On Monday, the Middle East crisis intensified following US-Israeli strikes on Iran and retaliatory attacks, marking the third day of high-intensity military operations.
The Israeli military struck Hezbollah positions across Lebanon after the group launched missiles and drones toward Israel in response to the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Explosions were reported in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold. These were the first Hezbollah projectiles since the US-Israel campaign against Iran began.
Israel then issued a warning to residents of about 50 towns and villages in Lebanon's south and east -- both Hezbollah strongholds.
Iran suffered heavy civilian casualties. A missile strike on a girls’ school in Minab, southern Iran, killed at least 165 people and injured 95, making it the deadliest attack so far.
US President Donald Trump confirmed three US service members were killed in the operations and warned of more casualties. He stated that combat operations could continue for “four to five weeks” if needed and justified the campaign as targeting an Iranian regime armed with long-range missiles and nuclear weapons. He also claimed 48 Iranian leaders had been killed in the strikes so far.
Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was reportedly killed in the strikes. Trump said Iran’s new leadership wants to negotiate and that he had agreed to talks.
The UK faced a suspected drone strike at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. No casualties were reported. The strike followed the UK’s approval for US forces to use British bases to carry out “defensive” strikes on Iranian missile sites.
Global energy and markets were heavily impacted. Brent crude surged 13% to USD 82 per barrel, a 14-month high, amid closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping route. West Texas Intermediate also jumped sharply. Experts warned that disruptions to oil supply from Iran and the Gulf could increase gasoline and commodity prices worldwide.
The conflict has caused major disruption to air travel. Countries across the Middle East closed their airspace, affecting hundreds of thousands of travellers. Three major airports connecting Europe, Africa, and Asia were shut.
The US-Israel strikes triggered retaliatory attacks by Iran on Israel and US military installations in the Gulf. The wider region is seeing rising instability, raising concerns over civilian safety, global trade, and energy supplies.
Kuwait's forces intercepted an unspecified number of drones targeting the country on Monday but no injuries were reported, according to the oil-rich Gulf emirate's state news agency.
Civil defense chief at Kuwait's interior ministry Mohammed Al-Mansouri "stressed that Kuwaiti Air Defense personnel efficiently and effectively intercepted a number of hostile aerial targets at dawn today," official news agency KUNA reported.
"He also affirmed that the situation in the country is stable and there is no cause for concern," it added.
At least one person has been killed and 32 others injured in Kuwait, all of them foreign nationals, the health ministry said Sunday.
As the US-Israel campaign against Iran entered its third day, the conflicts pread beyond Iran and Israel, with drone strikes targeting Western forces in Iraq and Cyprus, while the US escalated operations inside Iran.
In Iraq, a pro-Iranian militia claimed a drone strike on US troops at Baghdad airport on Monday, a day after it targeted a US base in Erbil. No casualties were immediately reported.
Cyprus reported a drone strike on RAF Akrotiri, a British military base in the Mediterranean. Officials said there were no casualties and the situation is being handled. The attack followed Britain’s approval for US forces to use its bases for defensive strikes against Iranian missile sites.
US military operations inside Iran intensified: B-2 stealth bombers struck Iranian ballistic missile facilities with 2,000-pound bombs. President Donald Trump said that nine Iranian warships were sunk and the Iranian navy’s headquarters was “largely destroyed.”
Gulf Arab states warned they reserve the right to respond to Iranian strikes targeting their territories. Analysts say the attacks in Iraq and Cyprus show the conflict could increasingly involve other countries hosting Western forces.
Iranian authorities the strike at the Shajare Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in Minab, southern Hormozgan province, on Saturday, killed at least 108 students. The provincial governor later put the toll at 165.
Verified footage shows a damaged building with murals of crayons, apples, and children, with distressed civilians nearby. According to news agency AFP Geolocation confirms the site is in Minab.
Israel says it is not aware of any US or Israeli strike on the school. “We’re operating in an extremely accurate manner,” said military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani.
