LIVE | US and Israel intensify attacks against Iran; stock markets plunge

Journalist John Hudson, of The Washington Post, reported that a suspected Iranian drone struck a CIA station in Saudi Arabia.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that a drone struck a parking lot adjacent to the chancery building of the U.S. consulate in Dubai, sparking a fire. Initial reports indicated that the device had directly hit the facility, but it was later clarified that the impact occurred in its immediate vicinity.

The U.S. Consulate in Dubai was hit by an Iranian drone and the building is reportedly on fire, according to diplomatic sources cited by Fox News.

Details remain limited, and there is no immediate confirmation regarding casualties or the extent of the damage.

If confirmed, the reported strike would mark a significant escalation in the regional conflict, as evacuations of U.S. citizens are underway across parts of the Gulf.

The State Department has not yet issued a public statement on the incident.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned the government of Spain of breaking all trade relations after his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sánchez, said he would not authorize the use of military bases on his country's territory for war operations committed by the United States and Israel against Iran.

During his meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House, Trump said the government of Pedro Sánchez has behaved in a "terrible" manner by not allowing the United States to use both the Moron Air Base, located near the city of Seville, and the Rota Naval Base, located in the province of Cadiz.

"Spain has been terrible," the president noted from Washington, D.C. "We're going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain."
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Politics

Trump warns the government of Pedro Sánchez: 'We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain'

Alejandro Baños

A senior Pentagon official on Tuesday attributed the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to Israel, and reiterated that the United States’ objective is to restrict Iran’s military capabilities.

Elbridge Colby, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee at a hearing held at the Capitol on the strikes carried out Saturday by the United States and Israel against Iran, in which Khamenei was killed.

The operations ordered by Donald Trump are focused on degrading “the capability of the Islamic Republic” to attack U.S. targets, particularly its bases in the Middle East, but also its regional allies.

The primary objective was to reduce Iran’s “missile forces,” which, according to the under secretary, “had grown significantly and posed a threat,” as well as to decimate its navy.

Several blasts rocked Doha, Abu Dhabi and Dubai on Tuesday, AFP journalists and witnesses reported, saying they heard the explosions as Iran continues its attacks in the Gulf in retaliation for the offensive by the United States and Israel.

AFP journalists heard loud explosions in the Qatari capital and in Dubai, while two Abu Dhabi residents told AFP they had also heard detonations in the Emirati capital.

Recent damage reported by Amazon Web Services (AWS) at facilities located in the Persian Gulf, in the context of the conflict between Israel, the United States and Iran, have highlighted a critical vulnerability: the exposure of data centers—essential infrastructure for the global digital economy—in war scenarios.
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​According to a statement released Monday by AWS, two data centers in the United Arab Emirates were "directly hit" by drones, while a facility in Bahrain suffered damage after an attack nearby.

World

Middle East war exposes strategic fragility of data centers

Diane Hernández

(AFP) Britain will send a warship and helicopters with anti-drone capabilities to protect British military personnel at its Cyprus military base, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Tuesday.

The Labour leader confirmed that he will send the HMS Dragon, one of the Navy's six Type 45 air defense destroyers, after the British military base at Akrotiri in Cyprus was hit by a drone following the start of the conflict in Iran.

"The UK is fully committed to the security of Cyprus and British military personnel based there," Starmer announced on X.
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The State Department urged Americans in the region to leave 14 territories and countries immediately. The geographic breadth of the notice, which includes Iran and Israel, reflects the regional scope of the current crisis.

The countries are: Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

The New York Stock Exchange opened with notable declines on Tuesday, the fourth day of the Israeli-U.S. conflict against Iran, weighed down by fears of a prolonged war and its impact on the U.S. economy.

In early trading, the Dow Jones was down 1.75%, the Nasdaq was down 1.98% and the broader S&P 500 index lost 1.67%.

In a post on Truth Social responding to a Washington Post article on the "Trump Doctrine," the president warned that he will not negotiate with Iran at this time following joint strikes with Israel.

