missiles and drones at several countries across the region since the United States and Israel attacked it over a week ago.
The EU insisted Monday there was "no imminent oil supply" shortage in Europe as the Middle East war sent energy prices soaring.
The benchmark price for a barrel of crude has soared beyond $100 for the first time since Russia's invasion of Ukraine four years ago.
"There is no imminent oil supply shortage in Europe. Per our rules, all member states must have the 90 days emergency stocks," European Commission spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said.
The Israeli military said it had launched new "wide-scale" strikes on Tehran, Isfahan and southern Iran Monday, shortly after one man was killed in Israel following missile launches from Iran.
"The IDF has just begun a wide-scale wave of strikes against infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime across Tehran, Isfahan, and southern Iran," the military said in a statement.
Iran on Monday accused European countries including France of creating the conditions that led to the United States and Israel attacking the Islamic republic and triggering a war.
"European countries have unfortunately helped create these conditions," said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei during a weekly press briefing.
"Instead of insisting on the rule of law, instead of standing up to the bullying and excesses of the United States, they spoke and agreed with them at the UN Security Council regarding the discussion on restoring sanctions, and all these things together emboldened the American and Zionist parties to continue committing their crimes."
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday pledged "unwavering support" to Iran's new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, appointed after his father and predecessor was killed in US-Israeli strikes.
"I would like to reaffirm our unwavering support for Tehran and solidarity with our Iranian friends," Putin said in a message to Khamenei, adding that "Russia has been and will remain a reliable partner" to Iran.
"At a time when Iran is confronting armed aggression, your tenure in this high position will undoubtedly require great courage and dedication," the Russian leader said.
Lebanon's parliament on Monday postponed legislative elections, initially due to be held in May, by two years, according to a statement from the parliament speaker, due to the war between Israel and Iran-backed group Hezbollah.
MPs convened on Monday including Mohammed Raad, head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, even as Israeli warplanes flew above the nearby southern suburbs of Beirut.
Faced with soaring prices and disruptions to their oil and gas supplies, Asian countries heavily dependent on fossil fuels from the war-struck Gulf are moving to protect their domestic markets.
While China is reportedly looking at suspending diesel and gasoline exports to prioritise domestic needs, India has been pushing ahead with imports of Russian oil.
Israel's first responders said one person was killed by shrapnel as several blasts rocked central Israel Monday, shortly after the military reported detecting new missiles launched from Iran.
"After performing resuscitation efforts, we had to pronounce the death of a man, approximately 40 years old," Magen David Adom said in a statement, adding that the death occurred at a construction site in central Israel.
It added that another man was seriously injured and evacuated for treatment, with both casualties having sustained "several shrapnel injuries to their bodies".
Several blasts rocked central Israel on Monday, seriously injuring at least two people, emergency services said, shortly after the military reported it had detected new missiles launched from Iran.
Paramedics were "searching a number of scenes and treating two unconscious males in serious condition," the Magen David Adom emergency service said in a statement.
The military said there were reports of several impact sites from the missiles.
"Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat," the military had earlier said.
Qatari authorities have arrested more than 300 people for sharing images and "misleading information" during days of attacks by Iran, the interior ministry said on Monday.
The people arrested "filmed and circulated video clips and published misleading information and rumours that could stir public opinion," a statement said.
Heavy explosions rocked the Iranian capital on Monday, AFP journalists said, as the war with Israel and the United States raged.
It was not immediately clear what was targeted in Tehran but the blasts were heard across several parts of the city, the reporters said.
An air strike hit Beirut's southern suburbs on Monday, Lebanese state media reported, after Israel warned it would target branches of a firm linked to Hezbollah.
Footage on AFPTV's live broadcast showed large plumes of smoke rising from the area, a stronghold of the Iran-backed armed group.
Earlier on Monday, the Israeli military warned it would strike branches of Al-Qard al-Hassan, a Hezbollah-linked financial firm mainly operating in the group's strongholds.
China said on Monday it opposes any targeting of Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, after threats by the Israeli military against a successor to his slain father, Ali Khamenei.
"China opposes interference in other countries' internal affairs under any pretext, and Iran's sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity should be respected," foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a press conference.
Iranian authorities will confiscate the properties and impose penalities of members of the Iranian diaspora who "cooperate" with Israel and the United States, the judiciary said on Monday.
"Iranians abroad who align, accompany and cooperate with the American-Zionist aggressor enemy will face confiscation of all their property and other legal penalties in accordance with the law," the judiciary's Mizan Online website said, quoting the prosecutor general's office.
Mizan cited a law adopted after the 12-day war in June with Israel, which saw the United States briefly joining with strikes.
