US announces ‘deeper strikes’ in Iran, Senate fails to curb Trump’s war powers: Live Updates (PHOTOS, VIDEOS): As it happened

05 March 2026

A tanker anchored off Kuwait reported a large explosion on its port side and was taking on water, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Thursday, adding that the crew were safe and no fires had been reported.

UKMTO said oil was leaking into the water from a cargo tank, raising potential environmental concerns, while Kuwait’s interior ministry later said the incident happened outside the country’s territorial waters, at least 60 km from the southeast of Kuwait’s Mubarak Al Kabeer port.

Iranian state broadcaster Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) has aired footage from Lordegan in western Iran showing what it said were the remnants of a AGM‑158 JASSM cruise missile used in recent US strikes.

An anti-Iran war protester was injured during a scuffle with police and Senator Tim Sheehy after disrupting a Senate Armed Services subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

Brian McGinnis, a former US Marine and Green Party Senate candidate in North Carolina, interrupted testimony by members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, shouting “No one wants to fight for Israel” before officers and the senator forcibly removed him from the chamber.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said he couldn’t rule out his country’s military participation in the escalating war in the Middle East.

Speaking alongside Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra on Thursday, Carney said the question of possible involvement was “hypothetical,” but added that “one can never categorically rule out participation.” He said Canada would “stand by our allies” and “always defend Canadians,” while reiterating his call for “de-escalation” of the conflict.

According to the semi‑official Iranian news agency ISNA, Iran threatened to target the Dimona nuclear site in southern Israel if the United States and Israel attempted “regime change” in Tehran.

The site, officially called the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center, is widely associated with Israel’s long‑suspected nuclear weapons program

04 March 2026

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it fired more than 40 missiles at US bases during the 17th wave of strikes and shot down ten Israeli Hermes‑type drones and US MQ‑9 Reaper drones.

Iranian officials reported that they shot down the latest US MQ‑9 Reaper drone over northern Iraq on Wednesday evening.

NATO chief Mark Rutte told Newsmax there has been “widespread support” for the US strikes in Iran.

Asked whether an attack on a NATO member state’s embassy in a third country would be considered an attack on the bloc as a whole, Rutte said there were “good reasons” to remain ambiguous about Article 5 of the NATO Charter, which covers collective defense.

“We keep it very ambiguous because we don’t want to make our enemies, our adversaries, any wiser,” Rutte said.

The US Senate voted down a Democrat-backed war powers resolution aimed at blocking President Donald Trump from using the military for hostilities within or against Iran without congressional approval.

The US Central Command announced that American forces are “expanding strikes deeper into Iranian airspace by the hour.” 

CENTCOM claimed that Iran’s missile launches have been reduced by 86% and drone launches by 73%.

Powerful explosions were reported in Tehran in the early hours of Thursday.

Several media outlets, including AP and i24NEWS, reported that Iraqi-based Kurdish groups are preparing to launch an offensive against Iran.

An official with the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan told i24NEWS that militias began taking combat positions inside Iran on Monday.

CNN reported earlier that the CIA was working to arm Kurdish groups as part of a plan to start a rebellion in Iran, which has a sizable Kurdish minority.

Iran’s IRIB broadcaster has released a compilation of Iran’s strikes on US military infrastructure throughout the Gulf region. The video shows drone hits on radar systems in Bahrain, ballistic missile strikes on Qatar, and drone and missile impacts on facilities in the UAE.

Most of these strikes took place in the immediate aftermath of the US assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. RT covered them in detail here.

Israel has conducted a massive airstrike in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, after ordering the mass evacuation of the entirety of Lebanon south of the Litani river.

The evacuation order covers a swathe of southern Lebanon in which Israeli troops are forbidden from operating in under UN Security Council resolution 1701. Increased shelling and border incursions in this area have stoked fears that Israel is preparing for a wide ground invasion of its northern neighbor.

Spain has categorically denied that it will “cooperate with the US military,” as White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed during a briefing on Wednesday afternoon.

”Our position of ‘no to war’ remains clear and unequivocal,” Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said, adding that he had “no idea” what Leavitt was talking about.

Earlier this week, Spain forbade the US from using two jointly-operated military bases on its soil to support military operations against Iran.

The White House has insisted that the US played no role in the killing of 168 Iranian schoolgirls in a strike on an elementary school on Saturday.

”I would caution you from pointing the finger at the United States of America when it comes to targeting civilians, because that’s not something that these armed forces do,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters in a press conference.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has accused the US and Israel of carrying out the massacre. “Calling this a mere ‘war crime’ falls tragically short of capturing the sheer wickedness and depravity of such an atrocity,” ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei declared on Wednesday.

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has said that the Pentagon is investigating the incident.

Iran is reportedly firing drones at the UAE again, although the chances of seeing any videos of explosions in Dubai are slim. Authorities in the Emirates have reminded residents that sharing videos of strikes, explosions, missile interceptions, or damage to buildings is a criminal offense punishable with fines of up to $55,000 or up to two years imprisonment.

Spain has reversed course and “agreed to cooperate with the US military,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters in Washington. Earlier this week, Spain forbade the US from using two jointly-operated military bases on its soil to support its war against Iran.

US President Donald Trump responded by announcing a total trade embargo on Spain, but Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez insisted on Wednesday that he would not rethink his decision. “We are not going to be complicit in something that is bad for the world simply out of fear of reprisals,” he said in a televised address.

Madrid has not commented on Leavitt’s latest claim.

Bahrain has arrested four people for sharing videos of Iranian strikes on military sites and “expressing sympathy” with Iran. Around 80% of Bahrain’s population are Shia, but the country is ruled by a US-aligned Sunni minority.

In several videos filmed in Bahrain over the weekend, locals could be heard cheering as Iranian drones hit US military bases.

American and Israeli strikes are still ongoing in Tehran. In video footage from the Iranian capital, loud and repeated explosions can be heard, with the city’s power grid apparently failing. 

Earlier on Wednesday, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said that the US would soon switch from using standoff munitions to conventional gravity bombs, signaling that the US expects to control the airspace over Tehran in the coming days.

US air defenses at a military base in Erbil, Iraq, have been firing continuously in an attempt to take out incoming drones. The base, located at the city’s international airport, has come under daily bombardment since Saturday, as has the US consulate in the city.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is still alive, a close aide of the former Iranian president has told RT. Ahmadinejad was reported killed in a US-Israeli airstrike on his home over the weekend, but RT’s source has said that he was taken to a safe location after a missile struck a building 100 meters from the property.

During the 12-day war between Israel and Iran last summer, the Israeli military claimed to have killed multiple senior Iranian military commanders, only for them to show up alive and well days later.

Johnson has insisted that the US is “not at war right now.” Instead, he told reporters, “we're four days into a very specific, clear mission, an operation, Operation Epic Fury.”

American officials and lawmakers have had a hard time selling the war to the public. According to a CNN poll published on Monday, 60% of Americans think that President Donald Trump lacks a clear plan in Iran, while 56% see a protracted conflict on the horizon.

The passage of a war powers resolution – which the US Senate is set to vote on Wednesday – “would be a terrible, dangerous idea,” House Speaker Mike Johnson has said.

A war powers resolution would allow US lawmakers like Johnson to ultimately decide whether President Donald Trump is legally allowed to continue waging war against Iran. Johnson has said that this oversight “would empower our enemies [and] kneecap our own forces.”

Iraq’s national power grid has gone down, resulting in a nationwide blackout, the country’s energy ministry has announced. Some Iraqi outlets have blamed cyberattacks, while other reports suggest that drones hit at least one power station.

Video footage shot 10km south of Baghdad showed residential buildings plunged into total darkness.

The Israeli military has carried out “extensive airstrikes” on a “major military complex” near Tehran, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, has said.

According to Adraee, “command headquarters for all branches of the Iranian security establishment,” including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Intelligence Directorate, Quds Force, and Cyber forces were hit in the strikes.

In the days leading up to the war, Iranian military chiefs reportedly handed decision-making power to local commanders, allowing them to choose targets and strike at will in the event that contact with headquarters is lost.

Maersk, the world’s second-largest container shipping company, has suspended all cargo bookings in and out of Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, two ports in Saudi Arabia, and the UAE in response to “the evolving situation in the Middle East.” The company added that it has also ceased shipping “dangerous goods” to and from Israel.

The announcement comes as Iran and the US trade fire across the Persian Gulf, and after Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed to maritime traffic. Traffic through this vital waterway — which a third of the world's seaborne oil transits — has fallen by 90% since the conflict began, energy market research firm Kpler said on Wednesday.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) has boasted that it used “long-range” Precision Strike Missiles (PrSMs) against Iran “in an historic first.”

In reality, the missiles are a medium-range upgrade to the MGM-140 ATACMS missiles fired from the US’ M142 HIMARS launchers, which the US supplied to Ukraine in 2023. They carry the same fragmentation warheads, but have a 200km longer range.

