Across Tehran, the sound of explosions rang out through the night and into the early hours Tuesday, as the U.S. and Israel have continued to pound Iran since killing its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
Tehran and its allies have hit back against Israel, neighboring Gulf states, and targets critical to the world’s production of oil and natural gas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late Monday defended the decision to go to war, contending in an interview on Fox News Channel’s "Hannity" that Iran was rebuilding “new sites, new places” that would make “their ballistic missile program and their atomic bomb program immune within months.”
Qatari official says Iranian attacks ‘will not go unanswered’
A Qatari official says Iranian attacks in the gas-rich country “will not go unanswered” as the Iran war expands in the Middle East.
Majed Al Ansari, a spokesman of the Qatari foreign ministry, said the Iranian attacks not only targeted military facilities but struck across all of Qatar’s territory.
“Such attacks will not go unanswered,” he said in a briefing.
He said there were attempted attacks on the Hamad International airport, adding that more than 8,000 people have been stranded as the country’s airspace remains closed.
US ambassador advises Americans to leave through Sinai Peninsula
The U.S. ambassador in Israel told Americans there that the best way to leave is through Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
Mike Huckabee said in a social media post early Tuesday that the embassy was receiving lots of evacuations requests as embassy staff “are sheltering in place.”
“There are VERY LIMITED options,” he wrote. “Not sure when Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv will reopen.”
He advised Americans to take buses to Egypt’s resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh and Taba in southern Sinai, describing that route as “best.”
Israel military says airstrikes hit Iran’s presidential office
The Israeli military said Tuesday it has struck Iran’s presidential office and the building of the country’s Supreme National Security Council.
It said the airstrikes happened overnight.
“In addition, the gathering site of the regime’s most senior forum responsible for security decision-making was targeted, as well as the institution for training Iranian military officers and additional key regime infrastructure,” it added.
Iran did not immediately acknowledge the strikes.
Israeli military strikes building housing Hebzollah TV and radio station
The Israeli military struck a building in a southern suburb of Beirut housing Hebzollah’s TV and radio station, causing heavy damage.
The strike after midnight Monday came after a warning by the Israeli military to evacuate the building. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV was interrupted for about an hour before the station resumed its programs.
During the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, Al-Manar TV and al-Nour Radio station were both struck but continued broadcasts from secret locations.
UN nuclear watchdog says Iran nuclear enrichment site sustained damage
The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said Tuesday that Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment site sustained “some recent damage” during a U.S.-Israeli airstrike campaign, though it said there was “no radiological consequence expected” from it.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said the damage was focused on “entrance buildings” to the underground portion of the atomic site.
Natanz earlier came under attack by the U.S. in the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June.
The IAEA said it saw “no additional impact” detected at Natanz’s fuel enrichment plant, which is buried underground.
Nuclear material is still believed to be buried at the plant alongside damaged and destroyed centrifuges. However, the IAEA has not been allowed to visit any of the attacked sites by Iran since that war.