Turkey's defence ministry on Monday said it had deployed six F-16 fighter jets to Northern Cyprus as a security measure, days after the island was targeted by a drone attack.
"In light of recent developments in our region, six F-16 fighter aircraft and air defence systems have been deployed to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) as of today," it said in a statement, referring to a territory which is only recognised by Ankara.
Iraq's pro-Iran groups welcomed on Monday the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran's new supreme leader after his predecessor and father was killed in US and Israeli strikes.
The powerful Badr organisation said the new leadership represents "blessed continuity of the path of the Islamic revolution."
The Asaib Ahl al-Haq faction said choosing Mojtaba Khamenei shows "continuity" and "reinforcement of the Islamic republic's role as a central pillar in the axis of resistance", while Kataeb Hezbollah said it reflects a profound understanding "of the existential challenges confronting the nation."
Bahrain's state-owned energy company Bapco declared force majeure after waves of Iranian strikes targeted the country's energy installations, the company said in a statement on Monday.
Bapco "hereby serves notice of force majeure on its group operations which have been affected by the ongoing regional conflict in the Middle East and the recent attack on its refinery complex," said a statement posted by the company.
A strike targeting Bahrain's sprawling Al Ma'ameer oil facility caused a fire at the complex along with material damage, state media said on Monday, in the latest attack against Gulf energy installations.
"Outbreak of a fire due to the Iranian aggression targeting a facility in Al Ma'ameer, with material damage reported but no casualties recorded, and the competent authorities have begun firefighting procedures," Bahrain News Agency said in a post on X.
Israel's military said it struck targets in central Iran on Monday, including internal security command centres and missile launch sites, in the first raid since the Islamic republic appointed a new supreme leader.
"The Israeli Air Force... completed an additional wave of strikes on infrastructure across Iran belonging to the Iranian regime," a military statement said.
The targets included "a rocket engine production facility and several long-range ballistic missiles launch sites," it said.
The internal security headquarters in the central city of Isfahan, a police headquarters and other facilities used by the Revolutionary Guards and paramilitary Basij force were also hit, according to the military.
The finance ministers of the G7 countries are expected to discuss today a joint release of oil from emergency reserves coordinated by the International Energy Agency, according to a report by the Financial Times.
Three G7 countries, including the US, have so far expressed support for the idea, the report said.
The Indian market’s benchmark index, the BSE Sensex, crashed nearly 2,500 points on Monday morning to hit a low of 77,057, while the NSE Nifty50 fell more than 750 points to below the 23,700 level.
Barring Coal India, 49 stocks in the Nifty50 pack were in the red, with IndiGo, Tata Motors, SBI, Tata Steel and Shriram Finance falling the most.
Saudi Arabia lambasted Iran on Monday, calling Tehran's attacks targeting the kingdom and their Gulf neighbours "reprehensible," according to a statement from the foreign ministry.
Saudi Arabia "renews the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's categorical condemnation of the reprehensible Iranian aggressions against the Kingdom, the Gulf Cooperation Council states, a number of Arab and Islamic countries, and friendly nations, which cannot be accepted or justified under any circumstances," the statement posted on the ministry's official X account read.
Authorities in the United Arab Emirates reported a missile attack early Monday that its air defence systems were responding to, as Iran continues its retaliatory strikes across the Gulf.
"Air defence systems are currently responding to a missile threat," the country's National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority said in a post on X.
Human Rights Watch on Monday alleged that Israel had "unlawfully" used white phosphorus over residential parts of a southern Lebanese town, during its attacks last week.
"The Israeli military unlawfully used artillery-fired white phosphorus munitions over homes on March 3, 2026, in the southern Lebanese town of Yohmor," the New York-based rights group said in a report.
HRW added that it "verified and geolocated seven images showing airburst white phosphorus munitions being deployed over a residential part of the town and civil defense workers responding to fires in at least two homes and one car in that area."
The 56-year-old had no official post during his father's rule, but was speculated to be acting behind the scenes to pull strings at the heart of power in Iran.
He is regarded as close to conservatives, notably because of his ties with the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which swiftly pledged allegiance to the new leader.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health says at least three people have been killed and 15 others wounded in an Israeli attack on southern Tayr Debba.
The latest killings come hours after the health authorities reported that at least three people were killed and 16 others wounded in an Israeli raid on the nearby town of Joya.
The Saudi defence ministry said Monday it had thwarted a drone attack targeting an oil field in the kingdom's east, near the Emirati border.
"Four drones heading towards the Shaybah oil field were intercepted and destroyed," a defence ministry statement said.
