US and Israel must end military action, says Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson

TEHRAN: Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei called on the US and Israel to halt their military action.

"They have to stop the war, it wasn't us who started the war, this military aggression was not our choice, our choice was diplomacy," he said, speaking at a weekly press conference in Tehran.

China urges resumption of talks on Iran nuclear issue

China respects Iran's "legitimate right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy," a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday, while urging a stop to US military actions in favour of returning to talks and negotiations.

US strikes on Iran "during ongoing negotiations ... violate international law and basic principles of international relations," Spokesperson Mao Ning said during a regular press briefing on Tuesday.

"The Iran nuclear issue should eventually return to the track of political and diplomatic settlement," she added.

Mao also said China will take necessary measures to ensure its own energy security, when asked about the potential impact of U.S. military actions in Venezuela and Iran on China's oil supply.

"Energy security is very important to the world economy, and all parties should ensure stable and smooth energy supply," she said.

Russia says no evidence Iran working on nuclear weapons

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Moscow had still not seen any evidence that Iran was developing nuclear weapons.

US President Donald Trump has said the war was needed to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and to thwart its long-range ballistic missile program.

Iran has denied it is seeking nuclear weapons and said the US and Israeli assault was unprovoked, occurring as Tehran and Washington were in negotiations on a nuclear accord.

Trump withdrew from a prior international agreement curbing Iran's nuclear programme during his first term in 2018, three years after it was signed.

Russia says Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant under threat

The Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran is under threat as a result of the escalating conflict, the head of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom said on Tuesday, according to the RIA state news agency.

"There is certainly a threat to the plant," CEO Alexei Likhachev was cited as saying. "Explosions can be heard just kilometers away," he added, saying the plant itself was not being targeted.

Rosatom said on Saturday it had evacuated nearly 100 people from Iran, but its personnel have remained at the plant, which was built by Moscow in the Iranian port city of Bushehr.

Likhachev said the next stage of evacuations involving 150 to 200 people from the plant would happen when the situation permits, according to comments cited by the Interfax news agency.

IAEA confirms some damage to Iran's Natanz nuclear site

Earlier, it was reported that commercial satellite imagery had captured ​what appeared to be the first known strikes on an Iranian nuclear site since the start of the US-Israeli air operation. The UN nuclear watchdog IAEA has now confirmed there has been damage to Iran's Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant.

Meanwhile, Israeli troops were carrying out incursions along some parts of the Lebanese border, a Lebanese official told Reuters. Witnesses said the Lebanese army had pulled out of at least seven forward operating positions along the border.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency confirmed the Lebanese army was evacuating "advanced positions" along the Israeli border after Israel’s military said its troops were operating in southern Lebanon in what it described as a “forward defence posture".

Separately, an attack by two drones early Tuesday on the US embassy in Riyadh sparked a small fire, a Saudi defence ministry spokesman said in a statement, while Iran pressed on with retaliatory strikes across the Gulf.

According to Reuters, there were no reported injuries, two of the people familiar with the matter said, given that the building was empty in the early morning hours.

The US and Israeli air war ⁠against ​Iran began with attacks against Tehran on Saturday, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and prompting Iranian retaliation against Israel and missile attacks at Arab nations with US bases across the Middle East.

"The US Embassy in Riyadh was attacked by two drones, according to initial assessments. The attack resulted in a limited fire and minor material damage to the building," the statement said.

Two witnesses told AFP they saw fire engines around the embassy.

Earlier, witnesses said they had seen smoke over the building housing the US mission and heard loud explosions in the diplomatic quarter, home to foreign embassies in the Saudi capital.

A source close to the Saudi army, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue, told AFP that Saudi air defences intercepted four drones targeting Riyadh's diplomatic quarter in the attack.

In the aftermath, the US embassy issued shelter-in-place notifications for Jeddah, Riyadh and Dhahran and limited non-essential travel to any military installations in the region.

Later on Tuesday, the Saudi defence ministry said it had intercepted more than half a dozen drones near the capital Riyadh and the city of Al-Kharj.

"Eight drones were intercepted and destroyed near the cities of Riyadh and Al-Kharj," said defence ministry spokesman Major General Turki al-Malki on X.

US CENTCOM has said in a post on X that American forces have destroyed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities, air defences, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields.

"US forces have destroyed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) command and control facilities, Iranian air defense capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields during sustained operations."

The attacks in Saudi Arabia coincided with a wave of missiles and drones launched at Gulf states, with the UAE defence ministry saying it was dealing with a barrage of ballistic missiles coming from Iran.

In Qatar, the military intercepted two ballistic missiles early Tuesday morning, the country's defence ministry said in a statement.

Iran's salvos have hit ports, airports, residential buildings and hotels along with military sites across the wealthy region of oil giants.

On Monday, smoke poured out of Kuwait City's US embassy, an AFP correspondent saw.

Later, a Kuwait-based diplomat and a Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP the embassy had been damaged by several drones, while a second Kuwait-based diplomat said the building had been struck directly.