Sawt Falasteen - Trump warns of longer Iran war as violence spreads

New powerful explosions shook windows in Tehran early Tuesday as fighter jets flew over the Iranian capital, AFP journalists witnessed, while the United States urged Americans to flee all of the Middle East from Egypt east.

Trump said that the war, which began Saturday with a strike that killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was going "substantially" ahead of schedule but that the United States was equipped for a prolonged conflict.

"From the beginning we projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that," Trump said at the White House.

He also for the first time laid out objectives -- destroying Iran's missiles, navy and nuclear program and stopping its support for armed groups across the region -- which notably did not include toppling the Islamic republic.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio presented a strikingly new narrative of how the conflict started, saying that the United States joined only after learning ally Israel was set to strike Iran.

Iran was ready to strike US forces in the region in response to Israel, so Trump decided to strike "pre-emptively" alongside Israel.

"The imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked -- and we believed they would be attacked -- that they would immediately come after us," Rubio told reporters before briefing lawmakers.

Rival Democrats voiced disbelief, with Senator Mark Warner saying it was "unchartered territory" for the United States to be triggered into action by Israel's perception of a threat.

Iran has responded to the attack by unleashing missiles and drones across the Middle East, threatening explicitly to drive up the global energy costs, which could wreak havoc on the global economy.

"We will burn any ship that tries to pass through the Strait of Hormuz," Revolutionary Guards General Sardar Jabbari said of the strategic waterway to the Gulf through which about 20 percent of global seaborne oil travels.

European natural gas prices surged more than 39 percent after Qatar's state-run energy firm said it had halted liquefied natural gas production following Iranian attacks.

Qatar, which had comparatively good relations with Iran before the war, said it shot down two Iranian bombers, the first time a Gulf Arab country has hit planes from their giant neighbor.

- Major bombardment of Lebanon -

Loud explosions throughout the day rocked Beirut as Israeli warplanes struck the Lebanese capital's southern suburbs.

The strikes killed at least 52 people and wounded at least 154, according to the Lebanese government. In the southern city of Sidon, cars of families fled on packed roads with mattresses tied to their roofs.

Hezbollah, the armed Shiite movement affiliated with Iran, had vowed retaliation for Khamenei's death and launched rockets and drones toward Israel.

In response, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam took the unprecedented step of ordering an "immediate prohibition of all of Hezbollah's security and military activities" and calling on the group to hand over its weapons.

Six US military personnel have been killed in the war, according to US Central Command. Iranian media have reported hundreds of Iranian casualties, although AFP reporters have not been able to verify tolls independently.

Iran claimed that 168 people were killed in a strike on a girl's school in the southern town of Minab and that a hospital in Tehran was also struck.

"The world must condemn it," Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said.

Rubio said the school incident was under investigation but that the United States "would not deliberately target" it.

- US doesn't rule out troops -

Trump warned that the United States had more firepower in store, saying, "The big wave hasn't even happened."

In an interview with the New York Post, Trump -- who campaigned on promises to end US involvement in wars -- refused to rule out deploying US ground troops to Iran "if they were necessary."

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also signaled Monday that deploying troops inside Iran had not been ruled out, saying: "We'll go as far as we need to go."

Ali Larijani, the head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, vowed that Iran would defend itself "regardless of the costs and will make the enemies sorry for their miscalculation".

Tehran had the air of a ghost town on Monday, and many residents seemed to have left. Some, suitcases and luggage in hand, were preparing to do the same, AFP journalists saw.

Many residents were torn between fear of the bombings and hope that the government's days might now be numbered.

"Every time we hear the noises, we get scared for just a second. But we experience some joy and excitement every time we hear a hit," a 45-year-old lawyer said, also in a voice message to Europe.

- Cyprus base hit -

An Iranian drone hit the runway of a UK air force base in Akrotiri in Cyprus, whose government announced that the major airport in its town of Paphos and the area around the British facility would be evacuated.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said British military bases in Cyprus would not be allowed to be used by US forces in their war with Iran. On Sunday, he had announced that he had agreed to a US request to use British military bases for a "specific and limited defensive purpose."

But on Monday he told parliament that this would not include the Cypriot bases.

Flights through the region's hubs have been cancelled, disrupting international travel for many thousands of people, but Dubai airports partially reopened late Monday.

Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have urged Iranians to overthrow the government in Tehran, the sworn foe of Israel and the United States since the 1979 Islamic revolution toppled the pro-Western shah.

Rubio said Monday that the United States would "love" regime change but that it was not the goal, which instead was focused on destroying Iran's missile and other programs.

burs/sct/msp

G.AbuGhazaleh--SF-PST