The Latest: Iranian-backed militias join fight as war on Iran widens

Iran fired missiles at Israel and Arab states Monday and the war expanded to include militias Tehran backs in the Middle East with an attack by Hezbollah on Israel, which struck back against the group in Lebanon and with the United States pounded targets in Iran.

As the American and Israeli airstrikes kept hitting the country, top Iranian security official Ali Larijani said on X: “We will not negotiate with the United States.”

Trump, who a day earlier had encouraged Iranians to “take over” their government, signaled Sunday that he was open to dialogue with Iran’s new leadership.

Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister suggested earlier that military units were acting independently from any central government control after being pressed about attacks on Gulf Arab nations that have served as intermediaries for Tehran in the past.

More than 200 people have been killed since the start of the strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior leaders, Iranian leaders have said.

Here is the latest:

About 30,000 German tourists are currently stuck on cruise ships, in hotels or at closed airports in the Middle East and cannot get back home because of the conflict.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said late Sunday that a military evacuation was currently not possible because of the closed airspace.

He said that the government was looking into other options to help bring its citizens home and that everyone should follow advise by German travel agencies and local authorities.

The German Travel Association called on tourists to “remain at their booked hotels as a matter of urgency” and not “make their own way to the airport or to a neighboring country.”

The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Mariano Grossi on Monday said that “up to now” the International Atomic Energy Agency has “no indication that any of the nuclear installations, including the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, the Tehran Research Reactor or other nuclear fuel cycle facilities” in Iran have been damaged or hit.

Addressing a special session of the IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna, he said that the IAEA continues to try and contact the Iranian nuclear regulatory authorities via the IAEA’s own Incident and Emergency Center “with no response so far,” given the limitations in communications caused by the conflict.

Grossi urged military restraint, warning that Iran and many other countries in the region that have been targeted militarily have “operational nuclear power plants and nuclear research reactors, as well as associated fuel storage sites,” which increases the threat to nuclear safety.

So far, he said, “no elevation of radiation levels above the usual background levels has been detected in countries bordering Iran.”

The Iranian Red Crescent Society said Monday that the U.S.-Israeli airstrike campaign targeting Iran has killed at least 555 people so far in the Islamic Republic.

The society added that 131 cities have come under attack so far in the war.

Iran’s decision to target the Saudi refinery further expands the war gripping the Middle East, directly targeting the lifeblood of the kingdom’s economy.

Already, Iran has been threatening ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil trade passes.

Several ships have been attacked as well there.

“The attack on Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery marks a significant escalation, with Gulf energy infrastructure now squarely in Iran’s sights,” said Torbjorn Soltvedt, an analyst at the risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.

“An extended period of uncertainty lies ahead as Iran seeks to impose a heavy economic cost by putting tankers, regional energy infrastructure, trade routes and U.S. security partners in the crosshairs,” he said.

Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura oil refinery came under attack Monday from drones, the kingdom’s defense ministry said, with authorities downing the incoming aircraft.

A Saudi military spokesman made the announcement on the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

Online videos from the site appeared to show thick black smoke rising after the attack. Even successfully intercepted drones cause debris that can spark fires and injure those on the ground.

Ras Tanura, near Dammam, has a capacity over half a million barrels of crude oil a day.

Israel’s military has launched an offensive campaign in Lebanon that could include “many prolonged days of combat ahead,” Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the military chief of staff, said on Monday morning.

Hezbollah launched several rockets and drones towards Israel overnight, and Israel responded by striking dozens of targets in Beirut and southern Lebanon, he said.

“Hezbollah will pay a very heavy price for this,” Israel’s military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said. He added that Israel is keeping “all options on the table” for a possible ground operation in Lebanon.

Israel has called up more than 100,000 reservists since the war with Iran began on Saturday.

Israel also recommended that residents of 53 villages in southern Lebanon evacuate, causing massive traffic jams.

Germany will not actively participate in military action against Iran but will consider defending its soldiers stationed on multinational military bases in Jordan and Iraq if they get attacked, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Monday morning.

“The federal government has no intention of participating” in the conflict, Wadephul told Deutschlandfunk public radio. "We also do not have the necessary military resources.”

