War with Iran spreads across a dozen countries as casualties mount 

On the fourth day of war, Iran’s response to the joint Israeli-American assault has quickly spread conflict across the wider region.

Missiles and drones launched by Tehran have struck or targeted a swath of Gulf states: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait. 

Oman, which had been mediating between Washington and Tehran, has so far remained outside the line of fire. Beyond the Gulf, violence has reached Lebanon and even Cyprus, while pro-Iranian militias in Iraq and Syria have intensified attacks against American-linked targets.

In recent hours, the Israeli military has said it is attacking Tehran and Beirut “simultaneously,” and that Israeli units have established positions in southern Lebanon. 

American forces, for their part, are concentrating on command centers of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Iran has responded with drone strikes on a U.S. air base in Bahrain and on the bridge linking the island nation to the Arabian Peninsula.

Trump’s defiant rhetoric

From Washington’s vantage point, four developments stand out.

First, drone attacks on U.S. embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, which have reportedly only caused material damage. Second, the rising death toll: more than 500 killed in Iran, with thousands injured; around a dozen dead in Israel; scattered fatalities elsewhere; and six American service members confirmed killed. 

Third, conflicting statements from President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over whether U.S. ground troops might be deployed to Iraq — a possibility initially floated, then ruled out. And fourth, the conspicuous silence of Vice President JD Vance, who is said to be preparing a television interview.

Until last week, the U.S. Vice President had argued for prioritizing diplomacy over military intervention and has been seen as representing the wing of the president’s movement most wary of new foreign entanglements.

Within conservative circles, statements attributed to Charlie Kirk, the activist killed last September in Utah, opposing war with Iran have resurfaced and circulated widely online.

President Trump, in characteristically forceful language, has praised what he calls America’s “unlimited” military capabilities and warned Iranians that “the worst is yet to come.” He has predicted the war will last “four or five weeks,” though his past timelines have often proved unreliable. 

War has also produced the kind of accidents that often accompany it. Three American fighter jets were shot down on Sunday by Kuwaiti air defenses in what officials described as friendly fire. The pilots ejected safely.

Public opinion in the United States appears divided. Polls suggest a majority of Americans oppose a war whose rationale many say they struggle to understand. 

Yet roughly half believe that, in the long run, the conflict could strengthen national security.

General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, cautioned that additional American casualties should be expected and described the remaining mission as “difficult and dangerous.” 

Markets rattled, Europe on the sidelines

The economic repercussions are already visible. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has ground to a halt as air traffic across the region faces major disruptions. Stock markets have fallen, while gold and energy prices have climbed.

Europe, for now, appears largely on the sidelines. Some critics have accused European leaders of lining up behind what they call an illegal and reckless war, contrasting their stance with the divisions that marked the 2003 invasion of Iraq, when France and Germany opposed the intervention while Britain, Italy and initially Spain supported it.

European officials, meanwhile, are seeking to avoid being drawn directly into the conflict. A subject likely to surface as Germany’s chancellor meets President Trump in Washington.