The US-Israeli war against Iran expanded far beyond the Middle East yesterday, after , writes the British newspaper "Independent".
At the same time, Britain was preparing to send a warship to defend Cyprus and drawing up plans to repatriate thousands of British citizens stranded in the region, the newspaper said. Iran has bombarded its neighbors with missiles and drones, and Washington is preparing to expand its strikes, boasting that it has practically sunk the Iranian fleet, draws attention "Independent".
"A US submarine has sunk an Iranian warship whose crew thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. A silent death," US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a briefing, quoted by the British newspaper. He added that the US was prepared to fight a long war with Iran, with more US bombers and fighter jets arriving in the region, notes the Independent.
"This was never planned as a fair fight and it is not a fair fight", he said. "We are fighting them until they fall. Our air defense systems and those of our allies have plenty of room to maneuver. We can easily fight this battle for as long as necessary," Hegseth added.
At the same time, NATO was forced to shoot down an Iranian ballistic missile aimed at Turkey – the closest event yet to a direct attack on a NATO country, which could draw Turkey and its allies into a collective response, the "Independent" emphasizes.,
NATO said it "strongly supports all allies, including Turkey, at a time when Iran continues its indiscriminate attacks in the region". Ankara called for restraint to avoid further escalation of the conflict, the newspaper noted.
Iranian forces said they respected Turkey's sovereignty and denied allegations that they had fired a missile at it, the British newspaper "Guardian" in turn indicated.
Iran said it had carried out strikes against Kurdish groups in Iraq who "oppose the revolution". Tehran warned "separatist groups" not to join the escalating war, following media reports that the US was trying to arm Kurdish fighters to infiltrate Iran. The strikes, which a group spokesman said killed a member of an Iranian Kurdish group in exile, were carried out after a warning from Iranian officials, the Guardian reports.
"Separatist groups should not think that there has been a change and try to take action", said Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. "We will not tolerate them in any way".
US President Donald Trump, for his part, described the progress made as "15 out of 10", notes the British newspaper "Telegraph". The American president praised the American forces, who together with the Israelis have been bombing Iran from the air since Saturday.
According to Trump, the United States is "doing well", its troops are in a "very strong position". He also repeated his claim that if the United States had not attacked Iran, "they would have had a nuclear weapon within two weeks".
The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Tuesday that there is "no evidence" that Iran is building a nuclear bomb, the Telegraph notes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokeswoman, Shosh Bedrosian, however, said that the war was necessary because Iran was rebuilding its nuclear bomb program in "new underground bunkers". She added that there were signs that Iran was planning "an attack on Israel and American forces in the Middle East".
Trump is under political pressure over the war, even though Democrats failed last night to get the Senate to pass a resolution that would have forced the president to seek congressional approval for further strikes. On Tuesday, at a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, President Trump said that his decision to order an attack on Iran was largely a matter of instinct about Tehran's intentions, the American newspaper "New York Times" noted.
"We were negotiating with these lunatics, and my opinion was that they would attack first", he said, while his guest Merz sat expressionless, the "New York Times" described. "I think they would attack first, and I didn't want that to happen. So, if anything, I may have forced Israel to act. But Israel was ready and we were ready," the president was quoted as saying by the American publication.
A day earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio had given the opposite explanation, stating that since Israel was going to act, Trump had no choice but to join a "preemptive" strike, launched before Iran attacked American bases and allies, recalls "The New York Times".
At the same time, Lebanon has once again found itself embroiled in a regional war, notes the French newspaper "Le Monde". Less than a week after the Israeli and US attack on Iran, Israeli forces continue to carry out airstrikes in their neighboring country.
Lebanon has been embroiled in the war since Monday, after the first attack on Israel by the Lebanese Shiite movement "Hezbollah", which said it wanted to "revenge" for the death of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Yesterday, the fighting between Israel and "Hezbollah" intensified. In the evening, the Israeli army announced that it had struck positions in southern Lebanon, south of the Litani River, after earlier in the afternoon it had called on residents of the area to evacuate, Le Monde reported.
"Hezbollah" has claimed responsibility for at least 23 attacks on Israel, including a drone strike on Israeli aerospace facilities located in the central part of the country. The organization also said it had struck with a "precision missile" military base in the northern part of the country.
On the other hand, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that he could not rule out his country's military participation in the war that is intensifying in the Middle East, notes the French newspaper "Figaro".
"We can never categorically rule out participation", he said at a joint press conference with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese in Canberra. "We will support our allies".
On Saturday, after the start of the Israeli-American military operation, Mark Carney assured the United States of Canada's support, stating that Iran has failed to end its nuclear program and stop supporting armed groups.
During a meeting at the "Lowy" Institute in Sydney, Mark Carney called on "all parties" involved in the war to abide by international rules of engagement and called for "de-escalation". While stating that Canada welcomed measures to change the Iranian regime, which he described as "a major source of instability and terrorism" in the Middle East, the prime minister expressed regret that international efforts had failed to disarm Iran.
"The United States and Israel acted without turning to the United Nations and without consulting their allies, including Canada," he stressed, quoted by "Figaro".
For months, Mark Carney has been repeating that the world has become increasingly dangerous and that the United States is no longer a reliable partner. Reducing his country's heavy dependence on the American economy is at the heart of his foreign economic policy, the French publication emphasizes.
"The question facing middle powers like ours today is whether to create conventions and contribute to the development of new rules that will determine our security and prosperity, or to let hegemonic powers dictate outcomes in the new global environment," Carney emphasized in his speech today to both houses of the Australian parliament in Canberra, "Figaro" points out.