Parts of Tehran and the nearby Alborz province lost electrical power on Sunday following strikes on energy infrastructure in the area, according to Iran’s state-run news agency. Power was largely restored within an hour, but the disruption underscored the ongoing intensity of the conflict as the war with the US and Israel enters its second month.
The weekend saw Iran and its proxy forces launch a wave of attacks on US allies across the region. The arrival of a US amphibious assault group and the formal entry of the Iran-backed Houthis into the conflict added fresh concerns about escalation, even as a diplomatic effort involving Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey was quietly underway to explore a path out of the war.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said after those talks that “both Iran and the US have expressed their confidence in Pakistan” to host future negotiations — though neither Washington nor Tehran has signaled readiness to sit at the same table.
Nuclear Facility Damaged; Supreme Leader Still Absent From Public View
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed Sunday that Iran’s Khondab heavy water production plant sustained severe damage in a recent strike. Heavy water is used both in civilian nuclear reactors and in the production of weapons-grade plutonium — the destruction of Iran’s nuclear capabilities has been cited as one of the conflict’s stated objectives.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei — who assumed the role after his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in the early hours of the war — has not appeared in public since taking office. He issued brief remarks on Saturday for the first time in about a week, thanking Iraqi religious authorities for their support, but the US maintains he was injured during the initial strikes and may be in serious condition.
Houthis Enter the Fight; Iran Strikes Gulf Industry
The Houthis launched ballistic missiles at Israel on Saturday morning in response to US-Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites including Khondab. Separately, Iran struck aluminum production facilities in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates — a signal that Gulf states with US ties remain in the crosshairs.
The Pentagon, according to sources cited by the Washington Post, is preparing for potentially weeks of ground operations inside Iran. Any such mission would likely prioritize reopening the Strait of Hormuz — the waterway through which roughly a fifth of global seaborne oil once flowed, now reduced to a trickle and inflicting what analysts describe as the most significant supply disruption in the history of the global oil market.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf responded to the prospect with open defiance: “Our men are waiting for American soldiers to enter on the ground,” he said. Tehran is also drafting legislation to formalize its control over the strait, including provisions for shipping fees and the creation of what it calls a “regional development and progress fund.”
Strikes Spread Beyond the Region
A strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia on Friday wounded at least 15 US troops and destroyed a US E-3 Sentry aircraft — a $300 million airborne radar platform. Photographs showed the jet’s tail completely severed. One person was killed in an Iranian missile strike on Tel Aviv. Israel’s military operations in southern Lebanon continued over the weekend, with two journalists killed in strikes on Saturday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday ordered the military to widen the buffer zone in southern Lebanon.
French anti-terrorism authorities are investigating a foiled bombing near the Bank of America headquarters in Paris, which they said appeared to be linked to the Middle East conflict — a sign of the war’s expanding reach.
The US military reported it had struck more than 11,000 targets and destroyed over 150 Iranian vessels since the conflict began. The total death toll now exceeds 4,500, with roughly three-quarters of fatalities in Iran, more than 1,200 in Lebanon, and 13 US troops killed.
Saudi Arabia has managed to reroute some oil exports via its East-West pipeline, which is now running at full capacity of 7 million barrels per day. But the Houthis pose a direct threat to that workaround — the Red Sea port of Yanbu, through which 5 million of those barrels now flow, sits well within their missile range.