Amid the chaos, the US military said Kuwait ‘mistakenly shot down’ three F-15E Strike Eagle fighters during a combat mission
not to war Middle East reached the third day this Monday (2), with new bombings exchanged between Israel and Iran and the expansion of new sources of conflict in the region.
During the early hours of the morning, Hezbollah, a Shiite militia allied with Iran, launched attacks against northern Israel in retaliation for the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday (28). The Israeli Army responded with bombings against the group in southern Lebanon and around Beirut. At least 31 people died and 149 were injured, according to the Lebanese government.
Iran then responded with new attacks on Israeli cities. According to the Iranian government, missiles were launched against Haifa and Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem, where Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office is located.
In a press conference, General Dan Caine, chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated that the operation against Iran is in its early stages and that more American forces continue to arrive in the Middle East, suggesting a prolonged campaign. “This work is just beginning and will continue,” he said.
Drones attack the Gulf
Iranian drones also attacked oil tankers in the Persian Gulfo, in addition to targets in Omani territorial waters. Iran has also launched drones at industrial targets in Qatar. Attacks were also recorded in Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, the UAE said it intercepted an Iranian attack.
The British government says it prevented a drone attack on its air base in Cyprus, which has been aiding the Israeli air defense effort. Amid the chaos, the US military claimed that Kuwait “mistakenly shot down” three American F-15E Strike Eagle fighters during a combat mission.
F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft, mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defense
Deaths in Iran
In the morning, Israel also launched new attacks against the Iranian capital, Tehran. , according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, and more than 130 cities across the country were attacked. In Israel, 11 people were killed.
Iranian cleric Alireza Arafi, in his first public address since becoming a member of Iran’s interim leadership council, said he hoped a new supreme leader would be appointed “quickly” to replace Ali Khamenei.
The 88-member Assembly of Experts, a group made up mainly of hard-line clerics, will choose former supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s replacement. However, there is still no defined successor.
Arafi serves on an interim leadership council that includes President Masoud Pezeshkian and the head of Iran’s judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, also a hardliner. Arafi added that state institutions continue to function “under these extremely difficult circumstances.”
Qatar suspends natural gas production
A QatarEnergyone of the largest natural gas producers in the world, announced the suspension of liquefied natural gas production (LNG), thus removing one of its main global suppliers from the market.
“Due to military attacks on QatarEnergy’s operational facilities in the industrial cities of Ras Laffan and Mesaieed in Qatar, the company has halted production of liquefied natural gas and associated products,” it said. “QatarEnergy values the relationship with all its partners and will continue to communicate the latest information available”
The company did not disclose a deadline for the resumption of production.
Pandora’s Box
Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, sent this Sunday (1st) a letter to the United Nations (UN). In the document, the chancellor said that the attacks by the United States and Israel which resulted in the death of Iranian supreme leaderAyatollah Ali Khamenei, “open a dangerous Pandora’s box”.
Araghchi said the operation against Iran “constitutes a grave and unprecedented violation of the most fundamental norms governing relations between states.” The chancellor also asked the UN and the organization’s Security Council to take measures to ensure accountability of the United States and Israel for their role in Khamenei’s assassination.
Attack on Netanyahu
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed responsibility for a missile attack on the Israeli prime minister’s office Benjamin Netanyahu and the headquarters of the commander of the Israeli Air Force. The Israeli government has not yet commented.
“The office of the criminal prime minister of the Zionist regime and the headquarters of the commander of the regime’s air force were attacked,” the Islamic Republic’s ideological army said in a statement carried by the Fars news agency.
Trump says war could last more than a month
In an interview with the American newspaper The New York Times, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, pointed out that Washington and Tel-Aviv intend to maintain attacks on Iran for “four to five weeks”if necessary.
“It won’t be difficult,” Trump added. “We have enormous amounts of ammunition. You know, we have ammunition stored all over the world, in different countries.”
The American president did not mention Pentagon concerns that the conflict could further deplete reserves that military strategists consider crucial for scenarios such as a conflict over Taiwan or Russian incursions into Europe.
During the approximately six-minute callTalthough he refused to name them. On Sunday, Iran’s top national security official, Ali Larijani, said an interim committee would run the country until a successor to the supreme leader was chosen.
The president presented a variety of viewsoften inconsistent, statements on how a new government could be formed following the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled the country for more than three decades until he was killed in an airstrike on Saturday.
The Republican noted that he expected Iran’s elite military forces – including experienced Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers who wield substantial influence and profit from the current regime – would simply hand over their weapons to the Iranian population.
“They would really surrender to the people, if you think about it,” he said.
He then offered a very different model for what Iran’s transition of power could look like, repeatedly referring to his experience in Venezuela after ordering a Delta Force team to arrest dictator Nicolás Maduro.
The American president also criticized the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, for the delay in authorizing the use of the British military base of Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean, to attack Iranian positions.
No negotiations
Following the US and Israeli airstrikes against Iran, the powerful head of the Iranian National Security Council, Ali Larijani, denied any negotiations with the American government. “We will not negotiate with the USA”, declared Larijani this Monday, in a post on social media. He denied reports in the press that Iranian representatives had tried to start talks with Washington.
Larijani too accused American President Donald Trump to have “plunged the region into chaos with your ‘illusory dreams.’” He added that Trump now it is worried about losses among American forces.
Ali Larijani, head of Tehran’s Supreme National Security Council
US will send more fighter jets to the Middle East
United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and General Dan Caine, Chief of Staff of the United States Armed Forces, gave some details about the next steps of the war launched by the USA and Israel against Iran in a press conference this Monday, 2, at the Pentagon.
Segundo Hegseth, American military objectives consist of destroying Iran’s ability to launch ballistic attacks and naval attacks against Israeli and American assets in the Middle East.
Another goal is to definitively destroy the Persian nuclear program. Last year, the US and Israel launched air strikes against Iranian nuclear plants with the same objective, which ended up not being achieved.
General Caine said the operation against Iran is in its early stages and that more American forces continue to arrive in the Middle East, suggesting a prolonged campaign. “This work is just beginning and will continue,” he said.
Fourth American soldier dies during operation
according to an announcement from the US Central Command this Monday, 2.
The soldier was injured during the initial phase of the operation and died this Monday, the command said. Three more soldiers have been killed since Israel and the US launched attacks against Iran on Saturday the 28th.
Cyprus intercepts drones heading to air base
War is also coming to Europe. The government of Cyprus reported that two drones heading to a British air base on the island were intercepted.
Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides had previously stated that a Shaheed-type drone caused minor damage when it struck inside the base a few minutes after midnight. (With international agencies).
*With information from Estadão Conteúdo and AFP