Explosions have been heard kilometers away from the physical security line surrounding Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna, has told a meeting of the IAEA.

Earlier on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called on all parties in the conflict to ensure the safety of the plant, which Russian construction crews were working on until the war began.

Based on the “latest available satellite imagery,” there is “no damage to facilities containing nuclear material in Iran and therefore no radiological release risk at this time,” the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said in a statement.

Among the multiple and sometimes conflicting end goals offered by American officials since the war began, US President Donald Trump has said that he intends to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program, which he declared “obliterated” last year.

After five days of bombing, the IAEA has said that the US caused only superficial damage to Iran’s Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites. 

The IAEA reiterated its call for reiterates call for "maximum restraint to help avoid any danger of radiological incident."

The Israeli military claims that it has carried out more than 5,000 airstrikes on Iran since Saturday, while the US has “hit over 2,000 targets,” according to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine.

Meanwhile, US supplies of Tomahawk cruise missiles and PAC-3 interceptors are running low as the war nears the end of its fifth day, CNN has reported.

As Hezbollah continues to launch rockets into northern Israel, the Lebanese paramilitary group released footage of an anti-tank guided missile strike on an Israeli tank in the south of the country.

The IDF has confirmed that two soldiers were injured in the attack. Earlier on Wednesday, Hezbollah said that it is ready for “open war” with Israel, after Israeli forces entered multiple villages in southern Lebanon before dawn.

Iranian and American officials have claimed that they have the patience and reserves to survive a war of attrition.

“We have only just begun to fight,” US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said in Washington, adding: “we can sustain this fight easily for as long as we need to.”

In Tehran, senior governmental adviser Mohammad Mokhber said that “the time for words ended with the assassination of our leader,” and that “we are prepared for a war of attrition that will last as long as necessary to expel the aggressors from the region.”

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has confirmed that a US submarine sank an Iranian Navy frigate in the Indian Ocean on Monday. The IRS Dena was torpedoed about 40 nautical miles off the city of Galle in southwestern Sri Lanka, with more than 30 sailors rescued by the Sri Lankan navy and taken ashore for treatment.

The IRS Dena “thought it was safe in international waters,” Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon. “Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death.” A video released by the Pentagon showed a periscope view of the moment the torpedo struck the Iranian frigate.

The incident was the first sinking of an enemy ship by an American submarine since World War II.

Despite suffering more than four days of intense strikes by the US and Israel, Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah still retain their capacity to retaliate.

Air raid sirens sounded in northern and central Israel on Wednesday afternoon, as Israeli interceptors took down Iranian ballistic missiles from the south and Hezbollah launched repeat waves of rockets and drones from the north.

Similar scenes are playing out in Beirut, where RT journalist Ali Rida spoke to us from a rubble-strewn street in the south of the city, surrounded by bombed out civilian buildings.

Israel made evacuation calls to residents, Rida noted, pointing out that the IDF doesn’t specify how long they have to leave. “You don’t know when the targeting is happening,” he said. “Most of these calls turn out to be psychological warfare on the people, to keep them stressed.”

Tehran is under heavy bombardment as of Wednesday afternoon, with local media showing buildings demolished by repeat missile impacts, and a heavy cloud of black smoke over the Iranian capital.

”This was never meant to be a fair fight,” US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said at a briefing in Washington, “and it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they’re down.”

And here’s what the US’ “devasting” strikes “without mercy” look like on the ground:

RT’s Tehran bureau chief Hami Hamedi showed us bombed out civilian vehicles next to a police station on Enghelab Street, which was destroyed in a US-Israeli strike.

Three days ago, this street was packed with thousands of mourners who walked to nearby Enghelab Square to honor Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an airstrike on his home on Saturday.

Now, a local business owner told Hamedi that the street was hit by at least three missiles. “I personally saw someone in front of the cafe who didn’t have a head,” he recalled. “Between ten and fifteen pedestrians who were passing by apparently died.”

More US forces are en route to the Middle East, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told reporters at a Pentagon press briefing.

”America is winning,” Hegseth said. “Decisively, devastatingly, and without mercy.”

President Donald Trump and his officials have offered shifting goals and no clear end date to military operations, with Trump himself predicting that hostilities could last a month “or far longer.” Hegseth offered an equally nebulous timeline, telling journalists that “it’s very early,” and “we will take all the time we need.”

NATO has rushed to condemn Iran’s alleged targeting of Türkiye, after reports that a missile launched from Iran toward Turkish airspace was intercepted by NATO air defenses.

“We condemn Iran’s targeting of Türkiye. NATO stands firmly with all allies, including Türkiye, as Iran continues its indiscriminate regional attacks. Our deterrence and defense posture remains strong across all domains, including air and missile defense,” spokesperson Allison Hart said.

Iran has filed an emergency appeal to UNESCO, demanding international condemnation of US and Israeli airstrikes that damaged the World Heritage-listed Golestan Palace and parts of Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, calling it a “war crime against global cultural heritage.”

The 400-year-old Golestan Palace sustained major damage in strikes on Monday, reportedly partly destroyed by debris and shock waves from an airstrike on Arag Square.

UNESCO said it was “concerned over the protection of cultural heritage sites amid escalating violence in the Middle East,” according to a statement.

NATO air defenses have intercepted a ballistic missile reportedly fired from Iranian territory toward Türkiye, Turkish media cited the National Defense Ministry.

In a statement on the local platform NSosyal, the ministry warned that Türkiye “reserves the right to respond to any hostile act directed at our country.”

“While Türkiye stands for regional stability and peace, it is fully capable of protecting its territory and citizens against any threat,” the statement added, stressing that all necessary measures would be taken “decisively and without hesitation.”

Iranians have gathered in a large crowd in the northern city of Qaem Shahr to mourn the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with footage from Ruptly showing hundreds of mourners raising smartphone lights in tribute following his death in a joint US–Israeli strike.

The farewell ceremony for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla Mosque has been postponed, Tasnim has reported. Authorities cited the “extraordinary and unprecedented” influx of mourners from across the country, saying more time is needed to finalize security and infrastructure arrangements.

The three-day ceremony was originally scheduled to begin at 18:30 GMT on Wednesday. A new date and time have not been announced. Iran remains under a 40-day official mourning period, with a seven-day public holiday in effect to facilitate funeral arrangements.

The death toll in Iran from the US-Israeli attacks has risen to 1,045 people, Tasnim news agency has reported, citing authorities.

Lebanese Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed has told Al Jazeera that 65,000 people have registered in shelters after being displaced by recent Israeli strikes.

She said another 10,000 to 20,000 were likely displaced but remain “on the road” or staying with friends and family and are still registering for assistance.

The Lebanese Health Ministry earlier reported at least 50 people killed and 335 wounded in the airstrikes.

Unverified footage circulating online shows widespread destruction in Beirut’s southern suburbs following the attacks.

Qatar’s Defense Ministry has said it intercepted ten drones and two cruise missiles launched from Iran.

Earlier reports indicated that while most projectiles were shot down, one of two Iranian ballistic missiles struck the perimeter of Al-Udeid Air Base, the largest US military installation in the Middle East.

On Wednesday, Qatari authorities also announced the dismantling of two spy cells of ten people allegedly linked to Iran’s IRGC, accused of gathering intelligence on military infrastructure.

Separately, the UAE Defense Ministry said its forces shot down three Iranian ballistic missiles and 121 drones, while eight drones landed inside the country.

Separately, Israel’s military has ordered civilians in the south of Lebanon to evacuate north of the Litani River.
“To ensure your safety, evacuate immediately and head north,” the army’s Arabic-language spokesperson wrote on X. “Any movement south may put your life at risk.”

The military added that anyone near Hezbollah members, facilities, or equipment is also “putting their life at risk.”

The IDF has said on Telegram it struck a missile storage and production facility in Iran’s Isfahan, along with several defense systems, and extended the Israeli Air Force’s aerial control over Iranian skies.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei has accused the US and Israel of “deliberately” striking a school, killing 168 children. In a post on X, he said calling the attack “a mere war crime” fails to capture its “sheer wickedness and depravity.” 

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said that Trump’s threats would not pressure Madrid into backing the US-Israeli war against Iran.

“We will not take a position that goes against our values and principles out of fear of reprisals,” he said in a televised address.

Trump previously threatened to halt trade with Spain after Madrid barred the US from using jointly operated military bases on Spanish soil for strikes against Iran.

“We are against this disaster. Governments should be here to improve the lives of people, not make them worse,” Sanchez added. “It’s absolutely unacceptable that some use the fog of war to hide their failures and, along the way, line the pockets of the same few... Massive wars often start from a chain of mistakes and unknowns — we cannot play Russian roulette with millions of lives.”

