The United States military has struck nearly 2,000 targets inside Iran in what officials described as the region’s largest firepower buildup in a generation, a top American commander said Tuesday. Admiral Brad Cooper of US Central Command said in a video message that US forces had used more than 2,000 munitions, severely degrading Iran’s air defences and destroying hundreds of ballistic missiles, launchers and drones. He added that the first 24 hours of the operation were nearly double the scale of the opening day of the 2003 Iraq war and that round-the-clock strikes were continuing.

The escalating regional conflict has left hundreds dead across multiple countries, with Iran reporting the highest toll at 787 fatalities. Civilian and military casualties have also been confirmed in Israel, Lebanon and several Gulf nations, including the deaths of six US service members in Kuwait.

Hezbollah targets Haifa naval base
Lebanon-based Hezbollah said it fired a barrage of “high-quality missiles” at Israel’s Haifa naval base at 8.00 pm local time Tuesday, describing the attack as retaliation for Israeli strikes on its strongholds. The Israeli military said it detected several incoming projectiles and intercepted most of them.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for 13 attacks on Israel during the day, including strikes on at least five Israeli tanks using guided missiles. The group also reported launching attack drones and rocket salvos toward bases in northern Israel and the Golan Heights and said it downed an Israeli drone over the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh. It described the operations as a response to what it called Israeli aggression against dozens of Lebanese towns and cities.

Middle East on fire
Iran expanded retaliatory missile and drone attacks across the Middle East, targeting additional US facilities. Iranian strikes hit near the US consulate in Dubai, sparking a fire without causing casualties, and targeted the Al-Udeid air base in Qatar.

The attacks followed earlier strikes on US diplomatic and military sites in Riyadh, Kuwait City and Bahrain, prompting Washington to order evacuations of diplomatic personnel. Islamic Revolutionary Guard General Ebrahim Jabbari warned that Iran would strike economic centres across the region if its own key sites were attacked.

Across the region, the conflict disrupted civilian life and air travel. Qatar said it intercepted missiles targeting Hamad International Airport in Doha, while Oman reported drone attacks on the port of Duqm. In the United Arab Emirates, debris from an intercepted drone caused a fire at an oil storage and trading zone, authorities said.

With global energy prices rising, US President Donald Trump said the US Navy was prepared to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic Gulf chokepoint that Iran has threatened to block.

Israel expands strikes in Lebanon and Iran
Israel intensified its campaign, announcing it had begun “simultaneous strikes in Tehran and Beirut” and had hit about 60 targets linked to Hezbollah and Hamas. Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had authorised the Israel Defense Forces to take control of additional strategic positions in Lebanon to prevent attacks on Israeli border communities.

The military also confirmed deploying troops to parts of southern Lebanon in what it called a forward defence move. Israeli air raids continued to pound Beirut’s southern suburbs for a second consecutive day after evacuation warnings were issued, with large plumes of smoke seen rising over the capital.

Hezbollah said Israel targeted the Beirut headquarters of its Al-Manar television channel overnight and later struck the offices of Al-Nour radio. The group condemned the attacks as attempts to silence what it called civilian media outlets.

Elsewhere in Lebanon, the southern city of Sidon was hit twice, including a strike on a headquarters belonging to Jamaa Islamiya, an Islamist group allied with Hamas and Hezbollah. Areas around Tyre were also bombed following evacuation warnings.

Lebanese authorities reported that more than 58,000 people had been displaced from affected areas, while the United Nations put the displacement figure above 30,000 with dozens reported dead.

Too late for talks: Trump
Trump said Iran had sought to resume nuclear talks but insisted it was “too late”, claiming that US and Israeli strikes had knocked out most of Iran’s military capabilities and killed potential successor leaders.

Iranian media reported that strikes hit a building in the holy city of Qom linked to the committee responsible for selecting a new supreme leader, a day after attacks on its main headquarters in Tehran. Explosions continued to rock Tehran, where images showed damage at Mehrabad airport and Israeli forces reported striking an underground facility allegedly linked to nuclear weapons development.

Iran’s foreign ministry said the UN Security Council had a duty to intervene to halt the conflict, even as Tehran vowed to impose economic costs on its adversaries.

Casualties

• Iran: 787 people killed, including 165 schoolgirls and staff killed in a missile strike on a primary school in Minab in the country’s south on the war’s first day, according to the non-profit humanitarian group Iranian Red Crescent Society. It was unclear if the death toll included Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps military casualties.
• Israel: 10 civilians killed, including nine people in an Iranian missile strike on Beit Shemesh near Jerusalem on March 1, according to Israel’s ambulance service Magen David Adom. The Israel Defense Forces has reported no military casualties.
• Lebanon: 50 people killed in Israeli strikes, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
• Bahrain: One person killed after a fire broke out in Bahrain’s Salman Industrial City following a missile interception, according to the interior ministry.
• Kuwait: Three people, including two Kuwaiti soldiers, killed in Iranian attacks on the country, according to Kuwait’s health and foreign ministries.
• Oman: One person killed after a projectile hit the Marshall Islands–flagged product tanker MKD VYOM off the coast of Muscat.
• United Arab Emirates: Three people killed, according to the UAE’s defence ministry.
• US military: Six US service members were killed in a strike on a facility in Kuwait, according to US Central Command.