The Israeli military says it has begun a wave of strikes in central Iran in parallel with attacks on alleged Hezbollah sites in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
Stock markets in South Korea and Japan fell sharply in early trade on Monday after oil prices soared above $100 per barrel for the first time in almost four years.
The US State Department said it had ordered "non-emergency US government employees and US government employee family members to leave Saudi Arabia due to safety risks".
Bahrain's ministry of health said Monday that an Iranian drone attack which targeted the Gulf nation's island of Sitra overnight wounded 32 civilians.
All of the wounded were Bahraini citizens and there were four "serious cases", including children, said the ministry in a statement carried by the Gulf nation's state news agency.
Saudi Arabia sharpened its warnings to Iran early Monday, telling Tehran it would be the “biggest loser” if it continues to attack Arab states.
The Saudi statement came after a new drone attack apparently targeted its massive Shaybah oil field.
The kingdom dismissed comments by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday that Iran had halted its attacks on Gulf Arab states.
“The kingdom affirms that the Iranian side has not implemented this statement in practice, neither during the Iranian president’s speech nor afterward,” Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“Iran has continued its aggression based on flimsy pretexts devoid of any factual basis.”
It added the Iranian attacks mean “further escalation which will have grave impact on the relations, currently and in the future.”
The price of the main US benchmark for oil rocketed 25 percent in Asia on Monday over worries that the spiralling Middle East war could create prolonged supply disruptions.
At 0208 GMT West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was up 26.45 percent at $114.94 per barrel while Brent Crude was 23.64 percent higher at $114.60.
The Israeli military said it launched a wave of strikes targeting "regime infrastructure" in central Iran on Monday, the first such announcement since the Islamic republic appointed a new supreme leader.
Israeli forces have "begun an additional wave of strikes on Iranian terror regime infrastructure in central Iran", the military said in a brief statement, shortly after announcing strikes on Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
According to a report by The Times of Israel, the US president declined to comment on Iran’s recent appointment during an interview, saying only, “We’ll see what happens.”
The outlet also reported that Trump said the decision on ending the war involving Iran would be a “mutual” one made together with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I think it’s mutual… a little bit. We’ve been talking. I’ll make a decision at the right time, but everything’s going to be taken into account,” he said.
Trump also called on Israel’s President Isaac Herzog to grant a pardon to Netanyahu, who is currently facing trial on corruption charges.
Referring to Netanyahu by his nickname, Trump said: “Bibi Netanyahu should be given that pardon immediately. I think [Herzog is] doing a terrible thing by not giving it. We want Bibi to be focused on the war, not on a ridiculous pardon.”
Hezbollah said on Monday it was engaging Israeli forces who landed in eastern Lebanon by helicopter across the Syrian border, the second such operation since the outbreak of the latest conflict with Israel.
The U.S. military said it killed six men Sunday in a strike on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean as part of the Trump administration's campaign against alleged traffickers.
Several explosions were heard on Monday in the Qatari capital Doha as Iran continued its retaliatory strikes across the Gulf, according to reports by the AFP.
Doha has been targeted by waves of Iranian drones and missiles since Iran launched a sprawling retaliation campaign across the Gulf in the wake of the US and Israeli attacks against the Islamic republic.
Kuwait's defence ministry said the country's air defences were working to intercept a new missile and drone attack on the Gulf nation on Monday, as Iran continues its retaliatory strikes in its war with the United States and Israel.
"Kuwaiti air defenses are currently dealing with missile and hostile drone attacks," the ministry said.
On Sunday, Kuwait was targeted by seven missiles and five drones, according to figures released by authorities.
Stock markets in South Korea and Japan fell sharply in early trade on Monday after the US oil benchmark soared above $100 per barrel.
South Korea's Kospi was down 5.5 percent while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo was off around 4.5 percent. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was trading at $108.25 per barrel.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s supreme leader, but Trump has previously stated he has a dim view of Mojtaba Khamenei.
Trump has derided the 56-year-old who has never been elected or appointed to a government position, as “a lightweight.”
“We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” Trump said in an interview with Axios last week.
“I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy in Venezuela,” Trump said, referring to the acting president in the South American country. Delcy Rodríguez took power in January after a U.S. military operation captured Nicolás Maduro and whisked him to the U.S. to face federal drug conspiracy charges.
Trump earlier on Sunday repeated that he expects to have a say in picking Iran’s next leader, warning that a new leader “is not going to last long” if the person doesn’t have his approval.
The United States said late Sunday that it was ordering embassy staff to leave Saudi Arabia as Iran strikes the kingdom in retaliation for an attack by Washington and Israel.
The State Department said in a travel advisory it had "ordered non-emergency US government employees and US government employee family members to leave Saudi Arabia due to safety risks."
