President Trump said Tuesday that the United States launched an attack on Iran over the weekend because Iran is “trying to strike first.”

His remarks in the Oval Office came on the fourth day of a war in which U.S. and Israeli officials offered a variety of reasons and objectives.

The war has now expanded to include more parts of the Middle East, with Iranian drones attacking the US embassy in Saudi Arabia and Israel deploying ground forces to Lebanon.

The US and Israel continue their attacks on Iran, with the death toll rising to 787 on Tuesday. Iranian Red Crescent Society.

war killed people 6 US military personnelThe Pentagon has warned that more casualties are expected.

Ten people have been killed in Israel since Iran began retaliating with missile strikes in Israel.

Here are more key updates from NPR.

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evacuation of usa | Trump’s reasoning | Lebanon | America and Israel attack Iran | Strait of Hormuz | world natural gas

US embassy attacked; Americans urged to leave area ‘immediately’

The US Embassy in Saudi Arabia urged Americans to avoid the facility after the Saudi Ministry of Defense announced it had been attacked by two drones. saudi arabia That’s what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs called it. A “blatant Iranian attack” occurred in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.

There were no immediate reports of injuries. The Defense Ministry said the drone attack caused “limited fire and minor damage” to the U.S. embassy.

Late Tuesday, authorities in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the fire said This was due to a “drone-related incident” that occurred near the U.S. Consulate General.

“Unfortunately, a drone crashed into a parking lot adjacent to the prime minister’s residence and set it on fire,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Dubai. There were no injuries.

This comes after the Iranians Attack on the US Embassy in Kuwait on monday.

In Jordan, the State Department announced Tuesday that it had evacuated its large embassy in the Jordanian capital, Amman, following threats against it.

Mora Namdar, assistant secretary for consular affairs at the State Department, said: I wrote to X The conflict requires Americans to “depart now” from more than a dozen countries and territories in the Middle East. This was true even as options for leaving the country narrowed due to flight cancellations and airport closures.

The US Embassy in Jerusalem has told Americans it is not in a position to assist them in fleeing Israel. Local officials are proposing that Americans enter Egypt by land.

“Americans seeking to leave the Middle East via Egypt can take commercial flights from Cairo to leave the region,” the newspaper said. The State Department said the following about X:.

Iran has been attacking Gulf states normally considered safe in retaliation for the U.S. attacks that began Saturday. Iran also attacked commercial targets after threatening to attack US interests across the region.

Amazon said on Monday that two of its data centers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and one in Bahrain were attacked by drones, impacting operations.

— Jane Araf, Hadeel Al Sharchi, Michele Kelemen

President Trump: “They were going to attack first”

“My opinion was that they were going to attack first. If we didn’t attack, they were going to attack first. I felt very strongly about that,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Tuesday, explaining the new reason the United States launched its attack on Iran last weekend. He did not cite any information on that point.

President Trump has previously said the United States attacked Iran because the country moved closer to possessing missiles that could reach the United States.

The U.S. and Israeli offensives began on Saturday following weeks of U.S. military buildup in the region, even as negotiations toward a deal with Iran were underway.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Monday’s Operation Epic Fury has a focused mission: “destroy Iran’s offensive missiles, destroy Iran’s missile production, destroy its navy and other security infrastructure, and Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.”

And Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed another reason on Monday. “We knew the Israeli action was going to happen. We knew it would provoke an attack on U.S. forces. And we knew there would be even more casualties if we didn’t get ahead of the attack and pursue it,” Rubio said.
On Tuesday, President Trump touted the successes of his mission so far.

“They don’t have a navy, they’re knocked out. They don’t have air power, they’re knocked out. They don’t have air detection capabilities, they’re knocked out. Their radar is knocked out, almost everything is knocked out,” he said.

He did not say how he saw the war ending, but said “many people” had come forward to negotiate a solution.

— Deepa Sivaram, Alex Leff

Israel resumes attacks on Lebanon targeting Hezbollah

The Israeli military said its soldiers were “operating in southern Lebanon” as attacks against Hezbollah continued, including in the Lebanese capital.

