US President Donald Trump said Monday that military operations against Iran are likely to last four to five weeks but warned that he was prepared “to go far longer than that,” as the conflict in the Middle East intensified with widening attacks and mounting casualties across the region.
The war spiraled further as Israel and the United States launched coordinated strikes on Iranian targets, while Tehran and its allies retaliated against Israel, neighbouring Gulf states and infrastructure critical to global energy supplies.
With no sign of de-escalation, the scale and intensity of the fighting raised fears of a prolonged regional conflict with global consequences.
Safe hubs in the Middle East, including Dubai, reported incoming fire, hundreds of thousands of airline passengers were stranded worldwide due to disrupted air traffic, and oil prices surged amid concerns over energy supplies.
Trump said US forces were focused on dismantling Iran’s missile capabilities, destroying its naval strength, preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and stopping the country from supporting allied groups such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which launched missiles at Israel and triggered retaliatory airstrikes.
"This was our last, best chance to strike -- what we’re doing right now -- and eliminate the intolerable threats posed by this sick and sinister regime,” Trump said.
Iran has long warned that any direct attack would draw the wider region into conflict, including strikes targeting Israel, Gulf Arab states and vital crude oil shipping routes. Those threats appeared to materialise Monday as multiple countries reported attacks.
The chaos of the conflict became evident when the U.S. military said Kuwait had “mistakenly shot down” three American F-15E Strike Eagles during an Iranian assault involving aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones. U.S. Central Command said all six pilots safely ejected and were in stable condition.
Qatar said its air force had shot down two Iranian Sukhoi Su-24 bombers amid escalating aerial confrontations across the Gulf.
Israel and U.S. forces meanwhile struck Iranian missile installations and naval assets, claiming to have destroyed headquarters facilities and several warships. As airstrikes hit Iran’s capital Tehran, senior Iranian security official Ali Larijani wrote on X: “We will not negotiate with the United States.”
Casualties continued to rise on multiple fronts. The Iranian Red Crescent Society said the U.S.-Israeli campaign had killed at least 555 people. In Israel, Iranian missile strikes killed 11 people. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah group launched attacks on Israel, prompting Israeli strikes in Lebanon that killed more than two dozen people.
Four American troops were reported killed, while additional fatalities included three people in the United Arab Emirates and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain, underscoring the widening regional impact of the conflict.
