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Marrakech – Two drones struck the United States Embassy in the Saudi capital Riyadh early Tuesday, causing a limited fire and minor material damage, Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said.
Black smoke rose over Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter, which houses foreign missions. Three people told Reuters a loud blast was heard, and flames were seen at the compound. The embassy building was empty at the time, and no casualties were reported.
A source close to the Saudi military told AFP that air defenses intercepted four additional drones targeting the Diplomatic Quarter. About two hours later, the Saudi Defense Ministry said it had intercepted and destroyed eight drones near Riyadh and Al-Kharj.
Saudi Arabia strongly condemned the attack, calling it a “flagrant violation” of international norms, the Geneva Conventions and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Riyadh warned Tehran that such actions would drive the region toward further escalation and reserved the right to respond to the aggression.
President Donald Trump said the US response to the embassy attack and the killing of American service members would soon become clear. “You’ll find out soon what the US response will be,” he told NewsNation.
The US Embassy issued a shelter-in-place notice for American citizens in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dhahran. It urged Americans to avoid the compound until further notice. The mission announced it was closed on Tuesday, canceling all routine and emergency services. It also said it was limiting non-essential travel to military installations across the region.
The attack came as part of a wider wave of Iranian retaliation following joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran that began Saturday. Those strikes killed several senior Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Iranian Red Crescent said Tuesday that the death toll from the ongoing US-Israeli attacks on Iran has risen to 787, with search and rescue operations still underway in the rubble of bombed buildings.
‘DEPART NOW’
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also targeted a US airbase in Bahrain’s Sheikh Isa area, launching 20 drones and three missiles. The IRGC claimed it destroyed the base’s main command headquarters, without providing evidence.
Meanwhile, a fuel tank at Oman’s Duqm commercial port was hit in a separate drone attack, causing limited material damage and no casualties, the state-run Oman News Agency reported.
The United Arab Emirates’ Defense Ministry said its air defenses were dealing with a barrage of ballistic missiles from Iran. Iranian drones also struck an Australian military facility south of Dubai, though all personnel were accounted for.
Qatar reported shooting down two Iranian fighter aircraft. Bahrain said its defenses had destroyed 70 missiles and 76 drones since the conflict began.
The human cost continued to mount. Six US service members have been killed since the war began. CNN reported the troops died when a single missile struck a command center at the port of Shuaiba in Kuwait. The missile penetrated air defenses and hit the structure directly. No sirens or warnings sounded before impact. Dozens of personnel were present at the time.
The US State Department ordered non-emergency personnel to leave Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, and Iraq. Assistant Secretary of State Mora Namdar called on Americans in over a dozen Middle Eastern countries to “DEPART NOW” using any available commercial transport.
The US Embassy in Kuwait closed indefinitely. The US Embassy in Jerusalem said it was unable to evacuate or directly assist Americans seeking to leave Israel.
Iran has launched at least 390 missiles and 830 drone attacks across the Persian Gulf since the conflict began, according to government reports. Iran also closed the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global chokepoint for hydrocarbons. “Don’t come to this region,” warned Brigadier General Ebrahim Jabbari, an adviser to the Revolutionary Guards.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the “hardest hits are yet to come.” Trump said the strikes could last four to five weeks but that the US was prepared for the campaign to “go far longer than that.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed a similar message, telling Fox News the war could take “some time” but would not “take years.”