Multinational bases where German troops are stations in Irbil in northern Iraq and Al-Azraq in Jordan were targeted on the weekend, the German military said.

The soldiers on site were not injured and are safe, the German news agency dpa reported.

Strikes killed three people in the western city of Sanandaj early Monday, Iran’s state-run news agency said.

IRNA said the strikes hit two residential sites without providing further details.

Several U.S. warplanes crashed Monday in Kuwait, the country’s Defense Ministry said, with all the pilots safely bailing out.

The ministry did not elaborate on what caused the crashes but it came during an intense period of Iranian fire targeting the country.

The Kuwaiti Defense Ministry said the pilots were taken to a hospital for checkups and their condition was stable.

The U.S. military’s Central Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Turkey has temporarily closed its border with Iran to crossings by Iranians visiting for short trips, the Trade Ministry said, following public concerns that the tensions could trigger migration flows.

A ministry statement said that in a mutual agreement reached with Iran, Turkey is allowing its citizens and third country nationals to enter from Iran but short trips by Iranians have been temporarily suspended.

Meanwhile, commercial freight crossings between Turkey and Iran are continuing “in a controlled manner,” the ministry said.

Israel said crossings to Gaza, where much-needed humanitarian aid passes, will remain closed while the war with Iran continues.

COGAT, the Israeli defense body that oversees aid into Gaza and the crossings, said that the crossings could not be operated safely due to the threat of missiles.

Israelis have been instructed to remain close to bomb shelters and places that are not within a certain distance to a bomb shelter are closed.

COGAT claimed that Gaza has sufficient stockpiles of food for an “extended period” though some organizations, including the World Central Kitchen which operates soup kitchens across Gaza, have warned that they are running out of supplies.

“We need food deliveries every single day to feed hungry families who are not part of this war,” chef Jose Andres, the founder of World Central Kitchen, wrote on X.

Like some other U.S. embassies in the Middle East, the outpost in Kuwait is a large, walled compound consisting of multiple buildings and recreational facilities.

It is located near other embassies and residential areas to the south of central Kuwait City.

The ruling emir’s Bayan Palace is not far away.

In December 1983, a truck packed with explosives heavily damaged parts of the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait when it drove through a gate and detonated.

The bombing was part of a series of attacks later blamed on Iranian-backed militant groups.

Fire and smoke rose from inside the U.S. Embassy compound in Kuwait after an Iranian attack on the small Mideast nation on Monday.

Video obtained by The Associated Press showed the smoke with an alarm wailing.

The United States had earlier issued an urgent warning to Americans there to take cover and remain indoors.

It said: “Do not come to the Embassy,” without elaborating.

Qatar Airways said its flights remain suspended, with its next update planned for Tuesday morning.

Iranian state media published footage showing damage at the Gandhi Hospital in Tehran.

Associated Press journalists heard several loud explosions Monday morning in Irbil, the capital city of Iraq’s semiautonomous region of Kurdistan.

The World Health Organization called for the sparing of civilians and health care facilities in the Middle East amid a regional conflict triggered by Israeli-US strikes on Iran over the weekend.

“The protection of civilians and health care must be absolute,” Hanan Balkhy, regional dietitian at WHO wrote on social media.

“All parties must … ensure medical facilities remain protected.”

Lebanon’s government is holding an emergency meeting after Hezbollah’s attack on Israel triggered Israeli airstrikes in different parts of the country.

The meeting started Monday morning and is being attended by the army chief, Gen. Rudolph Haikal.

The state-run National News Agency reported that the Cabinet will discuss the volatile situation and the measures it plans to take.

A witness said he saw smoke over a Kuwait neighborhood home to the U.S. Embassy as Americans had been urged to stay away.

Ayman Moawad, an Egyptian worker living near the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait, told The Associated Press that he saw smoke over the area.

However, he didn’t know if it was specifically the embassy hit in an ongoing Iranian attack targeting the small Mideast nation.

The U.S. earlier issued an urgent warning to Americans there to take cover and remain indoors.

It said: “Do not come to the Embassy,” without elaborating.

Strikes across Iran continued into Monday, with one apparently taking Iranian state television off air.