Russia’s EMERCOM has released footage showing Russian citizens who fled Iran via land border crossings arriving safely at Zhukovsky Airport near Moscow aboard a special Il‑76 flight from Azerbaijan. Media reports say 117 people were on board, including 54 children.

It remains unclear how many evacuees were diplomats or tourists, or how many Russians remain in Iran.

The US is using its allies as proxies to justify “endless wars,” according to Sara Flounders, co-director of the International Action Center.

Flounders told RT that Israel functions as a US proxy in the Middle East, saying it “could not survive one day without the 75 years of accumulated subsidy, military equipment, advice,” and describing it as an “unsinkable aircraft carrier” for Washington in the region.

She added that “the US has 800 military bases around the world” and claimed that “the only solution they have is more war,” which she said generates “big profits for the military corporations.”

Stock prices for Russian oil and gas companies have surged, driven by fears over the Strait of Hormuz blockade and the decision by QatarEnergy to halt LNG production following Iranian strikes.

Novatek is leading gains on the Moscow Exchange, having risen 3.1% as of 09:45 GMT as investors bet on the company as a key alternative LNG supplier. Tatneft, Rosneft, and Lukoil have also rallied.

With Russian energy largely delivered via pipelines and Arctic sea routes, it is increasingly seen as a more reliable “risk-free” alternative to Middle Eastern supplies, analysts note.

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi has slammed Trump for launching the operation against Iran “out of spite,” accusing Washington of punishing Tehran for refusing to treat nuclear negotiations “like a real estate transaction.”

“When complex nuclear negotiations are treated like a real estate transaction, and when big lies cloud realities, unrealistic expectations can never be met. The outcome? Bombing the negotiation table out of spite,” he wrote on X.

Citing US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who appeared to suggest Tuesday night that Israel pushed the US into action, Araghchi separately added: “Rubio admitted what we all knew: the US has entered a war of choice on behalf of Israel. There was never any so-called Iranian ‘threat.’ The shedding of both American and Iranian blood is thus on Israel.”

An RT correspondent in Beirut, Hussein Ayad, has filmed what he said was the second US-Israeli airstrike on the city’s Haret Hreik district.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has slammed the assassinations of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several other Iranian leaders as “vile,” accusing the US and Israel of committing tyrannical acts that have plunged the Middle East deeper into chaos and saying the alleged “Iranian threat” was merely a pretext for a plan to violently overthrow Tehran’s constitutional order.

Kirill Dmitriev, Russia’s presidential envoy and head of its sovereign wealth fund, has slammed the EU for shunning Russian energy, calling the sanctions “ideologically driven economic decisions.”

“A major shift in the EU’s stance is emerging as they realize their disastrous energy choices are creating enormous risks, now materializing due to the conflict in Iran,” he wrote on X.

Dmitriev was responding to a Financial Times report that even pro-Ukraine EU governments and the European Commission are now pressuring Kiev to restore supplies via the Russian Druzhba pipeline, which transported oil through Ukraine to Central Europe but went offline in January after what Ukraine claimed was a Russian strike – a claim Moscow denies. Kiev reportedly continues to bar European inspectors from the site, while Hungary and Slovakia accuse Ukraine of deliberately blocking the flow, insisting the pipeline remains intact based on satellite imagery.

An Israeli Air Force F-35I Adir has shot down an Iranian Yak 130 fighter jet over Tehran, the IDF has reported, marking what it claims is the first time an F-35 has downed a manned combat aircraft in modern history.

Staunch Trump supporters are questioning the wisdom of a war in Iran, Politico reports, citing sources.
Critics say the administration has failed to outline clear objectives for the strikes.

While officials argue that Iran was close to acquiring nuclear weapons, possessed ballistic missiles, and threatened Israel, Trump allies warn that the White House’s window for justifying its actions is closing. Many MAGA supporters view the attacks as a breach of campaign promises to end foreign wars.

“There are growing voices in this coalition, some generational, some sensational,” said GOP strategist Matthew Bartlett, who served in Trump’s first administration. “But at the end of the day, they raise legitimate questions: if the conflict drags on or goes wrong, those concerns will only grow.”

On Thursday, the Senate is expected to vote on a war powers resolution that would limit Trump’s ability to use force in Iran without congressional approval.

US Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders has slammed Trump for letting “Netanyahu’s right-wing government” dictate US foreign policy instead of the American people.
“The United States gave Netanyahu over $24 billion in taxpayer dollars to fund his horrific war in Gaza. That wasn’t enough. Netanyahu wanted war with Iran. Trump gave him one,” he wrote on X.

Sanders previously called the strikes “an illegal, premeditated, and unconstitutional war” that violates international law.

Trump’s order to attack Iran has drawn mixed reactions, with polls showing rising discontent from the public and lawmakers, exposing divisions within both Republican and Democratic ranks.

Asian markets have tumbled amid fears that a widening Middle East conflict could spark an oil shock. The region relies heavily on energy imports shipped through the Strait of Hormuz.

South Korea’s KOSPI index plunged 12% – its largest one-day drop on record – and has fallen more than 18% over two days, with the currency hitting a 17-year low.

Japan’s Nikkei dropped 3.9% in its third consecutive day of losses, while Taiwan stocks fell 4.3% as investors exited hot semiconductor trades to reduce risk and offset losses elsewhere.

Chinese markets also declined, with the Shanghai Composite down 0.98%, but remained more resilient than South Korea or Taiwan due to reliance on overland energy imports from Russia and Central Asia.

The IDF has begun striking Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut and launched a new wave of attacks on military targets in Tehran, it announced on Telegram.

In an earlier post, the IDF said the Israeli Air Force had carried out another round of strikes targeting Iran’s command centers across Tehran, including its Ground Force’s Supply and Logistics Directorate.

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has released a series of graphics outlining ‘Five Lessons’ drawn from the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, presenting a strategic critique of the conflict and a roadmap for China’s own military readiness. The lessons include:

1. “Deadliest threat – the enemy within”: the PLA appears to suggest that the precision of the strikes points to intelligence leaks or internal sabotage.
2. “Costliest miscalculation – blind faith in peace”: it appears to argue that assuming a major power will not strike first is a fatal error in modern geopolitics.
3. “Coldest reality – logic of superior firepower”: the ability to suppress air defenses and instantly hit high-value targets is viewed as the ultimate deterrent.
4. “Cruelest paradox – illusion of victory”: a warning that tactical success, such as killing a leader, does not always equal strategic victory, as such strikes often lead to unpredictable, long-term regional instability.
5. “Ultimate reliance – self-reliance”: a nation must be technologically and militarily independent, as relying on foreign tech or international norms provides no protection during a global conflict.

Iranian strikes have reportedly hit at least seven US military installations across the Middle East, The New York Times has reported, citing satellite imagery from Planet Labs and Airbus DS. Military analysts said the precision-guided attacks have targeted communications and radar systems, aiming to blind networks and disrupt data links between regional commands.

Former CIA officer John Kiriakou has said it is “very much in Israel’s interest to expand this war as much as possible,” adding that Washington should pursue diplomacy rather than military confrontation with Tehran.

“It’s just not in the US’s interest to be at war with Iran. What is in the US’s interest is to be engaged in diplomacy with Iran,” he told RT, arguing that the US attack reflected Israeli pressure on American policymakers. Kiriakou also warned that Washington appeared to lack a clear strategy following the reported killing of Iran’s supreme leader.

“There is no plan. The plan can’t be kill the ayatollah and then it’ll be the land of milk and honey,” he said. “If you kill the ayatollah, it doesn’t bring down Iran. They just pick another ayatollah.” He added that regime-change wars historically fail, citing conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya as examples where overthrowing governments did not lead to stability.

The three-day farewell ceremony for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will begin at 18:30 GMT on Wednesday at the Imam Khomeini Musalla prayer ground in Tehran, Iranian authorities have announced.

Memorial events will be held nationwide, with senior clerics, government officials, and foreign delegations expected to attend. Security has been tightened across the country, and a 40-day mourning period has been declared.

Burial details have not been officially confirmed, though Fars News Agency reports Khamenei will be interred in his birthplace, the holy city of Mashhad, at the Imam Reza shrine.

Citing satellite imagery, retired US Army Colonel and military analyst Douglas MacGregor claimed on X that Iran has destroyed the US Space Force’s ballistic-missile early-warning radar in Qatar, writing: “They took out the eyes!”
He also previously alleged that an Iranian drone had struck a CIA station in Saudi Arabia.

The neonatal unit of Shohada-ye Hastei Hospital in Bushehr, Iran, has been damaged by US-Israeli strikes, forcing staff and Red Crescent workers to evacuate infants from incubators.

Footage from Iranian media shows severe damage to the facility and the emergency evacuation of newborns to ambulances following the attacks.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has warned that a prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz will have devastating consequences for Europe if the Middle East escalation continues.

