US embassy in Riyadh attacked, stranded Indians return from UAE… The latest as Iran war enters Day 4

The war in West Asia is spiralling, as it enters Day 4. Iran continues its attacks on Arab nations in the region and has issued a new threat to Gulf shipping. Drone attacks were reported on US embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Israel is striking Hezbollah command centres and weapons storage facilities in the Lebanese capital of Beirut.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has warned that “the hardest hits” on Iran are “yet to come”, as President Donald Trump said that the war could last three to four weeks.

As uncertainty grips West Asia, we bring you the top developments from the conflict.

1. The US embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was hit by two suspected Iranian drones. A loud blast was reportedly heard, and thick smoke was seen rising above the embassy on Monday night. Reuters reported that witnesses saw black smoke over Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter, which houses foreign missions. The Saudi Ministry of Defence announced that the US Embassy was attacked by two drones, resulting in a “limited fire and minor material damage to the building”.

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JUST IN: Smoke rises from the US embassy in Riyadh following a large explosion. pic.twitter.com/QnSONJ9dA3

— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) March 3, 2026

2. New explosions were also heard in Riyadh early on Tuesday, an AFP journalist and residents said, as Iran pressed on with its campaign of retaliatory strikes across the Gulf. The explosions could be heard in the centre of the Saudi capital, with one resident saying they “heard a bang and the house shook”.

3. The US mission in Saudi Arabia has issued a shelter-in-place notification for citizens in Jeddah, Riyadh, and Dhahran. It says it will limit non-essential travel to any military installations in the region.

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4. A siren was sounded in Bahrain early on Tuesday, the country’s Interior Ministry said. “Citizens and residents are urged to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place,” the ministry wrote.

5. As the war intensifies, Americans have been asked to leave West Asia. Citing “serious safety risks,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio early Tuesday urged American citizens to depart immediately from West Asian nations, including Iran, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, and the United Arab Emirates, via commercial means.

Taking to X, the Assistant Secretary at the US State Department, Mora Namdar, wrote: “The @SecRubio @StateDept urges Americans to DEPART NOW from the countries below using available commercial transportation, due to serious safety risks. Americans who need State Department assistance arranging to depart via commercial means, CALL US 24/7 at +1-202-501-4444 (from abroad) and +1-888-407-4747 (from the U.S. and Canada). ENROLL in http://step.state.gov to get the latest security updates from the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate.”

5. Israel continues its attacks on Lebanon. The Israeli military says it is striking Hezbollah command centres and weapons storage facilities in Beirut. A large plume of smoke could be seen rising from the city following an explosion overnight, reports CNN. The strike comes a day after Hezbollah launched missiles and drones at a military base in Israel “in revenge” for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader.

6. Iran’s state broadcaster reported two explosions near its Tehran headquarters on Tuesday, but said it was continuing to broadcast amid the ongoing Israeli-US strike campaign.

“Smoke from two explosions around IRIB’s premises / No disruption to IRIB’s operations,” the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting wrote on Telegram.

The Israeli army claimed overnight Monday to Tuesday that it had “struck and dismantled” the headquarters of the IRIB in the Evin district of northern Tehran, which it described as a “communications centre of the Iranian terrorist regime”.

7. An Iranian official says Iran will “set fire to anyone who tries to pass through” the Strait of Hormuz, reports the BBC.

The warning comes from Ebrahim Jabbari, an adviser to the Commander-in-Chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), speaking on state TV. He says that the strait is closed and warned ships: “They should not come to this region. They will certainly face a serious response from us.”

8. Travelers stranded by a widening war began departing the UAE aboard a small number of evacuation flights Monday, even as most commercial air traffic across West Asia remained suspended. Flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi began landing in India on Monday night, bringing major relief for thousands of Indians stranded in the UAE.

An Emirates flight, EK 500, landed at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, while the first flight from Abu Dhabi touched down at Kempegowda International Airport. Another service landed safely at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport and Chennai Airport amid heightened tensions in West Asia, reports CNN-News18.

9. After escalating attacks, Donald Trump has taken a U-turn, saying “boots on the ground” may not be necessary. In an interview with NewsNation journalist Kellie Meyer, Trump said there will soon be retaliation for the attack on the US Embassy in Riyadh and for the deaths of US service members.

On Monday, as Trump laid out four goals in Iran, he said the US campaign had been projected to last four to five weeks but could “go far longer than that”.

10. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US military would step up its military attacks against Iran. “I’m not going to give away the details of our tactical efforts, but the hardest hits are yet to come from the US military,” Rubio told reporters on Capitol Hill. “The next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now.”

With inputs from agencies