The Middle East braced for the possibility of a return to full-scale war after Israel and Iran fired at each other. It was the first such exchange since a ceasefire two months ago. Also Monday, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen launched a missile at Israel and threatened to disrupt Red Sea shipping.
Iran fired at Israel after warning against Israel's attacks in Lebanon, including strikes on Beirut on Sunday. Israel says it is targeting the Iranian-backed
Hezbollah militant group. Its Beirut strike defied Washington’s request days ago to stand down.
The Israeli strikes against Iran came after U.S. President Donald Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he didn't think Israel needed to respond further.
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The Israeli prime minister’s brief statement added that “right now, the fire has been halted.” It was his first public statement since Iran fired missiles at Israel late Sunday. They were intercepted.
Netanyahu asserted Israel’s right to self-defense, “and I say this with appreciation and respect in my good conversations with my friend President Trump.” He appears to have openly defied Trump with a strike in Beirut on Sunday and then retaliatory attacks against Iran.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said Monday night that any attack on Israel’s northern settlements will immediately prompt an attack on Beirut’s Dahiyeh suburbs.
Katz warned Iran that any attempt to use Israel’s attacks against Hezbollah as an excuse to launch missiles against Israel would be “met with great force, as happened yesterday.”
Turkey is pressing ahead with its contacts with both the United States and Iran to end the war while also consulting with countries in the region, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said.
“It is essential to leave behind this war that has brought our region and the world to the brink of disaster,” Fidan said during a news conference following meetings in Istanbul with his Azerbaijani and Georgian counterparts.
He added: “Turkey will continue to support diplomacy and dialogue during this critical period.”
Turkey, together with Egypt and other regional partners, is backing Pakistan’s initiative to mediate an end to the conflict.
Israeli strikes on Iran Monday wounded at least 15 people, the National Emergency Medical Organization said in a statement published by the Iranian official news agency.
No fatalities have been reported so far, the organization said. The statement did not specify whether the wounded were civilians or military personnel, noting that 14 of the injured were from Mahshahr in the province of Khuzestan, while one was from Tehran.
Shehbaz Sharif on Monday expressed concern over the recent surge in violence in the Middle East and urged all parties to “exercise restraint.”
In a post on X, Sharif said the latest escalation was “a stark reminder of the dangers associated with a tenuous ceasefire and the unbearable consequences it may lead to.”
Sharif also called for diplomacy over further escalation.
Israeli strikes on Monday killed at least five people, including a child, across Gaza, according to hospital officials.
A strike killed two people in Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Monday morning, according to Nasser Hospital, while another left three people dead in Jabaliya in northern Gaza, including Jad Soleiman, an 8-year-old boy, according to Shifa Hospital. Several were also wounded.
Jad’s father, Yusuf, clutched his son’s backpack and kissed his face as the child’s body, wrapped in a white burial shroud, lay before him.
“He was coming home from school,” Soleiman said. “I ran to him and found him lying down with his bag still on. It’s covered in his blood. He was wounded and bleeding from the neck. He was taking his last breaths."
Gaza City and Deir al-Balah in central Gaza were also hit. Casualty figures were not immediately available.
The Israeli army said it struck some Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives, adding it would give further details later.
The attacks were the latest in a series of strikes that have hit homes and shelters across Gaza since October’s fragile ceasefire that sought to halt the more than two-year war.
The U.S. told Iran there would be no more attacks by Israel if Tehran halted its missile strikes, and that Israel has agreed to halt attacks for now, according to a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The White House and Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The army said two projectiles were intercepted, while one landed near the soldiers, adding there were no injuries.
The launches triggered air raid sirens in northern Israel.
Education Minister Yoav Kisch said in a post on X Monday afternoon that schools would not open on Tuesday.
On Sunday evening, Israel’s military updated its guidelines for civilians, limiting large gatherings and canceling school across the country for the first time since the earlier round of fighting with Iran in April.