“We are entering an impossible situation. If this continues, everyone in Europe will literally plunge into hell,” he said during an inspection of the reconstructed Serbian Electric Grid control center on Tuesday, as cited by N1 television. “If the Strait of Hormuz is not opened, oil prices will kill us all.”

The Strait of Hormuz all but emptied after Iran announced it was closing the chokepoint amid ongoing US-Israeli strikes.

Real-time data from MarineTraffic shows transit density plunging over the past four days, with vessels making U-turns, idling, slowing, diverting at the last minute, or remaining outside the strait as operators reassess the risks.

CNN reported that only two tankers transited the waterway on March 2, compared to a typical daily average of around 60. The Wall Street Journal reported that more than 3,000 vessels are stranded in Persian Gulf ports awaiting passage.

Commenting on reports that Mojtaba Khamenei may be named Iran’s next leader, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that any figure appointed by Tehran’s regime would become a “legitimate target for elimination.”

Iran’s Assembly of Experts – the constitutional body tasked with selecting the Supreme Leader – has reportedly chosen Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Ali Khamenei, as the next leader under pressure from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran International reports, citing sources.

Earlier media reports said the IRGC was pushing for a rapid appointment following the death of Khamenei, who was killed in the initial US-Israeli strikes, arguing that it was impossible to convene the Assembly under normal legal procedures amid ongoing attacks.

Tehran has not officially confirmed the reported appointment.

The three US F-15 fighter jets shot down over Kuwait on Sunday were mistakenly hit by a Kuwaiti warplane, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the initial findings.

The incident occurred after an Iranian drone breached Kuwait’s air defenses and struck an operations center at a port, killing six US soldiers. With air defenses on high alert, Kuwaiti forces detected US aircraft on radar, and an F/A-18 pilot fired three missiles at them. All three US jets were downed, though their pilots and weapons officers ejected safely, according to the military. The incident is under investigation.

The United Arab Emirates has been subjected to “more than a thousand attacks” since the start of the conflict, which exceeds the combined total of attacks against all other countries targeted in the hostilities, according to a statement published on the website of the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The ministry said the UAE’s armed forces have responded with the “highest professionalism, efficiency and distinction.” It insisted that the country has not participated in the war or allowed its territory, airspace, or territorial waters to be used for “any attacks against Iran,” while reaffirming its commitment to “a policy of good neighbourliness and de-escalation.”

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has established full control over the Strait of Hormuz, according to Mohammad Akbarzadeh, deputy commander of the IRGC Navy.

“At present, the Strait of Hormuz is under the full control of Iran’s IRGC Navy,” Akbarzadeh said, according to the Fars news agency.

He added that it is now impossible for oil tankers or commercial and fishing vessels to move through the waterway, claiming more than ten oil tankers had already been destroyed in the area.

Asian stock markets fell sharply on Wednesday as the escalating war in the Middle East unsettled investors and concerns intensified about potential disruptions in global energy supplies – a major risk for import-dependent Asian economies.

South Korea led the losses, with the KOSPI plunging 7.6% by midday after already dropping 7.2% on Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined by 3.8%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped 2.8%.

France is moving its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean to help protect allied assets, French President Emmanuel Macron has said. In a televised address on Tuesday, Macron said the carrier would deploy with escorting frigates and its air wing, adding that Rafale jets, air-defense systems and airborne radar assets had already been sent to the region. French forces had also shot down drones “in legitimate self-defense in the very first hours of the conflict, to defend the airspace of our allies,” he said, without elaborating.

Macron added that France “cannot approve” of the US-Israeli strikes on Iran because they were carried out outside “international law,” saying it would be “desirable” to end the attacks quickly and return to diplomacy. He also warned that an Israeli ground operation in Lebanon “would be a dangerous escalation and a strategic error.”

The United States has used reverse-engineered Iranian drone designs during the current conflict, the commander of US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, said in remarks on the campaign.

“We took them back to America, made them better, and fired them right back at Iran,” Cooper said, referring to one-way attack drones launched by CENTCOM’s Task Force Scorpion Strike.

In an operational update, Cooper said that more than 50,000 American troops, around 200 fighter aircraft, two aircraft carriers, and US strategic bombers were taking part in the operation, calling it “the largest build-up by the United States in the Middle East in a generation.” 

Israel has reportedly carried out a strike in Aramoun in southern Lebanon. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began hitting targets in Lebanon after Hezbollah renewed rocket barrages into northern Israel in support of Iran.

Lebanese media reported that the IDF destroyed a four‑story residential building in the Aramoun area.

03 March 2026

In response to US President Donald Trump’s threat to cut trade with Spain, Spanish left-wing politician Irene Montero has called for the removal of US military bases from the country.

“If Trump sows terror, let’s turn Spain into a refuge,” Montero, a member of the European Parliament from the Podemos party, wrote on X. She added that Spain should quit NATO.

Trump labelled Spain a “terrible” country after it refused to allow the US to use bases on its territory for missions linked to strikes in Iran.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has urged foreign countries to cut ties with Iran.

“I made it clear that Israel is not willing to live under a threat of elimination, just as no other country would be willing to do so,” Saar wrote on X on Tuesday following a virtual briefing with around 60 ambassadors stationed in Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released a video of a strike in Iran, saying that around 300 Iranian missile launchers have been destroyed since the start of the operation.

Iranian media has published footage of the interception of an Israeli drone.

Qatari authorities have arrested ten people for allegedly working for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Qatar News Agency has reported. The suspects were accused of espionage and sabotage.”

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt denied that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that “Israel dragged Trump into war with Iran.”

Responding to the question “Why now?”, Rubio said, “The president made the very wise decision – we knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.”

When asked later whether the US was forced to attack Iran because of impending Israeli strikes, Rubio said “no.”

The Washington Post has cited sources as saying that a suspected Iranian drone struck the CIA station in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia and the US said earlier that two drones hit the American embassy compound in Riyadh.

Rubio is still doing his best to justify the rapidly escalating war after seemingly implying last night that Israel forced the US to take military action.

”Iran is run by lunatics, religious fanatic lunatics” he told reporters. “They have an ambition to have nuclear weapons…and this is the weakest they've ever been. Now is the time to go after them.”

“Imagine how they would use them a year from now if they had more of these,” he said, referring to the missiles and drones Iran is using to retaliate against US interests in the region.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has just confirmed that the US consulate in Dubai was attacked by an Iranian drone. Rubio said that the building had been emptied of all but its most essential staff beforehand, and that “all personnel are accounted for.” 

Rubio said that the drone “struck a parking lot adjacent to the building.”

France “cannot approve” of the US-Israeli war against Iran, as it is being “conducted outside of international law,” Macron said in his address, before painting his decision to send an aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean as a move aimed at defending Paris’ allies in the Gulf.

Macron still focused most of his criticism on Iran, declaring that “history never weeps for the executioners.”

More video footage is emerging from the reported attack on the US consulate in Dubai. In a clip recorded by a bystander, the distinctive engine whine of an Iranian ‘Shahed’ drone can be heard before a massive explosion sends a column of smoke and flame rising from the blast site.

Trump just confirmed that the US government will insure maritime traffic in the Persian Gulf “at a very reasonable price,” and escort tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz “if necessary.”

French President Emmanuel Macron has said France is reinforcing its military posture as the Middle East conflict escalates, describing the crisis as having been “triggered by the strikes that the United States of America and Israel initiated against Iran.” In a televised address, Macron said Iran bore “primary responsibility” for the situation, adding that Paris had tightened security at its military bases and embassies. 

Macron said France was deploying additional assets to the Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean, including Rafale fighter jets, air-defense systems and airborne radar. He added that a French frigate was heading to waters off Cyprus, while the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and its escort had been ordered toward the Mediterranean. France’s moves, he said, are aimed at protecting allies and securing key maritime routes disrupted by the conflict, including the Strait of Hormuz.

The US consulate in Dubai is reportedly on fire after a drone impact. Unconfirmed video footage shared on social media shows the building engulfed in flames.

American diplomatic outposts have also been attacked in Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

The US is considering providing “military support for oil and gas supplies” transiting the Strait of Hormuz in an attempt to calm global energy prices, an anonymous source has told Politico.

Around a third of the world’s seaborne oil passes through the strait, which was declared closed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Monday. In a statement reported on by Iranian media, IRGC adviser Ebrahim Jabari warned that ships passing through the strait would be “set ablaze.”

US President Donald Trump is meeting on Tuesday with his treasury and energy secretaries to discuss a maritime protection mission, Politico’s source said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has spoken with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, by phone. Lavrov reiterated Moscow’s “fundamental position in favor of de-escalating the situation and rejecting the use of force,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a readout of the call.

In a speech earlier on Tuesday, Lavrov warned that the “aftermath of this conflict can be felt across the region,” insisting that “everything must be done to ensure that all these actions are stopped.”

