State Department urges US citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries

    Dubai, Mar 3 (AP) Israel and the United States pounded Iran on Monday in a campaign that US President Donald Trump said would likely take several weeks. Tehran and its allies hit back against Israel, Gulf states and targets critical to the world's energy production.
    The intensity of the attacks, the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the lack of any apparent exit plan set the stage for a prolonged conflict with far-reaching consequences. Safe havens in the Mideast like Dubai have seen incoming fire; hundreds of thousands of airline passengers are stranded around the globe; oil prices shot up; and US allies pledged to help stop Iranian missiles and drones.
    With no sign of the conflict abating anytime soon, Trump said operations are likely to last four to five weeks but that he was prepared “to go far longer than that.”
    In a sign of concern over the potential for spiralling violence, the State Department on Monday urged US citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries due to safety risks.
    “The hardest hits are yet to come from the US military,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters. “The next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now.” (AP)
     RD
RD

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)