Israel steps up campaign in Lebanon; Iran hits near Church of the Holy Sepulcher

BEIRUT, Lebanon — 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 forced the closure of 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 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 roughly a half-dozen countries send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. So far his appeals have brought no commitments.

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, saying it was striking infrastructure related to the Iran-linked Hezbollah militia group. Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel after U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran began Feb. 28.

The Israeli army has issued evacuation orders for many neighborhoods in Beirut as well as southern Lebanon.

Israel’s strikes have displaced more than 1 million Lebanese — or roughly 20 percent of the population — from large swaths of the country’s southern region and its capital’s southern suburbs, according to the Lebanese government, which says some 850 people have been killed. Some Israeli troops have pushed into southern Lebanon, and there are fears that Israel is preparing a large-scale invasion.

In southern Lebanon, seven people were killed in Israeli airstrikes, according to authorities and news reports.

Explosions sounded in Tehran and outlying areas Monday soon after Israel’s military announced it had launched new strikes on Iran’s capital.

A Tehran resident said he was driving Monday when he witnessed an airstrike turn a police station to dust and cause heavy damage to nearby shops and cars. The man, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from the government, said it “felt like the end of the world.”

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 percent of its air defenses and 70 percent of Iran’s missile launchers, military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told reporters Monday.

In Israel, 12 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire. At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed.

Trump seeks allies’ help to police the Strait of Hormuz

The virtual shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz is unnerving 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.

At an event at the White House on Monday, Trump said “numerous countries” have told him “they’re on the way” to help police the Strait of Hormuz. But he also suggested the reluctance of some countries to join the war against Iran showed a lack of reciprocity in defense agreements with the United States.

“The level of enthusiasm matters to me,” he said. Trump didn’t specify the countries, but has previously appealed to China, France, Japan, South Korea and Britain.

Brent crude was above $101 in afternoon trading, up roughly 40 percent since the war began. Many officials have been scrambling to ease prices. Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, said its 32 member countries still have additional reserves of 1.4 billion barrels on top of the record 400 million they agreed to release last week to address supply constraints.

Admiral Brad Cooper, the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, said in a video posted on X that American forces are zeroing in on Iran’s threats to freighters carrying oil and natural gas.

Europeans have been critical of the U.S. and Israel for failing to provide clarity on their objectives in the war.

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.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani 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.

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.”

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, shrapnel falls in Jerusalem’s Old City

A drone hit a fuel tank early Monday near Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international passenger traffic, causing a large fire. No injuries were reported, but the airport suspended all flights for several hours.

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. Authorities said drone strikes Monday caused fires at two UAE oil facilities, in Abu Dhabi and Fujairah.

In Israel, an intercepted Iranian missile attack sprayed shrapnel through Jerusalem’s Old City, hitting the rooftop of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, just meters from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built on what is revered by many Christians as the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial and resurrection.

Shrapnel also fell near the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, and within the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, the third-holiest site in Islam. Missile strikes on Jerusalem have been rare in the past.

Keaten reported from Geneva. Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers David Rising in Bangkok, Will Weissert from aboard Air Force One, Michelle Price in Washington; Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut, Julia Frankel in Jerusalem, 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.