Trump has saved his harshest punishment for Spain, vowing to “cut off all trade” with the Mediterranean nation after Madrid banned US forces from using two joint military bases for attacks on Iran.

Bilateral trade between the US and Spain totaled almost $70 billion in 2024, with the US enjoying a slight trade surplus. A total embargo would hurt both countries.

US president Donald Trump on Tuesday said he was upset with British prime minister Keir Starmer, who has not joined the US-Israeli attack on Iran but did let US forces use UK bases.

“I’m not happy with the UK,” Trump said as he met German chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House.

Eyewitnesses report explosions in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Doha. According to the reports, a new series of powerful blasts shook the Qatari capital and its suburbs, including the satellite city Lusail to the north and the southern suburb Wakrah. Explosions were also reported at US facilities in Kuwait.

The US and Israel have attacked Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport, the news agency Mehr is reporting.

The UAE is considering military action to halt Iranian missile and drone strikes, sources have told Axios. The Ministry of Defense says 174 missiles and 689 drones have been intercepted since Saturday. Three people were killed and 68 others sustained minor injuries in the attacks, according to the ministry.

Local reporters in the Minab district have spoken to families affected by the devastating US-Israeli attack on the school, in which their children were either killed or are still missing. One father described finding teaching staff and female students on the upper floor and male students on the lower floor, “all buried under the rubble.”

Another father said, “My daughter, Zeinab, is still under the rubble,” adding he does not know if she is alive or has become a martyr. “But here, in this very place where this destruction occurred, I want to announce … that if my Zeinab has become a martyr under this rubble, if she has been killed, then let them know: we are raising thousands and thousands of Zeinabs.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has condemned the White House’s posting of a TikTok video showing strikes on Iran set to the upbeat rhythm of Los del Rio’s ‘Macarena’ at the time a mass funeral for 165 children killed in the attacks is being held.

“This is no longer cynicism or double standards – it is about how far they are prepared to go,” Zakharova said.

Thousands have lined the streets in Iran’s southern city of Minab as the nation mourns the 165 schoolgirls (most aged between 7 and 12) and staff killed in the US-Israeli attack. Trucks transporting the coffins, draped with Iranian flags, can be seen moving slowly through the crowds, with people holding up pictures and waving flags as they walk alongside the vehicles.

Saturday’s strike on a girls’ school in the Hormozgan province came on the first day of the attacks and is the deadliest incident in the campaign against Tehran so far. The Israeli military says it was not aware of any Israeli or US attacks in that area. The attack has been condemned internationally, including by UNESCO.

Moscow has lost contact with the leadership of Iran’s nuclear industry amid the US-Israeli attacks on the Islamic Republic, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, has stated. Operations at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in southern Iran have been suspended due to airstrikes in its vicinity, according to Rosatom’s Director General Alexey Likhachev. The company has been the key contractor at the plant, currently constructing its second and third power units.

Iraq has stopped oil exports to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, as producers reduced output from about 200,000 barrels per day amid widening Middle East tensions, sources have told Bloomberg. Only 50,000 barrels per day are currently being produced for local consumption, they said.

The US Embassy in Riyadh has issued a security alert warning of an “imminent threat of missile and UAV attacks”over Dhahran, a major oil and industrial hub in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province where the kingdom's Aramco energy company is headquartered. It also urged people not to approach the US consulate in the city.

Our colleague Hami Hamedi, of RT’s Tehran bureau has recorded the aftermath of two explosions in the centre of the Iranian capital, not far from our office which was almost bombed yesterday.

Operations at the Iranian Bushehr nuclear power plant have been suspended, Rosatom Director General Aleksey Likhachyov has said, adding that 639 Russian employees remain at the facility.

He acknowledged that Moscow had lost contact with the leadership of Iran’s nuclear industry, adding that Russia would be evacuating some of the employees.

The United States is “a long way” from winning its confrontation with Iran and expectations of a quick victory are misplaced, warned Former CIA counterterrorism officer Michael Scheuer in comments to RT. “We haven’t won a war since 1945,” and “I don’t think this one is going to be different.” Scheuer described the intervention as “a drastic mistake,” arguing, “the Iranians haven’t attacked us in a long time.” 

He also cast doubt on the administration’s strategy, saying, “they don’t have any plans,” and predicting that “the Iranians aren’t going to surrender.” Scheuer criticized decades of US military action, stating that “since World War II, no war has been declared by Congress” and that Washington has “waged illegal wars now for 70 years.” While calling early casualties “tragic,” he said they were “not much for a war” of this scale, and noted that Americans “have it in writing that Trump said, no more stupid wars,” asking: “And what has he done?”

Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif has accused Netanyahu of using an attack on Iran to “divert international attention away from Gaza”.

“International media is focused on Iran now which gives Netanyahu space to quietly go ahead with his genocidal agenda in Gaza and West Bank,” he wrote on X.

Trump has hailed the US-Israeli strike on Iran, claiming that Tehran’s air defense, Air Force, Navy, and Leadership is gone.”

“They want to talk. I said “Too Late!” he wrote on Truth Social. Iranian officials earlier ruled out any talks with the US after the start of the conflict.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, a harsh Trump critic, has condemned a deadly strike on an Iranian school in Minab, saying “Why are our bombs, or Israeli bombs, used to kill young girls at school?”

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei has delivered a media briefing in one of the schools in Tehran that was damaged by US-Israeli strikes.

The UK is considering sending a warship to Cyprus to defend its military base from Iranian strikes, The Times has reported, citing sources. British media suggested that the UK could dispatch the Destroyer HMS Duncan.

Mary Trump, a niece of the US president with whom she had a long-running legal feud, said she would “defy anybody to justify” the strike that killed more than 160 people in an Iranian girls’ school in Minab.

She also condemned Trump’s decision to join Israeli strikes on Iran as “a lethal combination of incompetence, hubris, and greed.”

Social media shows what looks like another powerful blast in Tehran.

Videos on social media show UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan taking a stroll in Dubai despite recurring drone strikes on the city.

Three people have been killed and 68 others sustained minor injuries in Iranian aerial attacks on the UAE, the Defense Ministry has said.

The ministry reported detecting 812 drones overnight and intercepting 755 of them, while 57 fell inside UAE territory. It also said eight cruise missiles were destroyed. Falling debris caused collateral damage, including minor to moderate damage to several civilian facilities.

The US-Israeli military campaign against Iran is “a war of aggression begun by the United States and Israel” and “a crime,” historian Tarik Cyril Amar of Koc University has said. “There’s no doubt about it. The responsibility is very clear. This is not a both sides,” he argued, adding that “anyone who understands the basics, the very basics of international law knows” who is responsible. He claimed the war was launched even though “negotiations were actually succeeding” and “Iran was making wide-ranging concessions,” but that “since they wanted the war, they decided at exactly this point to instead attack the country.” 

Addressing the reported killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Amar said it had been “a great shock to many Iranians,” but that expectations in the West of “the collapse of the government… the collapse of the state, in the collapse of resistance to this war of aggression waged by Israel and the US” had “not been borne out.” Instead, he said, “the Iranian system is supple and decentralized enough and layered enough to absorb this shock and continue defending the country.”

A powerful blast has hit the port of Fujairah in the UAE, with reports of a fire at an oil facility.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei has warned European nations against joining the conflict, saying this would be “an act of war.”

Lavrov noted that while the US and Israel had vowed to fight Iran for “as long as it takes” and even eliminated members of Tehran’s top leadership, “no one knows their final objective.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that the US-Israeli strikes on Iran could convince Tehran that it needs nuclear weapons for its own protection after all. He added that Iran’s neighbors could come to the same conclusion.

”It’s a paradox, but the stated ‘noble’ goal of stopping nuclear proliferation could encourage the opposite trend,” Lavrov added.

The IDF claims to have carried out another overnight strike “in the heart of Tehran,” dropping multiple munitions on the Presidential Office and the building of the Supreme National Security Council, as well as the institution for training Iranian military officers and additional key infrastructure.

The possible closure of the Strait of Hormuz could cause “some real pain” for the US and highlight the domestic costs of “aggressive interventionist foreign policy,” Daniel McAdams, executive director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, has said. In an interview with RT, he warned that oil prices could surge and shipping insurance premiums skyrocket. “What if it goes up 500%?” McAdams asked, arguing that the economic impact would be felt across “every aspect of life” in the US and Europe.

McAdams also criticized former CIA Director Mike Pompeo’s call for Iran to “join Western civilization” and become a “normal nation,” describing the remarks as “demeaning and demoralizing.” Dismissing claims that Iran was at its “weakest point,” he said that after the “murder of [its] top leadership,” people had “gone to the streets and they have expressed their support for the regime.” He added that advocates of regime-change policies “have always been wrong… from Iraq to Libya to Syria.”