US Central Command and the Pentagon are aware of the reports and are investigating. A CENTCOM spokesperson said, “The protection of civilians is of utmost importance… we will continue to take all precautions to minimise the risk of unintended harm.”
Norway-based rights group Hengaw is investigating the identities of students reportedly present, with around 170 children said to be in class at the time.
US leader Donald Trump's "delusional fantasies" have plunged the Middle East into chaos, the powerful head of Tehran's Supreme National Security Council said on Monday.
"Trump plunged the region into chaos with his 'delusional fantasies' and now fears more American troop casualties," Ali Larijani wrote on X.
New strikes hit an Iraqi military base housing Kataeb Hezbollah, a source from the pro-Iran armed group said on Monday.
"Three strikes hit Jurf al-Nasr," a Kataeb Hezbollah source told AFP, referring to a military base that serves as one of the main bastions of the powerful armed group that has been repeatedly targeted since the start of the Israel-US campaign on Iran.
Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty crashed in early trade on Monday tracking a sharp spike in crude oil prices amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.
The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 2,743.46 points or 3.37 per cent to 78,543.73 in early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty tumbled 533.55 points or 2.11 per cent to 24,645.10.
From the Sensex pack, InterGlobe Aviation, Larsen & Toubro, Eternal, Adani Ports, Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement and Reliance Industries were among the biggest laggards.
Bharat Electronics emerged as the only gainer.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, tumbled 5.38 per cent to USD 76.79 per barrel.
Iran "will not negotiate with the United States", Ali Larijani, the powerful head of Tehran's Supreme National Security Council said on Monday.
In a post on X, Larijani denied media reports that Iranian officials had sought to initiate talks with the Trump administration following US-Israeli strikes on Iran over the weekend, which came after Tehran and Washington held nuclear negotiations.
Iran’s foreign minister suggested on Sunday that parts of the country’s military are operating independently of central government control, following attacks on Gulf Arab nations.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Abbas Araghchi said, “What happened in Oman was not our choice. We have already told our… armed forces to be careful about the targets that they choose.” He added that some military units are “in fact independent and somehow isolated and they are acting based on instructions… given to them in advance.”
The comments come after strikes on Oman and Qatar, both of which have historically acted as intermediaries with Tehran, Oman in recent US-Iran nuclear talks, and Qatar over a shared offshore natural gas field.
While militaries worldwide plan for contingencies in wartime, Iran’s case is unusual, given that its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, answering only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, controls much of the country’s ballistic missile and drone arsenal.
Araghchi’s remarks may serve both to explain the attacks and to ease tensions with Gulf Arab neighbors, who have expressed growing frustration at repeated strikes despite years of diplomatic engagement.
ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl has posted on X that the US had identified possible candidates to assume leadership in Iran, but they were killed in the initial US-Israeli attack.
“The attack was so successful it knocked out most of the candidates,” the post said quoting Trump.
“It’s not going to be anybody that we were thinking of because they are all dead. Second or third place is dead,” he added.
Pres Trump told me tonight the US had identified possible candidates to take over Iran, but they were killed in the initial attack.
— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) March 2, 2026
"The attack was so successful it knocked out most of the candidates," Trump told me. "It's not going to be anybody that we were thinking of because…
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are planning to hold a press conference Monday morning about the military operation against Iran.
The Pentagon announced the 8 a.m. EST media briefing on social media Sunday night.
On Tuesday, Hegseth and Caine will join U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe in briefing the full membership of Congress on the strikes, the White House said.
Rubio also was slated to brief Hill leadership Monday.
Israeli forces hit targets across Lebanon, including Beirut, after Hezbollah launched rockets in retaliation for Iran’s supreme leader’s killing. Residents in southern Lebanon fled, with schools set up as shelters. Air raid sirens sounded in northern Israel, but no immediate casualties reported. Lebanese leaders called Hezbollah’s attack “irresponsible” as tensions escalate across the region.
