Drones over Riyadh

Two drones struck the American embassy in Riyadh early this morning, causing a limited fire and minor damage, according to the Saudi Ministry of Defence. A Saudi official told NBC News there were no injuries. Shortly after, two more drones struck the diplomatic quarter. The IRGC claimed the attack on Telegram, announcing it had begun destroying "American political centres" in the region.

Trump, asked by NewsNation what the response would be, said: "you'll find out soon." The embassy issued a shelter-in-place order for American citizens in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dhahran. The embassy in Kuwait, attacked on Sunday and Monday, closed to the public indefinitely. The State Department ordered the departure of non-emergency personnel from Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Iraq, and assistant secretary for consular affairs Mora Namdar posted on X that Americans should "DEPART NOW" from over a dozen countries.

An attack on an embassy is, under international law, an attack on the sovereign territory of the targeted country. It is not collateral damage or a miscalculation. The IRGC explicitly claimed it. It is hard to imagine a more provocative act short of a direct attack on American troops in combat, which, incidentally, has also happened: six US service members have been killed since Saturday. Iran appears to be operating under the logic that, if it is already condemned, it has nothing left to lose. It is a dangerous logic, but not an irrational one. Washington now has the political and legal justification to escalate any aspect of the campaign it wishes.