President Putin has held a phone call with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the Kremlin has announced. The talks revolved around the Middle East escalation and the Ukraine conflict.

The IAEA has confirmed earlier Iranian claims that the strikes had damaged the entrance buildings of the underground Natanz nuclear fuel enrichment plant. The agency stressed that “no radiological consequence [is] expected” and no additional damage was detected at the facility itself.

Putin is planning to hold a new international phone call later in the day, Peskov has announced. On Monday, the Russian leader held talks with the leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain.

However, Peskov signaled that there are no plans yet for a Putin-Trump phone call.

Russian President Vladimir Putin “is making every effort” to facilitate a de-escalation in the Middle East, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

Israel hacked “nearly all traffic cameras” in Tehran years ago, using the intelligence to lay the groundwork for the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Financial Times has reported.

According to sources cited by the FT, one strategically positioned camera helped intelligence operatives monitor parking habits and movements inside the tightly guarded compound linked to Iran’s leadership.

Advanced algorithms were reportedly used to build detailed “pattern of life” profiles on security personnel, mapping their routines, routes, and protection assignments.

Israel’s campaign against Iran could last several weeks, but is unlikely to involve the deployment of ground forces, IDF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani has said.

Russia is calling on all sides of the Middle East conflict to cease hostilities, regardless of who initiated them, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

RT footage shows extensive damage in Beirut after Israeli strikes near the Al-Noor radio station and Al-Manar TV headquarters.

The White House has uploaded to TikTok a compilation of US strikes on Iran set to Los del Rio’s Macarena.

The death toll from US-Israeli strikes has reached 787, according to the Iranian Red Crescent. 

In case you’re just joining us:
• Israel has sent troops to southern Lebanon amid continued clashes with Hezbollah and strikes on targets in Beirut
• The US could fight “forever” using its available medium-grade weapons, Trump has claimed
• Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky is concerned that the conflict in the Middle East will hinder Western arms shipments to Kiev
• The death toll from the strike on an Iranian girl’s school in Minab has risen to 168
• The US says its death toll has risen to six service members
• US officials expect a “major uptick” in attacks on Iran, according to CNN
• Brent oil price has surpassed $80 a barrel

Unverified videos circulating on social media claim to depict the redeployment of Lebanese troops after Israel’s ground troops launched operations in the southern part of the country. 

Israeli ground troops are now operating in southern Lebanon in a bid “to create an additional layer of security for residents of northern Israel,” the IDF has announced amid continued strikes on Beirut and Hezbollah targets.

A Boeing 737-800 MAX carrying 118 passengers flying from Dubai has landed at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport, after the Middle East escalation and temporary airspace closures left thousands of tourists – including many Russians – stranded abroad.

US First Lady Melania Trump has presided over a UN Security Council meeting on children, insisting that “the US stands with all of the children throughout the world,” adding that “I hope soon peace will be yours.”

Her comments came shortly after a strike on an Iranian girls’ school in Minab killed more than 150 people. Iran has accused Israel of carrying out the strike. Israel has said it “was not aware” of the attack, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the American military “will not deliberately target a ⁠school.”

Hundreds of Iranians have been filmed chanting ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel’ in Khorramabad, in the western part of the country.

A large funeral procession is taking place in Minab, where a strike on a girls’ school killed more than 150 people. 

The US has “a virtually unlimited supply” of weapons, meaning “wars can be fought ‘forever’ and very successfully, using just these supplies,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

However, he noted that when it comes to the “highest end” arms, the US is “not where we want to be,” citing Joe Biden’s policy of assisting Ukraine free of charge.

“Sleepy Joe Biden spent all of his time, and our Country’s money, GIVING everything to P.T. Barnum (Zelensky!) of Ukraine – Hundreds of Billions of Dollars worth - And, while he gave so much of the super high end away (FREE!), he didn’t bother to replace it.”

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky once again cheered US-Israeli strikes on Iran, but voiced concerns that Kiev “could find itself having difficulty obtaining missiles and weapons to defend our skies.”

In an interview with Corriere della Serra, he argued that Kiev’s backers in Europe could now be rerouting the weapons – particularly Patriot missiles – to the Middle East instead of giving them to Ukraine.

Recent escalations in the Middle East have taken their toll on arms shipments to Ukraine, with the US diverting deliveries of heavy artillery shells to Israel after the Hamas attack in 2023. The 12-day Israel-Iran war in 2025 also forced Washington to reroute some Patriot interceptors.

China is pressuring Iran to avoid taking any action that could prevent Qatari gas exports or other energy shipments from flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Bloomberg.

Earlier media reports suggest that there has been a 70% drop in maritime traffic through the strategic chokepoint, with several oil tankers already coming under attack.

Iranian media shared videos of rallies mourning the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that are ongoing in several cities.

Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East and a key negotiator with Iran, told Fox News that Tehran’s officials told the US that they possessed enough enriched uranium to build 11 nuclear bombs.

According to Witkoff’s account, during the now-collapsed talks, Iran requested “the inalienable right to enrich all the nuclear fuel they possessed” – something he said the US categorically rejected.

The US envoy said the sides had discussed a period of 10 years in which Iran would not enrich uranium, with Washington promising to pay for any nuclear fuel. He claimed that Tehran “flatly rejected” the offer.

US Central Command claims it has destroyed the IRGC’s command and control facilities, as well as Iranian air defense capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields. 

The US is preparing for a “major uptick” in attacks on Iran over the next 24 hours, CNN has reported, citing an unnamed senior US official.

The source suggested that the second phase of the attack would predominantly target missile and drone production facilities, as well as Iran’s naval capability, after the first wave of strike had softened up Tehran’s air defenses.

A new wave of Israeli strikes has hit Beirut, with some apparently landing in residential neighborhoods. RT’s Steve Sweeney, reporting from the scene.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it has launched simultaneous airstrikes on Tehran and Beirut, with the Israeli Air Force targeting what it described as military facilities of the Iranian regime and the Hezbollah militant group.

Oil prices climbed for a third straight session on Tuesday as the widening US-Israeli conflict with Iran and growing threats to shipments through the Strait of Hormuz stoked fresh fears of supply disruptions from the key Middle East producing region.

Brent crude futures spiked to $82.37 a barrel, their highest price since January 2025, before easing off and closing at $79.71, up 2.1 percent. US West Texas Intermediate crude extended Monday’s advance, which had taken it to its highest level since June 2025, trading near $72.70 a barrel before settling higher for the day.

Iran has condemned what it described as the International Atomic Energy Agency’s continued inaction in light of repeated US-Israeli strikes on its nuclear infrastructure. In a letter to IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, Atomic Energy Organization chief Mohammad Eslami denounced the latest two-wave attack on the Natanz facility as “cruel and illegal,” saying it violates the Geneva Conventions, the IAEA Statute, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). He urged the agency to end its “state of inactivity” and formally condemn the aggression.

Tehran said the strike follows the IAEA’s failure to denounce the June 2025 attacks on Iran’s peaceful nuclear industry during a 12-day US-Israeli campaign. Eslami warned that Iran will defend its sovereign rights and may pursue legal action against Grossi for what it views as a failure to uphold the agency’s obligations.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has accused Washington of pursuing an “Israel First” policy, saying both American and Iranian lives are being sacrificed to serve Israeli interests. His remarks came after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged that the United States acted after learning Israel intended to strike Iran.

“Mr. Rubio admitted what we all knew: the US has entered a war of choice on behalf of Israel,” Araghchi wrote in a statement on X on Tuesday. “There was never any so-called Iranian ‘threat’. The shedding of both American and Iranian blood is thus on the ‘Israel Firsters’. The American people deserve better and should take back their country,” he added.

Speaking to reporters ahead of a meeting with congressional leaders on Monday, Rubio said Washington moved after being informed of Israel’s plans. “We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces,” he stated, arguing that the decision to join the strikes was intended to prevent “higher casualties.”

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it launched a “massive drone and missile attack” on a US airbase in Bahrain’s Sheikh Isa area early this morning.

According to the IRGC, the operation involved 20 drones and three missiles, “destroying the main command and headquarters building of the US airbase and setting its fuel tanks on fire.”

Morning in Beirut: thick plumes of smoke rise over the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs after fresh Israeli strikes.

Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on the Lebanese capital early Tuesday, targeting positions linked to Hezbollah, the Israeli military said, after the group launched its own attacks. The army said it was aiming at “Hezbollah command centers and weapons storage facilities in Beirut.”

Hezbollah said it had dispatched drones toward an Israeli airbase, and the Israeli military reported that it shot down two of the incoming aircraft.

Parts of the headquarters of Iran’s state broadcaster were struck by US and Israeli attacks overnight, according to the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA).

ISNA reported in a post on X that sections of IRIB headquarters in Tehran had been hit, but “the signal to broadcast news has not been affected and operation is still ongoing” due to “precautions” taken by the broadcaster.

