Israel steps up campaign in Lebanon, as Iran keeps stranglehold on shipping
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — The war in the Middle East raged on multiple fronts on Monday, as the U.S. and Israel pummeled military targets in Iran’s capital, Israel stepped up its campaign against Iran-backed militants in Lebanon and Iran retaliated with a drone strike that temporarily shut Dubai’s airport, a crucial hub for travelers.
Fears of a global energy crisis persisted, even as a small number of ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil is usually transported.
Iranian strikes on commercial ships in and around the strait, and even just the threat of those attacks, have slowed shipping there to a trickle. That has dramatically increased the price of oil and put pressure on Washington to do something to ease the pain for consumers and the global economy.
Brent crude, the international standard, remained over $100 a barrel on Monday. U.S. President Donald Trump said he has demanded that about seven countries send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, but his appeals have brought no commitments.
Two Indian-flagged ships and a Pakistani-flagged one crossed the strait this weekend, according to authorities and a marine-tracking website.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said of the strait, “From our perspective it is open” — just not for the United States, Israel and its allies. On social media, Araghchi also rejected as “delusional” claims that Iran was looking for a negotiated end to the war. He said it was seeking neither “truce nor talks.”
Since the United States and Israel attacked Iran more than two weeks ago, Tehran has regularly fired drones and missiles at Israel, American bases in the region, and Gulf Arab countries’ energy infrastructure.
Israel hits Beirut and launches new attacks on Tehran
Massive explosions were heard in Beirut as Israel launched new attacks on the Lebanese capital before dawn, saying it was striking infrastructure related to the Iran-linked Hezbollah militia group.
The Israeli army has issued evacuation orders for many neighborhoods in Beirut as well as southern Lebanon. To date, more than 800,000 people have been displaced by Israel’s campaign in Lebanon.
In southern Lebanon, seven people were killed in Israeli airstrikes, according to authorities and news reports. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said two of them were paramedics responding to an earlier strike.
At least 850 people in Lebanon have been killed by Israeli strikes so far.
Not long after Israel’s military announced it had launched new strikes on Tehran, targeting infrastructure, explosions were heard in the Iranian capital and outlying areas.
More details were not immediately available with information coming out of Iran severely limited by internet outages, round-the-clock airstrikes and tight restrictions on journalists.
More than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran so far, according to the Iranian Red Crescent.
Israel has carried out some 7,600 strikes on Iran so far, knocking out 85% of its air defenses, military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told reporters Monday. It has also destroyed 70% of Iran’s missile launchers, but Shoshani said Israel still has thousands of targets to hit and would continue attacks “for as long as needed.”
In Israel, 12 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire. At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed.
Trump threatens to ‘remember’ which allies do not help
The virtual shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz is battering the world economy, driving up energy and fertilizer prices; threatening food shortages in poor countries; destabilizing fragile states; and complicating efforts by central banks to drive down prices for consumers.
Trump said Sunday he wants to police the strait to make it safe for shipping. Republicans are increasingly concerned that rising prices for American consumers will hurt them in elections this fall.
Trump did not identify the countries he said he asked to help with those efforts, but he said he won’t forget the countries that decline. He has previously appealed to China, France, Japan, South Korea and Britain.
“Whether we get support or not, but I can say this, and I said to them: We will remember,” Trump said.
Brent crude was at $104 in early trading Monday, up nearly 45% since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. It has spiked as high as about $120 during the conflict.
Trump also suggested Monday he might delay a planned trip to China, a key trade partner of Iran, as he seeks to pressure Beijing into helping restore the flow of shipping through the strait.
Admiral Brad Cooper, the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, said American forces are zeroing in on Iran’s threats to freighters carrying oil and natural gas through the narrow strait between the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean.
“We will continue to rapidly deplete Iran’s ability to threaten freedom of navigation in and around the Strait of Hormuz,” Cooper, who is the head of U.S. Central Command, said in a video posted Monday on X.
Ahead of a meeting in Brussels, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc’s foreign ministers would discuss possibly extending a naval mission that protects ships in the Red Sea to the Strait of Hormuz, without giving any details.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani of Italy told reporters in Brussels that his country favors strengthening anti-piracy and defensive missions in the Red Sea, but said he didn’t believe in expanding their roles to the Strait of Hormuz. Any such change to their mandate would be “complex,” he said.
Europeans have been critical of the U.S. and Israel for failing to provide clarity on their objectives in the war. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Sunday questioned EU involvement, saying security for the strait can only come “if there is a negotiated solution.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, which is not an EU member, told reporters that Britain and allies were working on a plan to reopen the strait. Starmer said Britain might deploy mine-hunting U.K. drones already in the region, but insisted it “will not be drawn into the wider war.” He signaled that the U.K. is unlikely to dispatch a warship.
Japan and Australia both said Monday that they had not been asked to help protect the strait and had no current plans to do so.
Iran hits Dubai airport, forcing temporary closure
As morning broke Monday, a drone hit a fuel tank near Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international passenger traffic, causing a large fire.
Firefighters contained the blaze and there were no injuries reported, but the airport suspended all flights before resuming them a few hours later.
Later, a person was killed in the capital of the United Arab Emirates when an Iranian missile hit a vehicle, the Abu Dhabi media office said. Fire also broke out at an oil facility in Fujairah, one of the UAE’s seven emirates, following a drone attack.
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, said it intercepted a wave of 35 Iranian drones sent to its eastern region, home to major oil installations.
Israel’s military said early Monday that Iran launched missiles toward Israel as well.
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This story has been updated to correct that the death toll in Iran is from the Iranian Red Crescent, not the Red Cross.
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Rising reported from Bangkok, Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Will Weissert from aboard Air Force One, Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Sam McNeil in Brussels, Jill Lawless in London, Ben Finley in Washington, Giada Zampano in Rome, and Adam Schreck in Bangkok, contributed to this report.