Hunkered down at his luxury Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, US President Donald Trump kept an unusually low profile after announcing the start of huge military strikes on Iran.

Trump eschewed the grand Oval Office addresses to the nation favored by his predecessors to announce foreign wars, and opted instead for an eight-minute video on his Truth Social network.

Posted at 2:30 am on Saturday, the short statement in which Trump stood at a podium wearing a white baseball cap was the last the world would see of the US commander-in-chief until another video on Sunday afternoon.

Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed at least 31 people on Monday, authorities said, following rocket fire from Tehran-backed militant group Hezbollah after the killing of Iran's supreme leader.

Israel's military vowed to intensify its attacks on the country and make Hezbollah pay a "heavy price" after launching several strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs and south Lebanon, areas where Hezbollah holds sway.

Oil and gas prices soared, stock markets slid and the dollar firmed on Monday as the widening Iran war shook financial markets across the globe.

European natural gas prices rocketed more than 50 percent higher after Qatar's state-run energy firm said it had halted liquefied natural gas production following Iranian attacks on facilities at two of its main gas processing bases.

By Gram Slattery and Erin Banco

March 1 (Reuters) - Following the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday, many senior U.S. officials remain skeptical that the U.S. and Israeli military operation against the Islamic Republic will lead to a regime change in the near term.

Before and after the start of the attack, U.S. officials, including U.S. President Donald Trump, had suggested that toppling the nation's repressive governing system was one of several U.S. goals, in addition to crippling Iran's ballistic missile and nuclear programs.

By Laila Bassam, Yomna Ehab and Nayera Abdallah

March 2 (Reuters) - Israeli military said on Monday it was striking targets of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militants across Lebanon, after the group launched missiles and drones towards Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The projectiles launched by the Lebanese militant group were the first since the start of U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.

By Renju Jose

SYDNEY, March 2 (Reuters) - Australia said on Monday it would not take part in any military operations in Iran, ruling out deploying troops to the Middle East if the conflict escalates, as Israel launched fresh strikes on Tehran and Iran responded with more missile attacks.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in an attack on Saturday, while the United States reported its first casualties in the war as U.S. President Donald Trump hinted the conflict could last for four more weeks.

Israel bombarded Lebanon on Monday, 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.

"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.

MOSCOW, March 1 - About 500 Russian nationals are readying for evacuation from Iran via Azerbaijan, the Russian embassy in Baku said on Sunday.

"We would like to express our gratitude to the Azerbaijani side for their assistance, including for the prompt consideration of issues related to the issuance of border crossing permits," it said on its Telegram channel.

A source close to the Azerbaijani government said 192 individuals had been evacuated from Iran to Azerbaijan over 38 hours, including 82 Azerbaijani nationals.

March 1 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Sunday that his country has accepted a U.S. request to use British bases for defensive strikes against Iranian missiles in storage depots or launchers.

"The United States has requested permission to use British bases for that specific and limited defensive purpose. We have taken the decision to accept this request to prevent Iran firing missiles across the region," he said in a video message on X.

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump warned on Sunday that combat operations in Iran were continuing and would carry on until all of Washington's objectives are achieved.

Trump confirmed in a video posted on Truth Social that three U.S. service members had been killed and said there would likely be more casualties, vowing to avenge the deaths of Americans.

"Combat operations continue at this time in full force, and they will continue until all of our objectives are achieved. We have very strong objectives," Trump said.