U.S. and Israeli bombing raids against Iran have "widespread support" in Europe, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Tuesday. "And what I see in Europe—I spoke with all the key European leaders over the weekend—is widespread support for what the president is doing," Rutte told reporters during a visit to North Macedonia.

"The Europeans, Canada, Mark Carney, the United States, the American president… All for one, one for all, because everybody supports, here in Europe, the fact that [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei is gone, that the nuclear capability is gone, that the ballistic missile program has been now degraded — which was a big threat for Europe, for Israel, for the whole region," he added.

Rutte stressed that NATO, founded to protect Europe and North America, "is not involved" in military operations. "But I can assure you that NATO will defend every inch of NATO territory," he warned.

By 6:30 a.m. EST on Tuesday, the price of a barrel of Brent North Sea crude, the European benchmark, for delivery in May reached $85.12, its highest level since July 2024.

Its U.S. equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate for delivery in April, was up 7.36% to $76.47.

Qatar's state-run energy firm said Tuesday it would halt some downstream production a day after stopping the production of liquefied natural gas as Iran attacked facilities at two gas processing plants.

"Further to the decision by QatarEnergy to stop production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and associated products, QatarEnergy is stopping the production of some downstream products in the State of Qatar, including urea, polymers, methanol, aluminum and other products," the company said in a statement.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed Tuesday "recent damage to entrance buildings of Iran’s underground Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant," following the Israeli-U.S. attacks.

"No radiological consequence expected and no additional impact detected at FEP itself, which was severely damaged in the June conflict," when Israel carried out strikes against Iran in a war briefly joined by the United States, the agency added.

After showing a contained increase during the Asian trading day, the price of oil skyrocketed by more than 5% at the opening of the European markets.

The price of Brent North Sea crude for delivery in May rose by 5.45%, breaking the $80 barrier to reach $81.98 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the U.S. benchmark, for delivery in April, advanced 5.32% to $75.02.

The price of gas has continued to rise on Tuesday, with the Dutch TTF futures contract, considered the benchmark for natural gas in Europe, up +22.50% to 54.52 euros ($63.16).

European stock markets plunged, and energy prices soared Tuesday as war with Iran sparked volatility in global financial markets and rattled companies worldwide.

Exchanges in Frankfurt, Madrid and Milan lost more than 3% in morning trading, while Paris and London lost more than 2%.

The U.S. embassy in Kuwait announced that it will close indefinitely on Tuesday, a day after an AFP correspondent saw smoke billowing from the legation following Iranian attacks on the country.

"Due to ongoing regional tensions, the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait will be closed until further notice. We have canceled all regular and emergency consular appointments," the diplomatic mission said in a statement on X.

The fourth day of U.S.-Israeli operations in Iran began with heavy explosions in Tehran and Gulf nations with U.S. bases. Lebanon woke up to attacks by Israeli aircraft as the IDF is preparing a ground offensive.

An Omani port was hit by drone strikes that hit a fuel depot, state media reported, adding that the damage was contained "without human casualties."

Iraq also reported Iranian drone strikes on a camp hosting Iranian Kurdish fighters and their families in the north of the country.

The Israeli military said it had deployed troops to several locations in southern Lebanon, in what it described as a "forward defense" measure along the border. The IDF had earlier announced it had launched new strikes against Hezbollah targets, including "command centers and weapons storage facilities" in the Lebanese capital Beirut, after warning it would press ahead with its campaign against the Iranian-backed militant group.

Oil moderated its gains on Tuesday after the dizzying rise in energy prices the day before, although the Seoul Stock Exchange plunged 7% and the Tokyo Stock Exchange 3% due to concerns about the evolution of the war in the Middle East.

After soaring more than 6% at Monday's close, crude oil prices continue to rise, albeit at a slower pace: by 1:30 a.m. EST Tuesday, a barrel of North Sea Brent was up 2.43% to $79.65, and North American WTI was up 1.90% to $72.58.