Witnesses said an attack in northern Tehran’s Niavaran neighborhood struck one of the transmitters used for Iranian state TV.

Since then, its satellite signals have dropped.

State media had said hospitals and residential areas had been hit in strikes by the Americans and Israelis.

Iran has not offered any details on its materiel losses.

The United Arab Emirates is shutting the country’s main stock exchanges for the start of the trading week as the regional war intensifies.

The country’s Capital Market Authority said the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and Dubai Financial Market would be closed Monday and Tuesday.

It says it will closely monitor the regional situation and take any further steps as necessary.

Another market, the Nasdaq Dubai, also said it was halting trading both days.

Dubai is the Gulf’s main business hub, though the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi is also an important regional financial center and home to some of the world’s biggest sovereign wealth funds.

The benchmark index for the Saudi Exchange, the region’s largest stock market, fell 2.2% on Sunday.

As Kuwait faced an ongoing attack, the U.S. issued an urgent warning to Americans there to take cover and remain indoors.

It said: “Do not come to the Embassy,” without elaborating.

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon after Hezbollah attacked it have killed at least 31 people, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Monday.

The Hezbollah attack and the Israeli retaliatory strikes expand the ongoing war gripping the Mideast after the U.S. and Israel launched an airstrike campaign targeting Iran.

The Health Ministry said that the strikes also wounded 149 people.

It said about two-thirds of those killed were in southern Lebanon.

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides said a Shaheed-type drone caused “minor material damage” to military installations inside the U.K.’s RAF Akrotiri air base on the island’s southern coast.

Christodoulides said in a brief national address that the drone struck just past midnight Monday.

He said all relevant authorities have been put on alert and that he has called a meeting of the country’s national security council to take stock of the situation.

He added that he’s in contact with other European leaders.

“I want to be clear: our homeland is not participating in any way, nor is its intention to take part in any military operation,” Christodoulides said in his address.

He said Cyprus remains focused on the humanitarian role that it plays in the region and that it seeks to be “part of the solution and not the problem,” adding that his primary concern remains the safety and security of the country and its people.

Overnight, airstrikes were reported across Iran.

Elsewhere, explosions were heard in Dubai on Monday.

In Bahrain, the Interior Ministry said sirens sounded across the country as it urged residents to “head to the nearest safe place.”

And in Kuwait, authorities said debris fell on its Ahmadi oil refinery, slightly injuring two workers there.

The state-run KUNA news agency said earlier that Kuwait’s forces had thwarted a drone attack early Monday.

A top Iranian security official on Monday said: “We will not negotiate with the United States.”

Ali Larijani made the statement on X, responding to a report from Qatar’s Al Jazeera news network.

The comment comes as an American and Israeli airstrike campaign continues to target Iran.

Iran and its militia allies have expanded their attacks over the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are planning to hold a press conference Monday morning about the military operation against Iran.

The Pentagon announced the 8 a.m. EST media briefing on social media Sunday night.

On Tuesday, Hegseth and Caine will join U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe in briefing the full membership of Congress on the strikes, the White House said.

Rubio also was slated to brief Hill leadership Monday.

In a statement Monday, President Joseph Aoun said Hezbollah’s rocket launches from Lebanon “target all the efforts and endeavors exerted by the Lebanese state to keep Lebanon away from the dangerous military confrontations taking place in the region.”

He added that while Israeli strikes on Lebanon are condemned, “persisting in using Lebanon once again as a platform for proxy wars in which we have no involvement will expose our country to risks once more.”

Smoke rises up after a strike in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows a F/A-18E Super Hornet makes an arrested landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) after a mission in support of Operation Epic Fury, on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (U.S. Navy via AP)

People watch from a rooftop as a plume of smoke rises after a strike in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A black plume of smoke rises from a warehouse at the industrial area of Sharjah City in the United Arab Emirates following reports of Iranian strikes in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Aramco temporarily shut down its Ras Tanura oil refinery near Dammam on Monday after it was targeted by Iranian drones.

Saudi state television reported the decision, citing what it described as an “official source.” It added there were no casualties from the fire and its decision was a precautionary one.

