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European Union diplomats stationed across the Middle East reportedly received text messages Tuesday night instructing them to remain close to emergency shelters until morning, as a U.S. deadline demanding Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz came due, Faytuks Network reported on X.
No further details about which countries the diplomats were posted in were disclosed.
President Trump had set 8 p.m. Washington time Tuesday as his cutoff for Tehran to fully reopen the strait, threatening the "complete demolition" of Iran's power plants and bridges if it did not comply.
Hours before the deadline, Trump posted on Truth Social that "a whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again," adding that he did not want that outcome but believed it "probably will" happen. Vice President JD Vance, speaking in Hungary, said Washington still had tools in its arsenal it had not yet chosen to deploy.
Israel struck a railway bridge in Kashan, in Iran's Isfahan province, killing at least two people, hours after the Israeli military posted a warning on X urging Iranians to avoid trains and rail lines until 9 p.m. local time.
Train service to and from Mashhad, Iran's second-largest city, was suspended indefinitely, according to local media citing the city's governor.
The U.S.-Israel war on Iran entered its 39th day Tuesday. Since fighting began on February 28, more than 2,000 people have been killed in Iran, roughly 1,500 in Lebanon, over 100 in Iraq, and at least 24 in Israel and 27 across Gulf states.
Saudi Arabia's air defenses intercepted at least 18 drones and up to seven ballistic missiles over the Eastern Province, with debris reported near critical energy facilities. The UAE's Defense Ministry said its air defenses intercepted incoming missiles and drones originating from Iran.
The King Fahd Causeway, the only road link between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, was briefly closed and later reopened. Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.
Al Jazeera's correspondent in Kuwait City reported that alarm sirens had sounded in both Bahrain and the UAE within hours of each other Tuesday.
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