The U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia was hit by two drones suspected of being from Iran, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. According to one of them, there were no initial reports of injuries following the impact.

The Israeli military said on Monday that it struck multiple Iranian intelligence offices and other command centers as it pressed ahead with attacks on the Islamic republic.

The United States hit more than 1,250 targets in the first 48 hours of the war against Iran, the U.S. military said Monday.

Targets struck included command-and-control centers, ballistic missile sites, Iranian navy ships and submarines, and anti-ship missile sites, according to a fact sheet released by the U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for American forces in the region.

President Donald Trump signaled Monday that U.S. strikes on Iran could go much longer than originally predicted. In his first public comments since launching the military operation, the president said there were four key objectives for hitting Iran.

President Donald Trump on Monday said he is not ruling out sending U.S. troops into Iran, while threatening a new, "big wave" of attacks.
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​"I don't have the yips with respect to boots on the ground—like every president says, 'There will be no boots on the ground.' I don't say it," Trump told The New York Post in one of numerous brief interviews he has given since launching the Iran operation.

"I say 'probably don't need them,' [or] 'if they were necessary,'" he said.

Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, widow of the former supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ali Khamenei, died Monday of wounds sustained in the attack that killed her husband on Saturday, Iranian media announced.

The 79-year-old woman had been in a coma since the attack, Tasnim news agency said.

Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer told BBC Radio Scotland that despite the Iranian attack on the Akrotiri base in Cyprus, "the U.K. is not at war." Let me be very clear, the U.K. made a deliberate decision not to be part of the first wave of attacks carried out by the U.S. and Israeli governments.

"But in the face of reckless attacks by Iran against a whole series of allies in the region - these are Gulf allies in which there are many, many British citizens, probably 300.000 - and in response to requests from those Gulf allies... we took the decision, as the Prime Minister announced last night, to support the United States' request to use our bases to take defensive action."

The U.S. military on Monday announced that a fourth American service member had been killed in the war on Iran.

"As of 7:30 a.m. ET, March 2, four U.S. service members have been killed in action. The fourth service member, who was seriously wounded during Iran's initial attacks, eventually succumbed to their injuries," U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) wrote on X.

IDF international spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani denounced that "since the beginning of Operation Roaring Lion, the Iranian regime has been targeting civilians. We know that this is their strategy."

Furthermore, Shoshani accused Iran of intentionally firing cluster bombs at Israeli population centers. "Cluster weapons are designed to disperse over a wide area and maximize the chances of a damaging attack."

The emirate's government confirms the downing of several U.S. fighter jets, after video of a burning F15 with the pilot ejected from the aircraft went viral on networks.

The IDF confirmed that it launched a series of air raids in Lebanon following rocket and drone attacks launched by Hezbollah against the Jewish state. The Israeli military warned that these attacks "will intensify."

Markets started the week in the red on the first day of activity after the weekend close. Asian stock markets closed in the negative, the same sign with which the European ones opened.

In addition, the price of oil and gas soared as a result of the impact of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key route, for commercial ships. While crude oil reached above $80 per barrel, the price of gas increased by 22%.

Economy

La economía mundial contiene el aliento ante el conflicto en Irán: el estrecho de Ormuz, en el centro de todas las miradas

Israel Duro

Loud explosions were heard Monday in several Gulf cities as Iran enters its third day of attacks on its Gulf neighbors in response to U.S.-Israeli bombings.

Reporters and AFP witnesses said they heard several loud explosions in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha, Manama, Iraq and Kuwait City.

Iran's continued bombardment of the Gulf has shaken a region long considered a haven of peace and security in the turbulent Middle East.

U.K. forces began responding to a suspected drone attack on its military base in Cyprus, the Ministry of Defense said Monday, with no casualties reported.

"Our protection arrangements in the region are at the highest level," the ministry spokesman said, following an attack that hit "the U.K. Royal Air Force (RAF) Akrotiri base" at midnight local time.