The refinery has a capacity over half a million barrels of crude oil a day.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran and Iranian-backed militias fired missiles at Israel and Arab states, apparently hitting the U.S. Embassy compound in Kuwait, while Israel and the United States pounded targets in Iran as the war expanded on Monday with statements of defiance and increasing casualties.

At least 555 people have been killed in Iran so far by the U.S.-Israeli campaign, the Iranian Red Crescent Society said, and more than 130 cities across the country having come under attack. Eleven people have been killed in Israel, according to authorities there.

In Kuwait City, as fire and smoke rose from inside the U.S. Embassy compound, the country's defense ministry said “several” American warplanes had also crashed in the country. The ministry did not elaborate on what caused the crashes or how many aircraft were involved, but said the pilots were taken to a hospital and were in stable condition. The U.S. military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The embassy compound was hit not long after U.S. issued a warning to Americans there to take cover and for others to stay away. There were no immediate reports on damage or casualties.

Meantime, as the American and Israeli airstrikes continued, top Iranian security official Ali Larijani vowed on X that “we will not negotiate with the United States.”

In Iraq, a pro-Iranian militia claimed responsibility for a drone attack targeting U.S. troops at the Baghdad airport, the day after it said it fired at a U.S. base in the city of Irbil in the north, and Cyprus said a drone attack targeted a British base on the Mediterranean island nation.

Israel and the U.S. bombed Iranian missile sites and targeted its navy, claiming to have destroyed its headquarters and multiple warships.

With world markets already rattled by the fighting and oil prices soaring, Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura oil refinery came under attack Monday from drones, with defenses downing the incoming aircraft, a military spokesman made the announcement on the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

Online videos from the site appeared to show thick black smoke rising after the attack. Even successfully intercepted drones cause debris that can spark fires and injure those on the ground.

Ras Tanura, near Dammam, has a capacity over half a million barrels of crude oil a day.

Earlier in the day, debris fell on Kuwait's Ahmadi oil refinery, injuring two workers, after drones were shot down, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.

Iran’s decision to expands its attacks to major regional oil infrastructure add a new element to the war gripping the Middle East, directly targeting the lifeblood of the area's economy.

“The attack on Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery marks a significant escalation, with Gulf energy infrastructure now squarely in Iran’s sights,” said Torbjorn Soltvedt, an analyst at the risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.

“An extended period of uncertainty lies ahead as Iran seeks to impose a heavy economic cost by putting tankers, regional energy infrastructure, trade routes and U.S. security partners in the crosshairs,” he added.

Already, Iran has been threatening ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes. Several ships have been attacked as well there.

Sascha Bruchmann, a defense analyst with the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Bahrain, told The Associated Press that Iran's goal in hitting energy infrastructure is to 'cause global backlash and impose costs" on the U.S. president.

So far, however, “this is not the wholesome destruction of critical infrastructure the Iranian regime seeks,” Bruchmann said.

As the attacks on Iran continued, Hezbollah said it fired missiles from Lebanon into Israel early Monday in response to the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and “repeated Israeli aggressions.” There were no reports of injuries or damage, and Israel said that it had intercepted one projectile while several fell in open areas.

Israel retaliated with strikes on Lebanon, killing at least 31 people and wounding 149 others, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. About two thirds of the dead were in the country's south.

Lebanon’s government said it was holding an emergency meeting after Hezbollah’s attack on Israel triggered the Israeli airstrikes.

Iran has been firing missiles at Israel and Arab states in a counteroffensive since the joint America-Israeli attack Saturday that killed Khamenei and many top Iranian officials.

Gulf Arab states have warned that they could retaliate against Iran after strikes that hit key sites and killed at least five civilians, and U.S. President Donald Trump promised Washington would “avenge” the deaths of three American troops who were killed in Kuwait, while predicting more casualties.

“Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends,” Trump said. “That’s the way it is.”

Trump has urged Iranians to “take over” their government and, while he has also signaled he would be open to dialogue with new leadership there following the death of Khamenei, suggested Sunday there was no end in sight to the military operations.

“Combat operations continue at this time in full-force, and they will continue until all of our objectives are achieved,” he said in a video message. “We have very strong objectives,” he added, without elaborating.