In a separate post, ISNA said the Shahid Motahari government complex, located near Vali Asr and Imam Khomeini Streets in central Tehran, had also been targeted in early-morning strikes. Several explosions were also heard in the center, north, and west of the capital, the agency added.

US Vice President J.D. Vance has pushed back against accusations that, by ordering strikes on Iran, President Donald Trump abandoned his campaign promise to avoid “endless” foreign wars. 

”What’s different about this is that the president has clearly defined what he wants to accomplish, and there’s just no way Donald Trump is going to allow this country to get into a multi-year conflict with no clear end in sight and no clear objective,” Vance said in an interview with Fox News.

He maintained that the objective is to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, adding that Trump “will not let the country go to war unless there is a clearly defined objective” and that “it means we are not going to get into the problems we’ve had with Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected suggestions that he pushed Washington into the conflict. “That’s ridiculous,” he said in an interview with Fox News. “Donald Trump is the strongest leader in the world. He does what he thinks is right for America.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has defended the decision to strike Iran, saying immediate action was necessary because Tehran was rebuilding elements of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

In an interview with Fox News, Netanyahu claimed that Iran had begun construction of new underground facilities that would have made its missile and atomic programs “immune within months,” arguing that delaying action would have made future intervention impossible. “If no action was taken now, no action could be taken in the future,” he said, warning that Iran could eventually “target America” and “blackmail America.”

Netanyahu rejected suggestions the campaign risks becoming a prolonged conflict, insisting it was a strategic move to prevent a greater threat. “So action had to be taken,” he said, adding that such a step required “a resolute president like Donald J. Trump.”

Two UAVs launched from Lebanon were intercepted over northern Israel early on Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have said. Air raid sirens warning of a hostile aircraft sounded at 4:43 AM local time in Western Galilee before the military shot the drones down. Separate sirens activated at 4:37 AM in the community of HaGoshrim were later determined to have been triggered by false identification, the IDF added.

US President Donald Trump has promised retaliation for an Iranian strike on the American Embassy in Riyadh and the deaths of six US service members in a separate incident.

Speaking to Newsmax, Trump said he was not worried about potential attacks on US facilities or on American soil.

“It’s part of war, whether people like it or not. That’s the way it is,” he said, referring to the escalating conflict with Iran.

It is 5:20 AM in Moscow, but if you’ve just joined us, here’s a recap from the past few hours:

• New strikes have been reported in Tehran, while US President Donald Trump warned of a new wave of attacks and dismissed polls indicating that his decision to attack Iran is unpopular. Iranian missile and drone attacks have also been reported in Tel Aviv, Doha, Abu Dhabi, and Kuwait City.

• The US Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was hit by two suspected Iranian drones.

• The US has urged all Americans to immediately leave the Middle East.

• US Central Command has raised the death toll of US service members to six.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied that the US had targeted a girls’ school in the southern Iranian city of Minab.

“The United States would not deliberately target a school,” Rubio said in response to a question from the BBC. He added that the US is focused on striking Iran’s missile and drone sites, and that the Department of War would investigate the incident if necessary.

According to Iranian officials, at least 165 children were killed in Saturday’s strikes. Several Western media outlets have confirmed that the school was destroyed.

The US has urged American citizens to leave several Middle Eastern countries, many of which host US military bases that have been targeted by Iran’s retaliatory strikes.

Assistant Secretary of State Mora Namdar said Americans should immediately use “available commercial transportation” to depart the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, as well as Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Israel.

The US Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was hit by two suspected Iranian drones, CNN has reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter. No injuries were reported.

AFP cited witnesses who said that loud explosions were heard in Riyadh’s diplomatic quarter.

The Saudi Defense Ministry later confirmed the attack, saying it caused a “limited fire” and only minor damage.

02 March 2026

Lebanese news channel Al-Manar reported that Israeli strikes had targeted its office in Beirut’s southern Dahieh suburb.

Israel has been carrying out airstrikes in Lebanon in response to rocket barrages by Hezbollah. Lebanese state media report that 31 people were killed on Monday. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that Hezbollah intelligence chief Hussein Makled was killed in the strikes.

Iranian missiles reportedly hit Tel Aviv, where air raid sirens were heard on Monday evening. Iranian strikes were also reported in Qatar and Kuwait, which host US military bases.

Explosions and strikes were also reported in Tehran.

Ebrahim Jabari, a senior official with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has warned that Iran will attack any ship passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

“If anyone tries to pass, the heroes of the Revolutionary Guards and the regular navy will set those ships ablaze,” Jabari said.

Iran closed the vital oil trade route in response to US and Israeli strikes on Saturday. Several tankers have since been struck.

The US death toll has risen to six service members, United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said.

The military added that it had recovered the remains of two previously unaccounted-for service members from “a facility that was struck during Iran’s initial attacks in the region.”

The US has threatened Iran with new strikes, with President Donald Trump telling CNN that a “big wave” of attacks would follow soon.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “the hardest hits are yet to come,” adding that “the next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now.”

US President Donald Trump’s publicly stated reasons for attacking Iran are merely pretexts, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told Rick Sanchez.

“The issue of the nuclear dossier is only a pretext for the Americans,” he said, adding that the US and Israel have been talking about the “fantasy nuclear bomb of Iran” for three decades.

The diplomat reiterated that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful and has always been “under rigid surveillance” and international monitoring.

Gharibabadi argued that the US wants to reestablish control over Iran’s natural resources, which he said it had before the 1979 revolution. “They wish to come back again to control everything in Iran,” he said.

All options are “on the table” for an Israeli ground offensive in Lebanon, IDF Spokesman Effie Defrin said when asked about a potential military operation against Hezbollah, according to the Times of Israel.

“We will work to disarm Hezbollah from its weapons and remove threats to Israeli citizens,” the outlet cited him as saying.

The IDF reported that it had called up 100,000 additional reservists just hours before it announced new military action in Lebanon.

US Central Command claims that it has taken out every Iranian navy ship in the Gulf of Oman.

“Two days ago, the Iranian regime had 11 ships in the Gulf of Oman, today they have ZERO,” it posted on its official X account. “The Iranian regime has harassed and attacked international shipping in the Gulf of Oman for decades.”

The Kuwaiti Army has announced its first military fatality in the US-Israeli war with Iran. Sergeant Walid Majid Suleiman of the naval forces was “martyred while performing his duty,” an official post on X states. The army did not provide details about the circumstances of his death.

Retired US Air Force Command Chief Master Sergeant Dennis Fritz has said opposition to Trump’s Iran campaign is growing even among the president’s own supporters, arguing that many MAGA voters feel betrayed after being promised “no more foreign wars, no more regime change.” Speaking to RT, he likened the current campaign to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, calling it “truly based on lies – lies, lies, lies” and warning it will be “damaging to the United States and in particular the Middle East,” with thousands of Iranians and more Americans likely to die.

Fritz claimed Trump is being pushed into the conflict by “Israeli Zionists who are in control of our Congress” and by donors who funded his campaigns, saying the Israeli lobby has “been pushing us to go to war with Iran... and they finally got their man.” He argued that Washington, not Tehran, has shown it “cannot be trusted,” citing the 1953 coup in Iran, US backing for Saddam Hussein in the Iran‑Iraq war, the killing of General Qassem Soleimani, the withdrawal from the nuclear deal, and two attacks on Iran “in the middle of negotiations,” and called for Trump’s removal from office over the war.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has denounced the US-Israeli attacks on schools and hospitals, saying they “strike at life itself.”

In a post on X, Pezeshkian said targeting patients and children “blatantly violates humanitarian principles” and insisted that “the world must condemn it,” adding that “Iran will not remain silent or yield to these crimes.”

One of the strikes destroyed a girls’ primary school in Minab, Iran, killing more than 160 people and injuring almost 100, most of them aged 7-12.

The widening war in the Middle East is putting civilians in “grave danger” and risks spiraling into a major regional conflict, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned, calling for urgent steps to de-escalate and “respect the rules of war.” 

ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric said civilians and civilian infrastructure must be spared from the hostilities, stressing that schools and hospitals must remain safe.

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon have killed at least 52 people and wounded over 150, the Lebanese government says. The bombardment of southern and eastern parts of the country, as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs, has also displaced more than 28,500 people, according to the country’s disaster management unit.

Monday’s attack on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia was carried out by Israel as a false flag operation aimed at diverting attention from its strikes on civilian targets in Iran, according to Iranian media. Saudi Aramco closed its Ras Tanura refinery, one of the largest refining complexes in the Middle East, following a drone strike on Monday. Tehran has said it is targeting US and Israeli interests in the region.

According to an unnamed military source cited by Tasnim news agency, Israeli forces are also planning a similar operation against the port of Fujairah in the UAE, and blame Iran.

