Middle East U.S. military bases in lockdown, Iran says ‘all options on the table’, and key NATO summit coming up Tuesday.
1. The Navy installation that is home to U.S. Naval Forces Central Command was put on heightened alert Sunday, as a representative of Iran’s supreme leader called for a retaliatory attack on the American fleet there. Naval Support Activity Bahrain remained under lockdown Sunday, with access limited to mission-critical personnel in the wake of U.S. strikes earlier in the weekend that President Donald Trump said had “obliterated” three of Tehran’s nuclear facilities. All NSA Bahrain personnel not deemed mission-critical were instructed to limit their movements to essential activities, such as commuting for approved work duties or leaving home for necessities like medical appointments or shopping for grocery staples.
2. After a U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Iran is weighing its response — with its top diplomat saying “all options” are on the table after Washington proved “they only understand the language of threat and force.” The United States “opted for a dangerous military operation and aggression against the people of Iran,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday, and he separately warned of “everlasting consequences.” For Iranian officials, the choice of how to retaliate is existential. A wider war would not only risk increased violence against the Iranian state, but senior Iranian officials believe an expanded conflict could also threaten regime survival, according to analysts and officials briefed on the matter. The Trump administration has warned Iran against retaliation. “There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days,” said President Donald Trump.
3. Israel hit Iranian government targets in Tehran on Monday in a series of strikes that followed a salvo of missiles and drones fired by Iran at Israel in the wake of the Trump administration’s massive strikes on Iranian nuclear sites the day before. The Israeli military also confirmed it struck roads around Iran’s Fordo enrichment facility to obstruct access to the site. The underground site was one of those hit in Sunday’s attack by the United States on three nuclear facilities. The Israeli military did not elaborate. In Tehran attacks, Israel’s Defense Ministry said it hit targets that included the notorious Evin Prison in the Iranian capital and the security headquarters of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guards. “The Iranian dictator will be punished with full force for attacking the Israeli home front,” the Ministry said.
4. U.S. President Donald Trump and his NATO counterparts are due to gather Tuesday for a summit that could unite the world’s biggest security organization around a new defense spending pledge or widen divisions among the 32 allies. Just a week ago, things had seemed rosy. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was optimistic the European members and Canada would commit to invest at least as much of their economic growth on defense as the United States does for the first time. Then Spain rejected the new NATO target for each country to spend 5% of its gross domestic product on defense needs, calling it “unreasonable.” Trump also insists on that figure. The alliance operates on a consensus that requires the backing of all 32 members. The following day, Trump said the U.S. should not have to respect the goal.
5. Russian drones and missiles killed at least 10 civilians in Ukraine in nighttime attacks, local officials said Monday, with seven deaths reported in the capital, Kyiv, where emergency crews raced to find people believed trapped under the rubble of a partially collapsed apartment building. Russia fired 352 drones and decoys overnight, as well as 11 ballistic missiles and five cruise missiles, Ukraine’s air force said. Air defenses intercepted or jammed 339 drones and 15 missiles before they could reach their targets, a statement said. The strikes came nearly a week after a combined Russian attack on Ukraine last Tuesday killed 28 people in Kyiv, 23 of them in a residential building that collapsed after sustaining a direct missile hit.
- Security