Kisch said the Ministry of Education aims to reopen classrooms on Wednesday under guidelines that would ensure students have access to close shelter.
Iraq’s Civil Aviation Authority announced that the country’s airspace has reopened after earlier announcing a 72-hour closure in response to the renewed exchange of fire between Israel and Iran.
A missile lay partially buried in a field on the outskirts of the Syrian capital of Damascus on Monday, surrounded by scorched earth after overnight exchanges of fire between Israel and Iran sent projectiles across the region.
The missile’s impact left a blackened patch of ground where a fire broke out, according to the field’s owner, Mahmoud Ataya. He said residents heard a loud explosion during the night but did not immediately know what had happened. When they went to put out the fire, they found half of the missile protruding from the ground. No casualties were reported.
State media in Syria reported explosions in the skies over Damascus Sunday night, attributing them to Israeli air defenses intercepting missiles fired from Iran. Associated Press journalists in the Syrian capital also reported hearing loud explosions overnight
Ambassador Michel Issa made his comments after meeting President Joseph Aoun Monday, a day after Israel struck a southern Beirut suburb.
Issa also hinted at disagreements between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Lebanon.
He described the Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s suburb and Iran’s missile attack on Israel as a “political message,” adding that “we in the United States decided that the confrontation does not expand more.”
Issa later met Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and, after the meeting, told reporters Trump follows Lebanon’s news daily, adding in Arabic that Trump “almost got into a fight with Netanyahu over Lebanon.”
The Iranian military’s joint command said Monday it was halting its offensive operations after Israel and Iran exchanged fire in their first attacks since the U.S. struck a ceasefire with Tehran two months ago.
The joint command said that if Israel or its supporters carried out any further “aggression and hostile acts,” including in southern Lebanon, then “much more severe and crushing measures than before will follow.”
The European Union’s foreign policy chief said the 27-member bloc approved sanctions against Iranian individuals and entities involved in disrupting transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
Kaja Kallas said after a meeting with EU defense ministers on Monday that this is the first time the EU has applied a new freedom-of-navigation sanctions system “and where necessary will apply it again.”
“Ministers were clear today that Iran’s actions are unacceptable,” Kallas said.
Trump later posted again to his Truth Social website, insisting that both Israel and Iran were “looking to do an immediate CEASEFIRE!”
He claimed negotiations were ongoing, “subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way.”
The Israeli military said it targeted petrochemical facilities in Mahshahr to hit sites used to produce “unique materials that serve as critical components for the development of ballistic missiles.”
In his first comments since Iran and Israel traded fire, Trump wrote online: “Israel and Iran must immediately stop ‘shooting.’”
Iraq’s Civil Aviation Authority on Monday said the closure was a “precautionary measure” to preserve the safety and security of civil aviation.
It added that the decision will be subject to continuous review and reassessment and airlines and relevant sides will be notified of any new developments.
Lebanese Information Minister Paul Morcos released the toll Monday, two days after an Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in southern Lebanon killed three members of the Lebanese army, including a brigadier general and a captain.
Morcos said that since the Israel-Hezbollah war began on March 2, three police, one member of the General Security Directorate and 13 state security members have been killed in Israeli attacks. Also killed was a member of the parliament’s security.
A total of 3,613 people have been killed, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
The Israeli military has said it operates against Hezbollah and not against the Lebanese army.
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Damascus International Airport will remain closed until 11 p.m. (2200 GMT) Monday.
Syria’s General Authority of Civil Aviation closed the country’s southern airspace, which includes Damascus. The measure is related to the latest exchange of fire between Iran and Israel, it said.
Just before noon, air defense systems around Tehran and multiple Iranian cities opened fire, with some claims of attacks ongoing.
Oil prices surged as Israel launched airstrikes early Monday targeting central and western Iran in response to missile fire.
Brent crude, the international standard, jumped $4.40 to $97.49 a barrel. Benchmark U.S. crude surged $3.95 to $94.49 a barrel.
