War in the Middle East widens and Saudi Arabia closes key oil refinery after attack

Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Aramco temporarily shut down its Ras Tanura oil refinery near Dammam on Monday after it came under attack by Iranian drones.

The decision was reported by Saudi state television, which it described as an “official source”. It added that there were no casualties from the fire and its decision was precautionary.

The refinery has a capacity of more than half a million barrels of crude oil per day.

This is a breaking news update. Below is the story behind the AP.

Iran and Iran-backed militias fired missiles at Israel and Arab states, apparently hitting the US embassy compound in Kuwait, while Israel and the United States hit targets in Iran, as the war widened on Monday with claims of defiance and mounting casualties.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society said the US-Israeli campaign has so far killed at least 555 people in Iran, and more than 130 cities across the country have been attacked. Eleven people have died in Israel, officials there said.

In Kuwait City, as fire and smoke rose from the US embassy compound, the country’s defense ministry said “several” American warplanes had crashed in the country. The ministry did not elaborate on what caused the crash or how many planes were involved, but said the pilots were taken to hospital and were in stable condition. The US military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The embassy compound was struck shortly after the US warned Americans to take cover and others to stay away. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

Meanwhile, as American and Israeli airstrikes continued, Iran’s top security official Ali Larijani vowed at X that “we will not negotiate with the United States.”

In Iraq, a pro-Iranian militia claimed responsibility for a drone strike targeting US forces at Baghdad airport, a day after it said it had fired on a US base in the northern city of Irbil, and Cyprus said it had carried out a drone strike targeting a British base in the Mediterranean island nation.

Israel and the US bombed Iranian missile sites and claimed to have targeted its navy, destroying its headquarters and several warships.

With world markets already reeling and oil prices soaring, Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura oil refinery came under attack by drones on Monday, with defenses shooting down the incoming aircraft, a military spokesman announced on the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

Online videos from the site show thick black smoke rising after the attack. Even successfully intercepted drones cause debris that can ignite fires and injure those on the ground.

Ras Tanura, near Dammam, has a capacity of half a million barrels of crude oil per day.

Earlier in the day, debris fell on Kuwait’s Ahmadi oil refinery after drones were shot down, injuring two workers, the state-run Kuna news agency reported.

Iran’s decision to expand its attack on key regional oil infrastructure adds a new dimension to the war to hold the Middle East, directly targeting the lifeblood of the region’s economy.

“The attack on Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery marks a significant escalation, with Gulf energy infrastructure now in Iran’s sights,” said Torbjörn Soltvedt, an analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.

“An extended period of uncertainty lies ahead as Iran seeks to impose heavy economic costs by crippling tankers, regional energy infrastructure, trade routes and US security partners,” he said.

Already, Iran is threatening shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil trade passes. Several ships have been attacked there as well.

Sascha Bruchmann, a defense analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Bahrain, told The Associated Press that Iran’s goal in striking energy infrastructure was to ’cause a global backlash and impose costs on the US president’.

So far, however, “it’s not the healthy destruction of critical infrastructure that the Iranian regime wants,” Bruchmann said.

As attacks on Iran continue, Hezbollah said it fired missiles from Lebanon into Israel early Monday in response to the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and “repeated Israeli aggression.” There were no reports of injuries or damage, and Israel said one projectile was intercepted and several landed in open areas.

Israel retaliated with strikes in Lebanon, killing at least 31 people and injuring 149 others, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health. Two-thirds of the dead were in the south of the country.

Lebanon’s government says it is holding an emergency meeting after Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel triggered Israeli airstrikes.

Iran is firing missiles at Israel and Arab countries in retaliation after a joint US-Israeli strike that killed Khamenei and several top Iranian officials on Saturday.

Gulf Arab nations have warned of retaliation against Iran after attacks that hit key locations and killed at least five civilians, and US President Donald Trump vowed to “avenge” the deaths of three American soldiers killed in Washington in Kuwait, but predicted more casualties.

“Sadly, there will be more before it ends,” Trump said. “That’s how it is.”

Trump has urged the Iranians to “take over” their government and signaled he would be open to talks with a new leadership there after Khamenei’s death, suggesting no end to military operations on Sunday.

“Military operations continue in full force at this time and will continue until all our objectives are achieved,” he said in a video message. “We have very strong intentions,” he added without elaborating.

The US military said B-2 stealth bombers hit Iran’s ballistic missile facilities with 2,000-pound bombs. Trump said on social media that nine Iranian warships had been sunk and Iran’s naval headquarters had been “mostly destroyed.”

Others have mostly opted out of war and pushed for diplomacy. But in a sign that the conflict could draw in other nations, Britain, France and Germany said on Sunday they were ready to work with the US to help deter an Iranian attack.

Early on Monday, Cyprus said an unmanned drone “caused limited damage” when it struck a British air base on the southern coast. Further details were not immediately available, but it came after British Prime Minister Keir Stormer said the UK would help the US in its war against Iran.

The weekend attacks marked eight months in which the US and Israel have united against Iran, in a surprise show of military might for the American president-elect on an “America First” platform and a pledge to avoid “eternal wars”.

During the 12-day war last June, Israeli and American strikes greatly weakened Iran’s air defenses, military leadership and nuclear program. But the killing of Khamenei, who ruled Iran for more than three decades, creates a leadership vacuum, increasing the risk of regional instability.

Hezbollah’s missile launch into Israel is the first time the militant group has claimed an attack in more than a year.

Iran’s proxies were a main concern for American and Israeli officials before they suspended talks with Iran last week and went ahead with strikes on Iran.

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it had “joined a campaign” with Iran as Israel retaliated with an attack in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Associated Press journalists in Beirut were awakened by a series of large explosions that shook buildings and shattered windows. Fighter jets can be heard flying low.

“The strikes will continue,” said Major General Rafi Milo, head of Israel’s Northern Command. “Their intensity increases.”

Iraq’s Shiite militia, Saraya Awliya al-Dam, has claimed a drone strike targeting US forces at an airport in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Monday, further extending its revenge for the assassination of Khamenei. It claimed to have carried out a drone attack on a US air base in Erbil in northern Iraq on Sunday.

The group is one of several Shiite militias operating in Iraq. The US and Iraq did not immediately comment on the claims.

In the Persian Gulf, Iran’s retaliatory strikes have pushed the conflict into cities long marketed as regional safe havens. Three deaths were reported in the United Arab Emirates and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain.

In the United Arab Emirates, most Iranian missiles and drones have been intercepted, officials said. But some were caught in debris or fell causing deaths and significant damage. Both Bahrain and Kuwait said the Iranian strikes hit civilian targets outside US bases, which Iran has vowed to retaliate against.

The streets of Tehran were mostly deserted as people took shelter during the airstrikes, witnesses told AP, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. He said the paramilitary Basij force, which played a key role in quelling the protests, had set up checkpoints across the city.

In Israel, defense services confirmed that Iran had hit several locations, including a synagogue in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh, where nine people were killed and 28 wounded, bringing the overall death toll in the country to 11.

The World Health Organization called on Monday to save civilians and health facilities in the Middle East amid escalating conflict.

“Citizen protection and health care must be absolute,” Hanan Balki, WHO’s regional dietitian, wrote on social media. “All parties … must ensure that medical facilities are protected.”

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Rising reported from Bangkok and Magdi from Cairo. Associated Press writers Bassem Mrou and Sally Abou Aljoud contributed to this report.