Iran struck the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia’s capital with a drone early Tuesday as it continued hitting targets across the region, whilst the United States and Israel pounded Iran with air strikes in what US President Donald Trump suggested was merely the beginning of a relentless campaign that could extend beyond a month.

The assault from two drones on the US Embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire” and minor damage, according to Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ministry, and the embassy urged Americans to avoid the compound. It followed an attack on the US Embassy in Kuwait, and the US State Department on Tuesday ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Bahrain and Jordan as a precautionary measure.

Throughout Iran’s capital, explosions echoed throughout the night into the early morning, with witnesses describing hearing aircraft overhead. It remained unclear what had been struck.

Meanwhile in Lebanon, Israel launched further strikes on Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia group.

The expansion of Iranian retaliation across the Gulf and the ferocity of the Israeli and American attacks, the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the absence of any apparent exit strategy suggest a potentially prolonged conflict with far-reaching consequences. Numerous countries previously considered safe havens in the Middle East have been struck by Iran in response to the US and Israeli attacks, with recent targets including two Amazon data centres in the United Arab Emirates and a drone strike near another in Bahrain that caused damage, the company confirmed on Tuesday.

Iran has also targeted energy installations in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and attacked several vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow entrance to the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all traded oil passes, causing global oil and natural gas prices to surge.

The US State Department has urged American citizens to depart more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries due to safety concerns, as have numerous other nations, though with much of the airspace closed, many remain trapped.

Trump indicated operations are likely to continue for four to five weeks, but stated he was prepared “to go far longer than that”.

“The hardest hits are yet to come from the US military,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters before briefing members of Congress about the Iran operation.

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Hundreds are dead in Iran and dozens in Lebanon, along with 11 in Israel.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society reported that the US-Israeli operation has claimed at least 555 lives. In Israel, where several locations were hit by Iranian missiles, 11 people were killed.

Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah killed 52 people in Lebanon.

“Military escalation would force more families from their homes and hit civilians hard,” said Amy Pope, director general of the International Organisation on Migration, as she urged the international community on Tuesday to push for de-escalation.

“Millions are already displaced in the region,” she said.

The US military has confirmed six deaths of American service members. All six were Army soldiers and part of the same logistics unit in Kuwait, according to a US official who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Three people were reported killed in the United Arab Emirates, and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain.

Iran’s top diplomat on Monday shared a photograph showing graves he said were for more than 160 girls killed during a US-Israeli strike on a school in Minab.

“Their bodies were torn to shreds,” Abbas Araghchi, the country’s foreign minister, said on X.

In Israel, three young siblings killed by an Iranian strike were being laid to rest at the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem on Monday night.

The chaos of the conflict became evident when the US military said Kuwait had “mistakenly shot down” three American fighter jets whilst Iran was attacking it with aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones. US Central Command said all six pilots ejected safely.

Israel and US strike nuclear facilities and missile infrastructure.

Iranian state television reported strikes caused two explosions early Tuesday at a broadcasting facility in Tehran, though it stated no casualties occurred.

Reza Najafi, Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, informed reporters that air strikes hit the Natanz nuclear enrichment site on Sunday.

Israel and the US have not confirmed strikes at the location, which the US bombed during the 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel in June. Israel has stated it is targeting the “leadership and nuclear infrastructure.”

Trump said the military campaign’s objectives are to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities, wipe out its navy, prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensure that it cannot continue to support allied groups like Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which fired missiles at Israel on Monday.

Iran has stated it has not enriched uranium since June, although it has maintained its right to do so and insists its nuclear programme is peaceful.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintained, however, that Iran was rebuilding “new sites, new places” underground for making atomic bombs in an interview broadcast late Monday on Fox News Channel’s Hannity.

“We had to take the action now and we did,” said Netanyahu, who offered no evidence to support his claim. Satellite imagery revealed limited activity at two nuclear facilities in Iran prior to the conflict.

Analysts suggested Tehran was likely evaluating damage from the 2025 US strikes and potentially salvaging what remained.

Attacks on Iran have drawn in proxy forces from around the region.

The conflict has also extended to Lebanon, where the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel on Monday, though no injuries or damage were reported.

Israel responded with strikes on Lebanon. The country’s Health Ministry confirmed at least 52 people were killed and 154 wounded in overnight strikes across the Beirut suburbs and southern Lebanon.

An Israeli military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, said Israel is keeping “all options on the table,” including a potential ground invasion of Lebanon.

Israel struck Beirut with additional airstrikes early Tuesday morning, stating it was targeting “Hezbollah command centres and weapons storage facilities.”

Hezbollah also said it launched drones targeting an Israeli air base. The Israeli military said it downed two drones.

An Iranian-linked militant in Iraq has also claimed strikes on US military facilities.