Day four of the Iran-Contra war: Crossfire across the region as Israel moves more troops into southern Lebanon

BarcelonaThe war between the United States, Israel, and Iran shows no signs of de-escalation on the fourth day of crossfire. This morning, powerful explosions were again reported in Tehran, and Iranian forces continued to launch attacks against Israel and several Persian Gulf countries where the US has a military presence, further increasing the threat of a regional war. Israeli troops have invaded southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese front reopened on Monday after Hezbollah joined Iran in attacks on Israeli territory in response to the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Defense Minister Israel Katz reported that he had authorized the army to advance into Lebanese territory and seize more positions. The army said it deployed additional forces in southern Lebanon, carrying out a "tactical measure" on the border "to prevent attacks against civilians and strategic locations," but insisted that "it is not a ground operation." According to Reuters, some witnesses explained that the Lebanese army withdrew from at least seven operational positions along the border. The UN estimates that, for the moment, some 30,000 Lebanese have been forced to move to shelters.

Iranian state media has raised the death toll from the joint US-Israeli attack that began on Saturday to 787, citing Red Crescent sources. The organization detailed that the US and Israel have launched more than a thousand attacks since Saturday, impacting at least 153 locations across the country. On Tuesday, at least five people were killed and about 25 wounded in an attack on residential neighborhoods in Hamadan, in western Iran, according to the Mehr news agency. According to Iranian state media, thirteen members of the Revolutionary Guard were killed on Monday in US-Israeli attacks in Kerman province.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog, has confirmed, through satellite imagery, damage to the Natanz uranium enrichment plant in Iran. One of the objectives of the US and Israeli attack is to destroy Iran's nuclear program, based on the unproven claim that the country is on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. The IAEA stated that recent damage has been observed at the entrance buildings of the underground plant, but added that no radiological consequences or further impact on the facilities have been detected.

Meanwhile, Iran attacked the US embassy in Saudi Arabia today, setting it ablaze. Riyadh condemned the attack and stressed that it reserves the right to retaliate. A fire also broke out at an oil production facility in the United Arab Emirates and at the commercial port of Duqm in Oman. Qatar's Foreign Ministry asserted that the Iranian attacks were not limited to military installations and stated that there had been unsuccessful attempts to bomb Doha's international airport. It added that the country has sufficient stockpiles of interceptor missiles "to counter the current threat." Washington ordered the departure of non-essential personnel and their families from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Jordan, Iraq, and Bahrain on Tuesday and announced that the embassy in Kuwait would be temporarily closed.

The US State Department already asked its citizens yesterday, Monday, to leave 14 Middle Eastern countries immediately due to the "serious risks" to their security as a result of the war against Iran launched by the United States and Israel last weekend. But the problem is that The options for leaving these countries are very limited.Due to the closure of airspace and the cancellation of flights, Qatar has detailed that more than 8,000 people who were transiting through the country are currently staying in hotels provided by the government.

Netanyahu says the war will last "a while"

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the US-Israeli war against Iran could last "a while," but it won't last for years. "I said it could be quick and decisive. It may take a while, but it's not going to last for years. It's not an endless war," Netanyahu said on the program.HannityFrom Fox News. President Donald Trump projected on Monday that the war would last between four and five weeksBut he added that it could drag on longer, and has since tried to justify a wide-ranging, indefinite war against Iran.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has offered another explanation for what triggered the attack: that Israel started it alone. "We knew there would be action from Israel, and we knew that this would precipitate action against US forces, and that if we didn't act preemptively before they launched these attacks, we would suffer more casualties." Rubio also said that the "hardest blows" from the US military were yet to come. "The next phase will be even harder for Iran than what we're seeing right now," he told reporters.