Israel and Lebanon signed a ceasefire in November 2024, but Israel has continued to carry out attacks almost daily since then. Iran-backed Hezbollah had refrained from attacking until Sunday, but launched the attack in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it had targeted a Hezbollah command center and what it called a weapons storage facility in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said of the Israeli military’s move: “To be clear, this is not a ground movement into Lebanon. It is a tactical move to create an additional layer of security for the population of northern Israel.”

Thousands of Lebanese have fled Dahiya, a suburb where Hezbollah, a political party and militia listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and other Western countries, is based.

They join what the government says are at least 30,000 Lebanese who have fled Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon and Beirut. Evacuation centers were overcrowded, with some families laying out blankets on sidewalks on Beirut’s seaside Corniche.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says 50 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes over the past two days.

— Jane Araf, Jawad Rizkala

US and Israel continue to attack Iran

In the Iranian capital, residents heard explosions throughout the night. There were no immediate reports of what had been attacked.

The Israeli military said it had attacked Iran’s Ministry of Information and state television. He also said that Israeli authorities are now focused on targeting Iranian missiles and launchers.

According to Iranian media, Israel also attacked a building where Iranian clerics were scheduled to gather to elect Khamenei’s successor. The building was vacant at the time.

An 88-member expert committee will decide on Khamenei’s successor. Candidates include hardliners, moderates and even Khamenei’s son.

Iranian missile attacks on Israel have decreased significantly. Israel has said Iran may be distributing munitions in preparation for a long war.

Officials in the region, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told NPR that they believe Israel can achieve its war goals in a total of two weeks. Israeli officials say they want to create an environment in which the Iranians can overthrow the government.

A mass funeral was held in the southern Iranian city of Minab on Saturday for the 165 people killed in the attack on a girls’ school, most of them girls. Many of the bodies were buried under rubble.

The US military said it was investigating reports of missile attacks on schools. The Israeli military said: unaware of the forces operating in the area.

Some in the large crowd at the funeral chanted “Death to America,” “Death to Israel,” and “No Surrender.”

The Iranian Red Crescent said on Tuesday that at least 787 people were killed in attacks on 153 cities across the country.

Ten people have been killed in Israel since the conflict began, Israeli officials said.

President Trump said Monday that the war could last four to five weeks, but could last longer.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Prime Minister Netanyahu told Fox News. It won’t be an “endless war.”

— Daniel Estrin, Jane Araf, Jackie Northam

Iran announces closure of Strait of Hormuz

Iran continued to threaten ships near the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway vital to Gulf oil exports.

“The Strait of Hormuz is closed. Whoever wants to cross, our dedicated heroes of the Revolutionary Guards Navy and Army will set fire to those ships,” security official Brigadier General Brig said. General Ebrahim Jabari said on Monday. “Please do not come to this area.”

In a sign of the war’s devastating impact, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told the Iranian envoy that Iran needed to reopen the waterway.

Global natural gas supply decreases significantly

In addition to the impact of the Strait of Hormuz closure on oil supplies, approximately 20% of the world’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) is transported through the Strait of Hormuz. On land, Iranian attacks hit Ras Laffan, the world’s largest LNG export plant, in Qatar. State-run Qatar Energy announced it had halted LNG production.

Many countries have oil in strategic reserves, which provides some immunity from disruption to oil flows. But natural gas is a different story, says Anne-Sophie Corbeau, a global researcher at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. Since it is late winter, gas storage levels are particularly low.

“This is really huge,” Corbeau said. “It will affect everyone who imports LNG.”

Oil prices have risen since trading began on Monday, as have natural gas prices in Asia and Europe. Energy experts say higher gas prices and lower LNG flows from the Persian Gulf will greatly benefit LNG exporters in other regions, including Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and the United States. New LNG terminal coming soon to Texas.

— Julia Simon

Jane Araf and Hadeel Al Sharchi reported from Amman, Jordan. Daniel Estrin reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Julia Simon from San Francisco. Jawad Rizkala from Beirut. Jackie Northam from Maine. Michelle Kelemen, Deepa Sivaram, Ayana Archie and Alex Lev from Washington;