TEHRAN: Airstrikes on residential buildings in Tehran killed around 40 people as the war involving the United States, Israel, and Iran entered its 11th day on Tuesday, pushing the regional death toll close to 1,900 amid escalating attacks across the Middle East.
The strikes hit several apartment blocks in the city, causing heavy damage and fires in the area. Rescue workers and emergency teams rushed to the site to search for survivors trapped under the rubble, while the injured were transported to nearby hospitals.
Authorities warned that the death toll could rise as rescue operations continued.
Here are the latest developments on Tuesday in the Iran war.
The latest casualties add to the rapidly increasing number of deaths reported since the war began on February 28, following US and Israeli strikes inside Iran.
According to available estimates, the overall death toll from the conflict has now risen to roughly 1,800 to 1,900 people across the region.
The vast majority of casualties have been reported in Iran, where more than 1300 people are believed to have been killed in strikes and related attacks since the start of the conflict.
In neighbouring Lebanon, Israeli strikes linked to the escalation have killed about 486 people, according to Lebanese health authorities, with more than 1,300 others injured.
Iranian missile and drone attacks on Israel have also caused casualties, with around 13 people reported killed.
The wider regional confrontation has also resulted in deaths in Gulf countries hosting US military facilities, where missile and drone strikes have killed at least 14 people.
In addition, around seven US service members have been killed in attacks targeting American bases in the region.
US kills four Iran-backed fighters in Iraq
Four fighters from the Tehran-backed Kataeb Imam Ali group were killed on Tuesday in air strikes blamed on the US in northern Iraq, the armed faction announced.
The group said its fighters were killed in an “American aggression” on their position in the Debs district in Kirkuk province.
Iran will continue missile attacks
Iran’s foreign minister said Tuesday his country was prepared to continue attacks for as long as necessary and ruled out talks after President Donald Trump said the war with Iran would be over “very soon”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told US broadcaster PBS News that his country was prepared to continue missile attacks and that negotiations with the United States were no longer on the agenda.
UAE intercepts attack
The United Arab Emirates said it was intercepting a missile and drone attack from Iran on Tuesday, hours after the Iranian foreign minister told broadcaster PBS News that his country had ruled out further talks with the United States and was prepared to continue missile attacks for “as long as needed.”
US to roll back oil sanctions
US President Donald Trump said on Monday he will waive some sanctions on oil due to market turmoil over supply concerns.
“We’re also waiving certain oil-related sanctions to reduce prices,” Trump told reporters after his administration previously signaled it would roll back sanctions on oil exports from Russia.
“We’re going to take those sanctions off till this straightens out.”
Trump says war will end ‘soon’ –
Trump also suggested Monday the Iran war could soon end, but he remained vague on a timeline for stopping the attacks.
“It’s going to be ended soon, and if it starts up again they’ll be hit even harder,” Trump said at a news conference in Florida, referring to Iran.
He previously told lawmakers that the campaign would be a “short-term excursion.”
Iran pushes back on timing –
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in response said they would “determine the end of the war” — not the Americans.
Trump also pressed for what he called “ultimate victory” against Tehran’s clerical establishment, which over the weekend picked the son of slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei as its new chief.
Iran’s Pezeshkian talks with Erdogan
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke by phone with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan after an incoming Iranian missile was intercepted in Turkey’s airspace.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has always declared its readiness to reduce tension in the region; provided that the airspace, soil and waters of our neighbours are not used to attack the Iranian people,” Pezeshkian said in a statement about the call.
Iran targets Gulf energy installations
Iran launched fresh strikes on energy installations in the Gulf, including a petroleum complex in Bahrain, as oil prices soared on fears of over supply disruptions due to the war.
Bahrain’s sprawling Al Ma’ameer oil facility was hit, causing a fire and damage, with the country’s state-owned energy firm Bapco declaring force majeure — the latest Gulf producer to activate the legal clause.
Jets overhead as strikes hit Tehran
The Israeli military said on Monday it launched a fresh wave of “broad strikes” against “targets” in Tehran, the second of the day.
AFP journalists reported a powerful explosion in the Iranian capital at the same time as aircraft were heard overhead.
Australia asylum to Iran women footballers
Australia has granted asylum to some of Iran’s visiting women’s football team over fears they faced persecution at home for not singing the national anthem before a match.
The Iranian players’ stance ahead of an Asian Cup tournament match in Australia last week was widely seen as an act of defiance against the Islamic republic. Five players escaped the team hotel on Australia’s Gold Coast overnight.
Lebanon toll rises
The toll from Israeli strikes on Lebanon rose to 486 people killed and 1,313 wounded, the Lebanese health ministry said.
The ministry had previously reported a death toll of 394. AFP could not independently verify the figures.
Hezbollah vows resistance, self-defense
The head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc Mohamed Raad pledged to continue fighting Israel “whatever the cost,” in remarks broadcast by Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV.
Defending his party, and blasting the Lebanese government, Raad said the group’s goal is to “to drive the enemy out of our occupied land… And quite plainly, we have no other option to preserve honor, pride and dignity than the option of resistance.”
Iran warns strait unsafe
Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani said security in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a key transport route for global oil and gas supplies, cannot be restored as long as the war continues.
“It is unlikely that any security can be achieved in the Strait of Hormuz amid the fires ignited by the United States and Israel in the region,” he said.
UAE says targeting ‘unwarranted’
The United Arab Emirates said that it was being targeted “in a very unwarranted manner” in the war, stressing it would “not partake in any attacks against Iran,” which has lashed out at Gulf countries seen as US allies.
“The UAE does not seek to be drawn into conflict or escalation,” said Jamal Al Musharakh, the UAE’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva.
