War widens as Iran rejects talks and ups ante; both Trump and Tehran say they are prepared for long haul

Hours after US president Donald Trump claimed Iran was ready for talks, Tehran said it would not "negotiate with the US" and unleashed a fresh offensive, hitting back at Israel, neighbouring Gulf states, and targets critical to the world's production of oil and natural gas.With world markets already rattled by the fighting and oil prices soaring, Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura oil refinery came under attack on Monday from Iranian drones, with defences downing the incoming aircraft. Ras Tanura, near the city of Dammam in eastern Saudi Arabia, is one of the world's largest with a capacity over half a million barrels of crude oil a day. It was temporarily shut down as a precaution after the attack, Saudi state television reported.

Qatari energy facilities were hit.Ali Larijani, head of Iran's National Security Council, rejected talks with the US. "Trump plunged the region into chaos with his 'delusional fantasies' and now fears more American troop casualties," Larijani wrote in a string of fiery posts on X. "Iran, unlike the United States, has prepared itself for a long war."At least 555 people have been killed in Iran so far by the US-Israeli campaign, the Iranian Red Crescent Society said.

Eleven people have been killed in Israel, according to authorities there. US has confirmed the death of 4 American troops in action. "Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends," Trump said. "That's the way it is."Iran's retaliatory strikes have so far targeted 500 sites linked to the US and Israel, "60 strategic targets and 500 American military targets", the Revolutionary Guards said on Monday. Online videos from the Aramco site appeared to show thick black smoke rising after the attack.

Even successfully intercepted drones cause debris that can spark fires and injure those on the ground.While Trump said the war was likely to go on for "four or five weeks", his defence secretary said the conflict is "not endless" and that "we fight to win". "No stupid rules of engagement, no nation building quagmire, no democracy building exercise, no politically correct wars. We fight to win, and we don't waste time or lives," Pete Hegseth said.

The operation had a "clear, devastating, decisive mission": to "destroy the missile threat" from Iran, destroy its navy and "no nukes", he added in the Trump administration's first news briefing since Saturday's strikes.Hegseth pointed to threats from other weaponry such as ballistic missiles and drones that justified the operation. "Iran was building powerful missiles and drones to create a conventional shield for their nuclear blackmail ambitions," Hegseth said. He also suggested the US was not seeking to change the Iraninan regime with the killing of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "This is not a so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change and the world is better off for it," Hegseth said.

Asked if there are boots on the ground in Iran, he said, "No, but we're not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do". agencies