DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran and Iranian-backed militias fired missiles at Israel and Arab states, apparently hitting the US Embassy compound in Kuwait, while Israel and the United States pounded targets in Iran as the war expanded on Monday with statements of defiance and increasing casualties. Fire and smoke rose from inside the embassy compound in Kuwait City and an alarm wailed after the Iranian attack, which came not long after the US issued a warning to Americans there to take cover and for others to stay away. There were no immediate reports on damage or casualties. Meantime, as the American and Israeli airstrikes continued, top Iranian security official Ali Larijani vowed defiantly on X that “we will not negotiate with the United States.” In Iraq, a pro-Iranian militia claimed responsibility for a drone attack targeting US troops at the Baghdad airport, the day after it said it fired at a US base in the city of Irbil in the north, and Cyprus said a drone attack targeted a British base on the Mediterranean island nation. Israel and the US bombed Iranian missile sites and targeted its navy, claiming to have destroyed its headquarters and multiple warships. More than 200 people have been killed since the start of the strikes, according to Iranian leaders. Also on Monday, Israel bombarded Lebanon, expanding conflict across the region after the massive Israel-US attack on Iran that President Donald Trump launched to topple Tehran’s ruling clerics. Israeli forces pounded targets across Lebanon including Beirut, after Hezbollah, the Tehran-backed armed Shiite Muslim movement, fired rockets towards Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Israeli strikes in Lebanon killed at least 31 people and wounded 149 others, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said. About two-thirds of the dead were in the country’s south. Following its initial strikes on Beirut, Israel urged civilians in nearly 50 villages in eastern and southern Lebanon to evacuate ahead of more possible attacks, sending people fleeing. Lebanon’s government said it was holding an emergency meeting after Hezbollah’s attack on Israel triggered the Israeli airstrikes. “Large-scale strikes” were also ongoing in the heart of Tehran, Israeli forces said, as the US military widened its targets across Iran on Sunday. Retaliating against the heavy strikes that Washington said destroyed the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iranian forces fired missiles and drones across the Middle East, claiming lives in Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Fresh explosions were heard across Doha, Dubai and Manama on Monday morning. Trump vowed to avenge the first US deaths, telling the New York Times that the United States and Israel could keep up the same level of attacks for four to five weeks. “It won’t be difficult. We have tremendous amounts of ammunition,” he said, adding he had a shortlist of three unnamed people he favored to lead Iran after the war. But Ali Larijani, the powerful head of Tehran’s Supreme National Security Council, voiced defiance. Iran “will not negotiate with the United States,” he wrote on X, adding that “Trump plunged the region into chaos with his ‘delusional fantasies’ and now fears more American troop casualties.” Iranian response Iran has been firing missiles at Israel and Arab states in a counteroffensive since the joint America-Israeli attack Saturday that killed Khamenei and many top Iranian officials. Gulf Arab states have warned that they could retaliate against Iran after strikes that hit key sites and killed at least five civilians. Trump has urged Iranians to “take over” their government and, while he has also signaled he would be open to dialogue with new leadership there following the death of Khamenei, suggested Sunday there was no end in sight to the military operations. “Combat operations continue at this time in full-force, and they will continue until all of our objectives are achieved,” he said in a video message. “We have very strong objectives,” he added, without elaborating. The US military said B-2 stealth bombers struck Iran’s ballistic missile facilities with 2,000-pound bombs. Trump said on social media that nine Iranian warships had been sunk and that the Iranian navy’s headquarters had been “largely destroyed.” In an indication the conflict could draw in other nations, Britain, France and Germany said they were ready to work with the US to help stop Iran’s attacks, and a group of Gulf Arab countries said it reserved the right to respond to Iranian strikes. The weekend attacks were the second combined strikes in eight months from the US and Israel against Iran. In the 12-day war last June, Israeli and American strikes greatly weakened Iran’s air defenses, military leadership and nuclear program. But the killing of Khamenei, who ruled Iran for more than three decades, creates a leadership vacuum, increasing the risk of regional instability. Also Monday, the World Health Organization called for sparing civilians and health care facilities in the Middle East amid the escalating conflict. “The protection of civilians and health care must be absolute,” Hanan Balkhy, regional dietitian at WHO wrote on social media. “All parties must ... ensure medical facilities remain protected.” Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have urged Iranians to overthrow the government in Iran, the sworn foe of Israel and the United States since the 1979 Islamic revolution toppled the pro-Western shah. In a video address, Trump urged Iranian security forces “to lay down your arms and receive full immunity or face certain death.” “It will be certain death,” he repeated. “It won’t be pretty.” The Pentagon said that three US service members were killed in the operation and five seriously wounded in the operation it has called “Epic Fury.” “Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends,” Trump said. “That’s the way it is.” “But America will avenge their deaths and deliver the most punishing blow to the terrorists who have waged war against, basically, civilization.” Trump, who campaigned denouncing foreign interventions, has done little to explain the case for war to the US public. Attacks across Middle East Explosions rocked Beirut before dawn and southern Lebanon residents fled, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists, after the Israeli military announced it was striking both parts of the country. In the city of Sidon, cars of families escaping from further south packed roads. Hezbollah, which was weakened by an earlier Israeli offensive, said it had fired rockets and drones at Israel “in retaliation for the pure blood” of Khamenei — the first time it has claimed such an attack since a November 2024 ceasefire agreement following a year of war between them. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, whose government has pushed for Hezbollah’s disarmament, called Monday’s rocket fire “irresponsible.” Such action “endangers Lebanon’s security and safety, and gives Israel pretexts to continue its attacks on it,” Salam said on X. In Israel, an Iranian missile attack killed at least nine people and injured dozens more in the central city of Beit Shemesh, after a death the previous day near Tel Aviv. Three people were also injured on one of the main roads of Jerusalem. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, whose elected role is subordinate to that of the supreme leader, called Khamenei’s killing a “declaration of war against Muslims.” “Iran considers it its legitimate duty and right to avenge the perpetrators,” Pezeshkian said. Rise up Israel and the United States attacked Iran weeks after authorities ruthlessly crushed mass protests, killing thousands. The demonstrations, initially sparked by economic anxiety but also including calls for greater social freedoms, were considered one of the most serious threats to the religious state. Trump called on Iranians to rise up and said, “America is with you.” Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late shah, cautioned Iranians to stay vigilant in the face of air strikes and await the right moment to return to the streets. But he also urged “nightly chants” against the Islamic republic. Cheers were heard as some Iranians celebrated reports of the death of Khamenei, but after state media confirmed his killing, pro-government demonstrations also formed, chanting “Death to America!” Iran named Ayatollah Alireza Arafi to join Pezeshkian on an interim leadership council to lead the country while a permanent successor is found for the supreme leader. Mixed support While many in the Iranian diaspora cheered Khamenei’s death, anger was seen on the streets of Iran’s neighbor Pakistan where officials said 17 people were killed and protesters tried to storm the US consulate in Karachi. World leaders have given a mixed reaction to the attack, which came two days after Iran and the United States held talks on Tehran’s nuclear program. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Sunday that he would let the United States use UK bases for “defensive” strikes but that his country — a steadfast partner in the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — “will not join offensive action now.” Iran’s first retaliatory strikes on Saturday hit all the Gulf states apart from mediator Oman. On Sunday, Oman’s commercial port of Duqm was hit by two drones, injuring a foreign worker, the Oman News Agency said. Three ships were also attacked in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday after Iran had previously declared the strategic waterway was closed, sending global oil prices spiking. The Revolutionary Guards claimed to strike the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, but the Pentagon said the “missiles launched didn’t even come close.” Trump said that US military strikes had sunk nine Iranian naval vessels and partially destroyed its navy headquarters. Iran’s retaliatory strikes in the Gulf have killed at least four people and wounded dozens of others. Inside Iran, the Red Crescent in its last toll issued on Saturday evening said that strikes had killed 201 people and injured hundreds more. Iran’s judiciary confirmed that Ali Shamkhani, a top adviser to Khamenei, and Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, the head of Revolutionary Guards, were among those killed.