Hezbollah on Monday said it was engaging Israeli forces who landed in eastern Lebanon by helicopter across the Syrian border, amid the new war between the Iran-backed militant group and Israel.
In a statement, the Lebanese group said it detected "the infiltration of approximately 15 Israeli enemy helicopters" from the Syrian side of the border in eastern Lebanon.
The group said its fighters "engaged the helicopters and the infiltrating force with appropriate weapons, and the confrontation" was ongoing.
Yemen's Houthi rebels on Monday welcomed Iran's ruling clerics appointing their slain leader's son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as the country's new supreme leader, calling it a major blow for the Islamic republic's enemies as it fights a war with the United States and Israel.
"We congratulate the Islamic Republic of Iran, its leadership and people, on the selection of Sayyid Mojtaba Khamenei as Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution at this important and pivotal juncture," the group said in a statement on Telegram.
It called his selection "a new victory for the Islamic Revolution and a resounding blow to the enemies of the Islamic Republic and the enemies of the nation".
Clashes broke out in eastern Lebanon on Monday after Israeli forces landed by helicopter on the Lebanese-Syrian border, state media reported.
"Fierce clashes are taking place... towards the outskirts of the town of Nabi Sheet to repel Israeli forces that carried out a landing by helicopters on the heights of the eastern mountain range towards the Lebanese-Syrian border and are trying to advance," Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported.
Two Hezbollah sources told AFP on condition of anonymity that an Israeli helicopter in the area was downed by the group.
US President Donald Trump on Sunday dismissed the war-related spike in oil prices as a "small price to pay" for removing the threat of Iran's nuclear program.
"Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay for U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace. ONLY FOOLS WOULD THINK DIFFERENTLY!" he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
A Hezbollah official told AFP on Monday it downed an Israeli helicopter in eastern Lebanon, amid the new war between the Iran-backed militant group and Israel.
"An Israeli helicopter was downed in the mountains east of Baalbek," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Several people were injured on Sunday in an Iranian drone attack on Bahrain's island of Sitra, the interior ministry said, as AFP journalists reported two loud explosions.
"As a result of the blatant Iranian aggression, injuries among citizens were reported, one of them serious, and a number of houses in Sitra were damaged as a result of an attack by drones," the ministry said.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards pledged allegiance on Sunday to the country's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, after he was appointed his father's successor by the Assembly of Experts.
"The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps... is ready for complete obedience and self-sacrifice in carrying out the divine commands of the Guardian Jurist of the time, His Eminence Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei", the Guards said in a statement.
Iran's Assembly of Experts announced Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the country's new supreme leader on Sunday.
In a lengthy statement, the assembly said that "after careful and extensive studies... in today's extraordinary session, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei (may Allah protect him) is appointed and introduced as the third leader of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, based on the decisive vote of the respected representatives of the Assembly of Experts."
The military said in a statement that the headquarters struck in Teheran operated “the ballistic missile command, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) array, and other air force units.”
The army’s spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, said the headquarters were “destroyed.”
Israel has pounded Iran with widespread airstrikes for days, hitting more than 140 targets on Sunday alone, according to Defrin.
The US military on Sunday announced that a service member in Saudi Arabia had died after being wounded in an Iranian attack, the seventh American combat death since the war began.
US Central Command, which oversees American military forces in the Middle East, said in a statement that the service member died Saturday "from injuries received during the Iranian regime's initial attacks across the Middle East."
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with his US and Iranian counterparts Sunday ahead of a trip to Cyprus aimed at reinforcing security during the US-Israeli war with Iran.
The first Western leader to speak with Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian since the outbreak of the war, Macron said on X that he "stressed the need for Iran to immediately cease its strikes against countries in the region".
He also urged Iran to guarantee freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, he added. He gave no details of his conversation with US President Donald Trump.
The Israeli military said on Sunday it had killed three key commanders from the elite Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards in a strike on a hotel in Beirut, which it said left five Guards dead.
"Overnight, the Israeli Navy, directed by precise IDF intelligence, conducted a precise strike in Beirut, Lebanon, targeting five commanders from the IRGC's Lebanon Corps and Palestine Corps while they were meeting at a hotel in Beirut," the military said.
In a separate statement Israel's military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said "there is no safe place for the Iranian axis of evil anywhere in the Middle East -- not in Beirut and not anywhere else."
Israel's military chief warned on Sunday that the state of emergency in the country could last "much longer" as conflict wracked the Middle East.
"Israel has been under a state of emergency for two years; we must expect it to take much longer -- patience is required," Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said in video released by the military.