Iran War: What’s Happening on Day 18 of US-Israel Attack? | US-Israel war over Iran news

The US and Israel continue to attack Iranian cities as the conflict spreads to the region and sparks a global energy crisis.

The United States-Israeli war over Iran continues to intensify as attacks on multiple cities kill civilians, including a newborn baby and his two-year-old sister in the city of Arak.

The conflict has spread as Iran has retaliated against US assets in neighboring countries, while Israel has bombed southern Lebanon against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah armed group.

The war has sharply increased oil prices, disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and displaced millions of civilians across the region.

An Amnesty International investigation found the US was responsible for an attack on an elementary school in Minab, Iran, that killed at least 170 people, including more than 160 girls.

Here’s what we know:

In Iran

• Attacks on Iranian cities: A series of large explosions were reported in northern Tehran near the Sadabad Palace complex, following earlier attacks in central Tehran, Karaj, Shahriar and Shiraz.
• A three-day-old infant and his two-year-old sister were among those killed in a US-Israeli raid on their home in the city of Arak, according to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The children’s mother and grandmother were also killed in the attack, Iran’s English-language news channel Press TV quoted IRGC as saying.
• Iranian retaliation and stance: Iranian President Massoud Pezheshkian has defended Tehran’s right to self-defense, saying Iran did not start the war and will not surrender to “bullies.”
• Iranian Primary School: An Amnesty International investigation confirmed that the US attack on an Iranian primary school killed at least 170 people, most of them schoolgirls.
• Rising casualties: At least 1,444 people have been killed and 18,551 injured in US-Israeli attacks on Iran since February 28.

in the bay

• UAE Oil Field: The UAE’s Fujairah government said the fire broke out in its oil industry sector after it was attacked by drones. Debris from a missile intercepted by air defense forces in Abu Dhabi’s Bani Yas area killed one person, the emirate’s media office said. The office said in a post on X that the victim was a Pakistani national.
• UAE Airspace Closure: The UAE announced a temporary closure of its airspace as its defense forces responded to incoming missiles and drones.
• Kathar: Qatar’s defense ministry says the missile has been intercepted, and civil defense workers are later reportedly dealing with a “limited fire” in an industrial zone caused by missile debris. Earlier, the country’s defense ministry reported that it had successfully intercepted and destroyed 13 of the 14 ballistic missiles launched by Iran.
• Kuwait: A spokesman for Kuwait’s National Guard says the drone was brought down due to “ongoing efforts to increase security” and to “protect important locations”. Earlier, the country’s interior ministry had arrested 14 Kuwaitis and two Lebanese nationals with Hezbollah for planning a “subversive plot” inside the Gulf nation.
• Bahrain: The country announced it had neutralized 129 missiles and 221 drones since the war began two weeks ago.
• Saudi Arabia: A Saudi Defense Ministry spokesman said 12 drones were intercepted in the kingdom’s eastern region.

In Israel

• Netanyahu sends greetings for Nowruz: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sent greetings to Iranians for the upcoming Nowruz holiday, which marks the Persian New Year.
• Hezbollah targets Israeli city: Hezbollah said it had launched an attack on Monday against the northern Israeli city of Nahariya, where Israeli first responders reported that one person had been wounded.
• Shrapnel falls on the holy places of Jerusalem: Israeli police said they found the missile and interceptor fragments at holy sites in Jerusalem’s Old City, including areas near the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
• Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Monday that the displaced Lebanese will not be allowed to return home until the northern part of Israel is secure. More than a million Lebanese have been displaced since Israel began attacking the country. His comments came after the Israeli military announced “limited ground operations” in Lebanon.

In the US

• Trump Hormuz needs ‘enthusiasm’: US President Donald Trump stepped up pressure on the United Kingdom and France, in particular, to help secure shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has closed, as global oil prices soar.
• European leaders reject Trump’s demands: Germany has said it has no intention of joining a US-Israeli war, and the European Union’s foreign policy chief noted that European countries have “no appetite” to send troops.
• Trump calls Iran a ‘paper tiger’: “This is a paper tiger we’re dealing with,” he said. Iran has closed access to the Strait of Hormuz to “our enemies”.
• Vance’s support for Trump: Vice President JD Vance said he supported Trump’s move despite his distaste for past US military interventions. “We’ve had smart presidents, but in the past, we’ve had dumb presidents, and I believe President Trump will do the work to make things good for the American people,” Vance said.
• China Tour: Trump announced that he has asked to postpone his upcoming trip to China by one month. The trip was originally scheduled for late March, but Trump explained that he needed to stay in the U.S. while the conflict was ongoing, telling reporters, “We have a war going on.”

in Lebanon

• Hezbollah attacks Israel in Lebanon: Hezbollah said it attacked Israeli troops and vehicles in at least three Lebanese border towns after the Israeli army announced it had launched a limited ground operation in Lebanon.
• Residents of the Lebanese village of Arab al-Jal in southern Lebanon have been ordered by Israel’s army to flee ahead of an imminent attack.
• One Million Displaced in Lebanon: Lebanese officials say more than a million people have been displaced since Israel began attacking Hezbollah.
• Israel’s invasion of Lebanese soil is a ‘mistake’: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned that the Israeli ground offensive in Lebanon was a “mistake” that would “further exacerbate the already highly tense humanitarian situation” in the country.

In Iraq

• Security sources told Al Jazeera that an airstrike on a house in Baghdad’s Jadriya district killed four people and wounded several others.
• Baghdad Hotel Attack: A drone set fire to a luxury hotel frequented by foreign diplomats in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone on Monday, shortly before air defenses foiled a rocket attack on the US embassy.
• Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah Commander Killed: Iraq’s powerful armed group Kataib Hezbollah said its senior security commander, Abu Ali al-Askari, had been killed, without giving details about the circumstances of his death.
• Iraq Government Response: The Iraqi government strongly condemned the attacks on the US embassy, ​​a Baghdad hotel and a major oil field in the south of the country as “terrorist attacks”.

Global economic impact

• Financial and energy markets: The war has severely disrupted global financial and energy markets, with crude oil prices rising nearly 50 percent since the start of the joint US-Israel strikes. Brent crude oil recently touched $106 per barrel.
• Japan begins releasing oil shares: Japan said it is starting to release its strategic oil reserves after the International Energy Agency indicated that releases would begin earlier than other regions in Asia and Oceania.