Drone attack hits US embassy in Saudi Arabia – live updates

The United States embassy in Saudi Arabia has closed today following an Iranian drone attack last night.

The building in Riyadh was hit by two drones resulting in a limited fire and some material damage, the kingdom’s defence ministry said in a post on X on Tuesday, citing an initial assessment.

Black smoke was seen rising over Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter, which houses foreign missions.

There were no reported injuries

US officials confirmed it would remain closed today and urged people to stay away.

‘Avoid the embassy until further notice due to an attack on the facility,’ a statement said, urging American citizens to ‘shelter in place’.

Debris from a drone interception caused a fire to break out at an oil zone in the United Arab Emirates today.

Authorities said the blaze at Fujairah was contained and there are no reports of injuries.

‘Relevant authorities in the Emirate of Fujairah responded to a fire that broke out this morning in the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone (FOIZ), resulting from falling debris following the successful interception of a drone by air defence systems,’ the Fujairah Media Office said.

‘No injuries were reported, the fire was brought under control, and normal operations in the area have resumed.’

Fujairah hosts the region’s largest commercial storage capacity for refined oil products and is considered the Middle East’s leading oil trading hub.

European stock markets slid further at the start of trading today and the region’s natural gas prices soared again in response of the Iran war.

Frankfurt’s DAX index of top German companies shed 2.0 percent, the Paris CAC 40 lost 1.8 percent and London’s FTSE 100 retreated by 1.4 percent in value.

The Dutch TTF natural gas contract, considered the European benchmark, shot up more than 33 percent having rocketed almost 40 percent on Monday after Qatar halted liquefied natural gas production following Iranian attacks on state processing facilities.

Israel has declared it has deployed troops to multiple locations in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military said the move amounted to a ‘forward defence” measure along the border instead of a ground operation.

‘We have positioned soldiers on the border area in additional points to defend our civilians, to prevent Hezbollah from attacking them,’ military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told journalists in a separate briefing.

‘This is not a ground operation. This is a tactical measure… to ensure the safety of our people,’ he added.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement he had authorised the military to advance and take control of additional positions in Lebanon after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel late on Sunday, in reaction to U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iran.

Israeli forces have occupied five positions in southern Lebanon since November 2024.

Astonishing footage captured the moment an American pilot, who parachuted out of an F-15 fighter jet shot down over Kuwait, was threatened by a local with a pipe.

Footage on social media shows a group of men approaching the pilot and shouting, while one of them brandishes a metal pipe.

The pilot is heard repeating: ‘Back up. Stop!’ as the men move closer and closer., appearing to think the airman is Iranian.

The tense situation is diffused once the pilot finally tells the locals he is American, after which they retreat and leave him alone.

The pilot was aboard one of the three US jets that were mistakenly shot down over the Middle Eastern country on Monday.

Footage had earlier emerged showing the $90 million planes spiraling out of control as they crashed to the ground.

China called on all sides in the Middle East war to maintain safety in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route for oil and gas, and vowed measures to ensure its energy security.

Nearly a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil supplies pass through the strait, as well as a significant amount of cargo.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards declared it closed on Saturday, prompting several international shipping groups to halt passage through the waterway.

‘China urges all parties to immediately cease military operations, avoid further escalation of tensions, maintain the safety of shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz, and prevent a greater impact on the global economy,’ foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular news conference on Tuesday.

‘Energy security is of great importance to the global economy… China will take necessary measures to ensure its energy security,’ she said.

China is the main buyer of Iranian oil, most of which passes through the strait.

Satellite image taken on Monday shows smoke after a nearby explosion

by Adam Pogrund

Mossad operatives hacked into Tehran’s traffic camera network to spy on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his bodyguards and other top Iranian officials for years before his assassination, according to a report.

Israel gained access to almost all the city’s cameras, which are used extensively by Iran to spy on regime opponents and its own population, and tracked the movements of key bodyguards.

Images were said to be transmitted back to Tel Aviv and southern Israel, allowing Mossad to develop intimate knowledge on the guards’ addresses, work schedules and who they were assigned to protect.

One camera angle proved especially helpful and allowed agents to track where bodyguards parked their personal cars when arriving at the Supreme Leader’s compound on Pasteur Street in the heart of Tehran.

The hacks were part of a years-long intelligence campaign which eventually led to the killing of Khamenei on Saturday after jets, which had travelled directly from Israeli military bases for hours, fired up to 30 precision munitions on his complex.

by Martin Robinson

Donald Trump has today suggested that Sir Keir Starmer’s decision not to back his war with Iran is because he is pandering to Muslim voters.

The US President has said that he ‘loves’ the UK and its people but added it is ‘not such a recognisable country’ anymore.

‘Stop people from coming in from foreign lands who hate you’, he told the PM.

Asked whether Sir Keir is pandering to Muslim voters for political reasons, the President replied he ‘could be.’

Mr Trump spoke out as the Prime Minister was accused of undermining the Special Relationship by not allowing US bombers to launch their assault on Iran from British bases.

The Pentagon has also vented its fury at Mr Starmer for his ‘pearl-clutching’ over the US attacks that wiped out Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz has declared he has ordered the IDF to take control of more positions in Lebanon following an attack from Hezbollah.

‘Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have authorized the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to advance and take control of additional strategic positions in Lebanon in order to prevent attacks on Israeli border communities,’ Katz said in a statement.

Israeli military have said strikes have been launched today on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon’s capital Beirut.

‘The IDF is currently striking Hezbollah command centres and weapons storage facilities in Beirut,’ a statement from the military said.

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut

Drones targeted an Omani port on Tuesday, hitting a fuel tank, state media said, as Iran presses its campaign against the Gulf in response to US and Israeli strikes.

‘A security source reported that fuel tanks at the commercial port of Duqm were targeted by a number of drones, one of which hit a fuel tank. The resulting damage was contained without any human casualties,’ the Oman News Agency said.

The attack is the second on the port in three days, as Iran broadens its targets in the Gulf.

Oman, which played a mediation role in talks between the US and Iran, has called for a ceasefire in the war.

On Sunday a worker was injured when two drones struck the same port. One hit accommodation for workers, while debris from the other landed near fuel tanks, the Oman News Agency said.

They were the first attacks on the sultanate since war broke out, with Oman facing strikes despite acting as a mediator between Iran and the United States just days prior to the conflict.

On Monday one person was killed in an attack on an oil tanker off the coast of the capital Muscat that caused an explosion and fire, authorities said.

The U.S. Department of State on Monday called on Americans to immediately depart from 15 countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, amid U.S-Israeli strikes against Iran.

Mora Namdar, the State Department’s assistant secretary for consular affairs, said U.S. citizens should leave using available commercial transportation ‘due to safety risks’.

The warning came after the department, in recent days, updated its travel advisories for several countries in the region to recommend against travel.

US citizens have been urged to evacuate from Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Donald Trump has boasted about US weapon stocks, saying wars could be fought ‘forever’ with the country’s current supplies.

In a statement on Truth Social, the President wrote: ‘As was stated to me today, we have a virtually unlimited supply of these weapons. Wars can be fought “forever”, and very successfully, using just these supplies.

‘At the highest end, we have a good supply, but are not where we want to be.

‘Much additional high grade weaponry is stored for us in outlying countries.

‘The United States is stocked, and ready to WIN, BIG!!!’