The U.S. military said B-2 stealth bombers struck Iran’s ballistic missile facilities with 2,000-pound bombs. Trump said on social media that nine Iranian warships had been sunk and that the Iranian navy’s headquarters had been “largely destroyed.”

Others have mostly stayed out of the war and pressed for diplomacy. But in an indication that the conflict could draw in other nations, Britain, France and Germany said Sunday they were ready to work with the U.S. to help stop Iran’s attacks.

Early Monday, Cyprus said an uncrewed drone “caused limited damage” when it hit a British air base on the southern coast. Further details were not immediately available, but it came after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the U.K. would help the U.S. in the war against Iran.

The weekend attacks were the second time in eight months that the U.S. and Israel had combined against Iran, in a startling show of military might for an American president elected on an “America First” platform and pledged to keep out of “forever wars.”

In the 12-day war last June, Israeli and American strikes greatly weakened Iran’s air defenses, military leadership and nuclear program. But the killing of Khamenei, who ruled Iran for more than three decades, creates a leadership vacuum, increasing the risk of regional instability.

Hezbollah’s launch of missiles at Israel was the first time in more than a year that the militant group has claimed an attack.

Iran’s proxies were a chief concern for American and Israeli officials before they suspended negotiations with Iran last week and moved ahead with strikes on Iran.

Israel said the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group had “joined the campaign” alongside Iran as it retaliated with strikes on Beirut, Lebanon's capital.

Associated Press journalists in Beirut were jolted awake by a series of loud explosions that shook buildings and caused windows to shatter. Warplanes could be heard flying low overhead.

“The strikes continue,” said Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo, head of Israel’s Northern Command. “Their intensity will increase.”

The Iraqi Shiite militia Saraya Awliya al-Dam claimed a drone attack Monday targeting U.S. troops at the airport in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, further widening the retaliation over the killing of Khamenei. It had claimed a drone attack on Sunday against a U.S. air base in Irbil, in Iraq’s north.

The group is one of a number of Shiite militias operating in Iraq. The U.S. and Iraq did not immediately comment on the claims.

In the Persian Gulf, Iran’s retaliatory strikes pushed the conflict into cities that have long marketed themselves as regional safe havens. Three people were reported killed in the United Arab Emirates and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain.

In the United Arab Emirates, authorities said most Iranian missiles and drones were intercepted. But some either got through or fell as debris, causing the deaths and significant damage. Bahrain and Kuwait said Iranian strikes in both countries hit civilian targets outside the U.S. bases where Iran had pledged to retaliate.

Tehran’s streets were largely deserted as people have been sheltering during airstrikes, witnesses told the AP, speaking anonymously for fear of retribution. The paramilitary Basij force, which has played a central role in crushing protests, set up checkpoints across the city, they said.

In Israel, rescue services have confirmed several locations have been hit by Iranian missiles, including Jerusalem and a synagogue in Beit Shemesh, where nine people were killed and 28 wounded, bringing the overall death toll in the country to 11.

The World Health Organization called Monday for sparing civilians and healthcare facilities in the Middle East amid the escalating conflict.

“The protection of civilians and health care must be absolute,” Hanan Balkhy, regional dietitian at WHO wrote on social media. “All parties must … ensure medical facilities remain protected.”

Rising reported from Bangkok and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue and Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed to this report.

Iraqi Shiites hold pictures of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed by a U.S. airstrike in Tehran, during a symbolic funeral, in Najaf, Iraq, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)

This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows a F/A-18F Super Hornet preparing to make an arrested landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72)) in support of Operation Epic Fury, on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (U.S. Navy via AP)

In this photo taken with a slow shutter speed, a Middle East Airlines plane flies over Beirut as smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh in Beirut's southern suburbs, early Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A man takes pictures of the damage in an apartment building after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburb, Lebanon, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows a Navy sailor observing flight operations aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72)) in support of Operation Epic Fury, on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (U.S. Navy via AP)

Iraqi Shiites hold pictures of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed by a U.S. airstrike in Tehran, during a symbolic funeral, in Najaf, Iraq, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)