The latest spate of attacks was straining efforts to end the conflict as a tentative deal reached last week to extend a ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran has not yet been finalized.
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Israel’s military said it targeted truck-based surface-to-air missile launchers in its strikes Monday on Iran.
It said Iran had deployed the systems across the country in a bid to restore its capabilities that were degraded earlier in the war.
An Iranian official warned Monday that the United States is “responsible for the consequences of any escalation” in the Middle East caused by Israel.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei made the comment in a briefing with journalists on Monday in Tehran.
“No one believes that the Israeli regime would take any action without coordination with the United States,” Baghaei said. “The United States bears responsibility for the Israeli regime’s aggression, and it will also be responsible for the consequences of any escalation in tensions.”
Israel’s rescue services said there were not any known injuries from the latest round of missiles from Iran.
Rescue services are searching a number of sites for possible fragments from interceptions.
The Israeli military urged people to take shelter. Similar alerts sounded in neighboring Jordan.
The Iran-backed rebels also said that Israel-affiliated vessels would again be a target in the Red Sea.
The statement from Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree was broadcast on the Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel.
It’s another new escalation as the nominal ceasefire in the Iran war is being challenged by crossfire between Israel and Iran.
Iran claimed the attacks on Israel, saying their fire targeted two military bases in Israel.
The paramilitary Revolutionary Guard described the attack as being part of Operation Nasr, or “Victory.” The Guard said it launched the missile fire after Israel targeted radar sites in three areas of Iran, without elaborating.
Israel’s military says it him a petrochemical complex in southwestern Iran. It did not provide details.
The semiofficial Fars and Mehr news agencies said Israeli strikes hit a petrochemical factory in city of Mahshahr in Khuzestan province. It did not elaborate on the damage done.
Israel issued an all-clear after warning of a second wave of inbound missiles from Iran.
It was the second alert without any interceptions being heard in the country.
The Iranian fire comes after Israel launched strikes on Iran early Monday in the most-serious crossfire since an April 8 ceasefire was reached in the Iran war.
Israel said it detected a barrage of missiles from Iran toward central and southern Israel on Monday morning. Loud explosions were heard over central Israel, and missiles also targeted southern Israel, near the city of Dimona and Arad.
The remote desert city of Dimona houses Israel’s main nuclear research center, which opened in 1958. Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, though its leaders neither confirm nor deny this.
Iran targeted Dimona and Arad during the last round of conflict, injuring more than two dozen people.
Israel’s rescue services said there were no reports of casualties or impacts from the launch from Yemen.
Israel’s military updated its guidelines for civilians on Sunday evening, limiting large gatherings and canceling school across the country.
It is the first time school has been canceled across Israel since the earlier round of fighting with Iran in April, though schools in Israel’s northern border had been closed for much longer due to the threat of Hezbollah fire.
Israel said Monday that it detected a missile launched from Yemen targeting the country. Sirens sounded across Israel after the Yemen missile fire warning.
Yemen is home to the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. The Houthis have fired missiles at Israel during the Israel-Hamas war and later, but haven’t been fully involved in the Iran war.
Saudi Arabia sounded missile alert sirens Monday morning in an area home to an air base that hosts U.S. forces. Saudi state media reported the alert around its Al Kharj governorate, home to Prince Sultan Air Base.
It did not elaborate. The alert came after Israel launched strikes targeting Iran.
Speaking to The Financial Times, Trump before the Israeli strike on Iran insisted he dictated terms to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on how the war should be prosecuted.
“He won’t have any choice,” Trump told the newspaper in a telephone interview. “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He (Netanyahu) doesn’t call the shots.”
The White House did not respond to messages Sunday about the strikes and whether they were done in coordination with the U.S.
Iran closes airspace around Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, country’s main airfield, after Israeli attack.
Israel says it strikes central and Western Iran after missile fire; Tehran says explosions heard in several cities
