By Nandita Bose, Gram Slattery and Bo Erickson

WASHINGTON, March 2 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump pressed ahead with military strikes against Iran despite private warnings from senior aides that the escalation could be difficult to contain and carry political risks for Republicans in November's midterm elections, according to two senior White House officials and a Republican close to the administration.

NICOSIA, March 2 (Rtrs) - A passenger air terminal in Paphos, Cyprus, was evacuated on Monday after a suspect object was picked up on radars, the Cyprus state broadcaster reported.

Paphos airport on the western coast of the island lies within Republic of Cyprus territory. It is about 60 kilometres (37 miles) from Britain's RAF Akrotiri, which was hit by an unmanned drone overnight. Just after midday Monday (1000 GMT) sirens sounded at the British base, and aircraft took off.

(Writing by Michele KambasEditing by Gareth Jones)

Lebanon's government on Monday took the unprecedented step of banning Hezbollah's military and security activity, prompting the Iran-backed group to lash out at the decision.

Hezbollah is represented in both the government and parliament, and the move came hours after it announced it had launched rockets and drones towards Israel early Monday to avenge the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli attacks.

Israel began bombarding Beirut's southern suburbs and dozens of villages in south Lebanon, vowing to make the group pay a "heavy price".

By James Mackenzie

BERLIN, March 2 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz faces a delicate task on Tuesday when he visits Washington for a meeting with President Donald Trump, now overshadowed by the U.S.-Israeli attack that killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the weekend.

Merz will be the first European leader to meet Trump since the start of the operation, which has blocked one of the world's key oil shipping lanes and thrown global air transport into chaos.

By Francois Murphy

VIENNA, March 2 (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog has no indication Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iran have hit any nuclear facilities, its chief Rafael Grossi told the agency's Board of Governors on Monday, moments before Iran's envoy said one was targeted a day earlier.

Iran's nuclear programme has been among the reasons Israel and the U.S. have given for the attacks, alleging Iran was getting too close to being able to eventually make an atom bomb.

PARIS, March 2 (Reuters) - France is ready to help Gulf countries targeted by Iranian retaliatory strikes, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Monday, adding that the Israeli and U.S. initial strikes against Iran should have been debated beforehand at the United Nations.

"Regarding more specifically our partners in the region who have been targeted, deliberately aimed at by the Iranian regime, we stand ready to contribute to their defense," Barrot told reporters after chairing a crisis meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Paris.

MOSCOW, March 2 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Monday that Russia was in constant contact with the Iranian leadership about what it called the "outright aggression" against Tehran and was deeply disappointed by how events had unfolded.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday condemned the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a "cynical" murder and the Russian Foreign Ministry has accused the U.S. and Israel of plunging the Middle East "into an abyss of uncontrolled escalation."

March 2 (Reuters) - Qatar has intercepted Iranian attacks that targeted civilian infrastructure, including the international airport, the Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson told CNN on Monday, adding that such attacks could not remain unanswered.

Majed Al Ansari also said that Qatar was not engaging with Iran at the moment.

(Reporting by Andrew Mills, Writing by Ahmed ElimamEditing by Gareth Jones)

Saudi Arabia's military raised its readiness levels after multiple attacks by Iran, a source close to the army told AFP on Monday, while another warned of a possible military response if its oil infrastructure is targeted.

The massive Ras Tanura refinery on Saudi Arabia's Gulf coast went into partial shutdown on Monday after a strike by drones, three days into the Middle East war.

By Katya Golubkova, Yuka Obayashi and Nidhi Verma

TOKYO/NEW DELHI, March 2 (Reuters) - The widening Iranian conflict is disrupting oil flows to several Asian countries as vessels are bottled up within the Middle East Gulf and crude and transport costs are rising, industry sources and analysts said on Monday.

The disruptions highlight the risks to Asia, the world's biggest oil consuming region, which sources 60% of its oil from Middle Eastern producers, from the fighting between the U.S. and Israel on one side and Iran.