In this photo taken with a slow shutter speed, a Middle East Airlines plane flies over Beirut as smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh in Beirut's southern suburbs, early Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Iran and Iranian-backed militias fired missiles at Israel and Arab states, apparently hitting the U.S. Embassy compound in Kuwait, while Israel and the United States pounded targets in Iran as the war expanded on March 2 with statements of defiance and increasing casualties.
The Israeli military warned residents in the south Beirut suburb of Burj al-Barajneh to stay away from several buildings on Monday ahead of an imminent strike.
"You are located near facilities and assets belonging to Hezbollah, where the (Israeli military) will act against them forcefully in the near term," the army's Arabic-language spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Ella Waweya, said on X.
"For your safety and the safety of your family members, you must evacuate this building and those adjacent to it immediately and stay away from them by a distance of at least 300 metres," said the post, which included a map of the targeted building.
Iran's security chief on Monday said the Islamic republic was prepared for its war with the United States and Israel to last for a long period of time.
"Iran, unlike the United States, has prepared itself for a long war," said Ali Larijani, the powerful head of Tehran's Supreme National Security Council, in a post on X.
Iran ‘will not negotiate with US’
Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani denied Monday claims that Tehran had sought to restart negotiations with Washington, declaring that Iran will not engage in talks with the U.S.
Larijani addressed reports suggesting that Iran had made new initiatives to negotiate with the U.S.
Referring to a report by Al Jazeera, quoting The Wall Street Journal, that claimed Larijani attempted to resume negotiations with Washington through Oman, he noted: “We will not negotiate with the U.S.”
In a separate post, Larijani also responded to U.S. President Donald Trump’s remarks on Iran.
Criticizing Trump for leading the region into chaos with “empty illusions,” Larijani said: “He is now worried about further losses of American soldiers. With his own delusions, he has transformed the slogan ‘America First’ into ‘Israel First’ and sacrificed American troops for Israel’s lust for power.”
He further accused Trump of “making American soldiers and their families pay the price with new lies.”
The Iranian news agency ISNA on Monday said that strikes had targeted the headquarters of Tehran's emergency services, on the third day of U.S.-Israeli bombardments of the country.
"The main building of the Provincial Emergency Services Organisation, located on Iranshahr Street in the centre of Tehran, was attacked," the agency said, quoting the organisation's spokesman Shervin Tabrizi.
"Several of our colleagues were slightly injured," Tabrizi was quoted as saying. AFP was not immediately able to verify the claims independently.
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 am ET (1130 GMT), 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.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society said on March 2 that the U.S.-Israeli airstrike campaign on Iran has killed at least 555 people so far in the Islamic Republic. It added that 131 cities across Iran have come under attack so far in the war.
As the attacks on Iran continued, Hezbollah said it fired missiles from Lebanon into Israel early on March 2 in response to the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and “repeated Israeli aggressions.”
Israel retaliated with strikes on Lebanon, killing at least 31 people and wounding 149 others, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. About two thirds of the dead were in the country's south.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz also noted that Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem is now a “marked target for elimination.”
Iran expands attacks to regional oil infrastructure
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia halted some operations at its massive Ras Tanura refinery on the Gulf coast, following an attack that caused a fire at the complex.
The Ras Tanura facility along the kingdom's eastern Gulf coast is home to one of the largest refineries in the entire Middle East and a cornerstone of the kingdom's energy sector.
The complex has a capacity of 550,000 barrels per day.
Online videos from the site appeared to show thick black smoke rising after the attack. Even successfully intercepted drones cause debris that can spark fires and injure those on the ground.
In Kuwait City, as fire and smoke rose from inside the U.S. Embassy compound, the country's defense ministry said “several” American warplanes had also crashed in the country.
The ministry did not elaborate on what caused the crashes or how many aircraft were involved but said the pilots had been taken to a hospital and were in stable condition.
The embassy compound was hit not long after U.S. issued a warning to Americans there to take cover and for others to stay away. There were no immediate reports on damage or casualties.
Meantime, as the American and Israeli airstrikes continued, top Iranian security official Ali Larijani vowed on X that “we will not negotiate with the United States.”
In Iraq, a pro-Iranian militia claimed responsibility for a drone attack targeting U.S. troops at the Baghdad airport, the day after it said it fired at a U.S. base in the city of Irbil in the north and Greek Cyprus said a drone attack targeted a British base on the Mediterranean island nation.
