Explosions tore through Tehran and Beirut on Tuesday, till Wednesday and stock markets around the world tumbled while oil prices soared at the prospect of a prolonged disruption to global energy supplies from the U.S.-Israeli air war against ​Iran.
Iranian drones struck the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia after previously hitting the mission in Kuwait. Washington responded by shutting both embassies and ordering non-emergency government personnel and their families to leave countries across the ‌Middle East.
A day after President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave open-ended answers when asked how long the war would last, a source told Reuters that Israel’s campaign had been planned to last two weeks and was moving faster.
The source, familiar with Israel’s war plan, said its aim was to overthrow Iran’s clerical rulers, and there was no firm deadline to achieve it.
But the Israeli military was going through its target list faster than planned, with early success killing Iran’s leaders and taking out its defences, the source said. Israel was also accelerating its campaign ​out of concern Washington might reach a deal with Iran’s surviving leaders and stop too soon, the source added.