Footage filmed by RT Lebanon bureau chief Steve Sweeney shows a powerful explosion hitting Beirut during evening iftar, with thick smoke rising above the city skyline. The strike is the latest in a series of Israeli attacks on the Lebanese capital amid the rapidly escalating regional conflict.

Trump says the initial projection of four to five weeks for the strikes on Iran can “go far longer.” 

Speaking in the White House East Room, he briefly digressed, commenting on the gold drapes and his renovations to the presidential ballroom, before praising the military personnel being honored at the Medal of Honor ceremony.

Trump has set out what he says are Washington’s key goals in the operation, claiming that the US is “destroying Iran’s missile capabilities,” “annihilating their navy,” with “ten ships… at the bottom of the sea,” and ensuring that the “world’s number one sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon.” 

He added that the US aims to stop Tehran from arming and directing “terrorist armies outside of their borders,” and complained that previous attempts to reach a deal with Iran failed because “you can’t deal with these people… you got to do it the right way.”

Regarding his earlier prediction that strikes on Iran could continue for several weeks, Trump said some people say he might get bored, but added: “I don’t get bored.”

Trump has said an Iranian leadership armed with long‑range missiles and nuclear weapons would be “an intolerable threat to the Middle East, but also to the American people.” He added: “our country itself would be under threat, and it was very nearly under threat.”

Trump claims that Iran’s rapidly expanding missile program was designed to “shield their nuclear weapon development and make it extraordinarily difficult for anyone to stop them from making these highly forbidden, by us, nuclear weapons.” He added that the US “was the one that was complaining” and “wanted it stopped,” saying “everybody was behind us – they just didn’t have the courage to say so.”

Trump is commenting publicly for the first time on the attacks against Iran while presiding over a Medal of Honor ceremony for three US soldiers killed in action. He says the US military “continues to carry out large‑scale combat operations on Iran” in order “to eliminate the grave threat posed to America by this terrible terrorist regime.”

Trump has suggested that deploying American troops to Iran remains a possibility, telling the New York Post that a “big wave” of strikes against the country is still to come. “I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground... I say ‘probably don’t need them,’ [or] ‘if they were necessary... I have to do the right thing.” 

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth earlier said there were no current plans to send service members into Iran but refused to rule out the move entirely, telling reporters at the Pentagon: “We’re not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do.”

Ruptly footage from Monday shows extensive damage to the Khatam al Anbiya Central Headquarters building in Tehran, following airstrikes carried out by the US and Israeli forces. The facility serves as a key coordination center for Iran’s regular army and the IRGC. The footage shows a black flag – a sign of mourning – raised above the shattered structure after the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) has announced having hit hit 60 “strategic targets” and 500 US and Israeli military sites in response to the unprovoked attack on the Islamic Republic that began on Saturday. In a statement carried by Iranian media, the IRGC said more than 700 drones and hundreds of missiles had been launched at “aggressor enemies,” describing it as “a new standard” in warfare against them.

Independent international affairs researcher Lamis Jadid has said the Lebanese government’s move to prohibit Hezbollah’s security and military activities shows deep concern that the conflict could spill further into the country. “Lebanon is in the middle of this storm… as much as Yemen, as much as Iran,” she told RT, noting that despite earlier assurances that Hezbollah would stay out of the fighting, events of the past two days show that the confrontation has become an “existential war” for Tehran and its allies.

Jadid argued that the US-Israeli strikes on Iran “broke all limits” of diplomacy, accusing Washington of tricking Tehran negotiating and then attacking without US congressional or UN Security Council approval. She warned that the international market “will be suffering a lot from this war,” adding that Iran is prepared for a “longer war than its opponents are ready for” and that any prolonged campaign will “rocket the price” of oil and gas globally.

Global energy prices have spiked after multiple strikes on Gulf energy facilities and oil tankers disrupted ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. European benchmark gas futures have soared by about 50% – the biggest one‑day move since 2022 – while Brent crude has climbed to multi‑month highs.

Analysts warn that the turmoil could become the most serious shock to gas markets since the energy crunch that followed the Ukraine conflict escalation. Goldman Sachs estimated that a month‑long halt to shipping through the waterway, which carries about a fifth of global oil and gas shipments, could push European gas prices up by as much as 130%.

RT footage shows the aftermath of an apparent Israeli strike on Beirut, with plumes of smoke rising over the city.

RT’s Charlotte Dubenskij, reporting from Be’er Sheva, has said an Iranian missile landed near two schools and damaged a nearby residential building. Nineteen people have been injured in the strike, she said.

The UNESCO-listed Golestan Palace in Tehran has been damaged in US-Israeli strikes, local media report.

Dating back to the 16th century, the palace served as the ceremonial residence of Persian kings and boasts a mix of traditional Persian and European architecture, exquisite mirror halls, ornate tilework, and lavish gardens.

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has insisted that Washington “didn't start this war, but under President Trump we are finishing it.”

He added that the US was not pursuing regime change by military means, but remarked that “the regime sure did change.”

“The world is better off for it,” Hegseth claimed.

RT footage shows its office in Tehran with windows shattered by a nearby strike. 

Two strikes have landed not far from the Russian Embassy in Tehran, TASS and several local media outlets have reported. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said no diplomatic staff had been injured.

American B1 strategic bombers have carried out strikes overnight targeting Iranian above-ground ballistic missile and command and control sites, Axios journalist Barak Ravid has reported, citing an unnamed US official.

State-owned QatarEnergy, which is the fifth largest gas company in the world, has announced it will halt production of LNG due to the ongoing fighting. In particular, it cited attacks on its Ras Laffan Industrial City and Mesaieed Industrial City facilities in Qatar.

The death toll of American military personnel has reached four, after one injured person succumbed to wounds, the US Central Command has said.

The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, has warned Washington that Tehran, “unlike the United States, has prepared itself for a long war”.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that by assassinating members of the Iranian leadership, the US and Israel are seeking not only regime change, but are also deliberately derailing efforts to normalize relations between Tehran and its Arab neighbors.

It added that Moscow strongly condemns the strike on a girls’ school in Minab, which killed dozens of children, stressing that attacks on civilian targets are “categorically unacceptable and must cease.”

Trump has commented on Khamenei’s death, telling ABC News, “I got him before he got me. They tried twice. Well, I got him first.” 

Trump previously claimed that Iran tried to assassinate him on multiple occasions, including during the 2024 election campaign, which Tehran has vehemently denied.

The Kremlin has confirmed phone talks between Putin and UAE President Zayed Al Nahyan, saying the sides discussed the “unprecedented tragic events” in the Middle East “in the context of US-Israeli aggression” against Iran and Tehran’s “harsh” retaliatory actions.

Putin said Russia has done “a great deal” to help broker compromises on Iran’s nuclear program, alongside Emirati mediation, adding that the groundwork was derailed by what he called an unprovoked act of aggression against a UN member state.

Bin Zayed stressed that Iranian retaliatory strikes have directly affected the UAE, despite its territory not being used as a launchpad against Iran. Putin said he would pass on these concerns to Tehran and help de-escalate, according to the readout.

Footage circulating on social media depicts several missile strikes on Tehran, with several plumes of smoke rising in the air.

Another oil tanker, the Marshall Islands-flagged MKD VYOM, has been targeted in a drone attack off the coast of Oman, killing one crew member, the local authorities have said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has held a phone call with his UAE counterpart, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the news agency WAM has reported. The two leaders reportedly “discussed the blatant Iranian attacks targeting the territory of the UAE and several Arab countries, as well as the serious security and military developments in the region.”

The report added that Putin and Al Nahyan called for an immediate halt to the military escalation. The Kremlin has yet to comment.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has announced a ban on Hezbollah’s military activities, stressing that “what Hezbollah did constitutes a deviation from government decisions,” in an apparent reference to the group’s clashes with Israel.

Ten people have been injured in Be’er Sheva following an Iranian strike, according to local health officials.

US Central Command has confirmed that three F-15E Strike Eagles crashed in Kuwait, but denied Tehran’s claims that they were downed by Iranian air defenses, pointing to a “friendly fire incident” instead.

A powerful explosion has occurred in the Israeli city of Be’er Sheva, according to videos shared on social media, with others showing missile traces in the sky as sirens blare.

A building next to RT’s office in Tehran has been hit by a strike, with evacuation underway.

As many as 160 girls have been killed as a result of the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, Deputy Foreign Kazem Gharibabadi has told RT, referring to the devastating strike on a school in the city of Minab in the southern part of the country.

Iran’s IRGC has claimed to have struck the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as the quarters of the Israeli Air Force commander.

The US and Israeli strikes have hit the Iranian nuclear facility at Natanz, Tehran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said, without revealing the extent of damage. IAEA Director Rafael Grossi earlier said the agency had “no indication” that any of Iran’s nuclear installations had been damaged.

An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman ignored questions about a strike on an Iranian girls’ school that left more than 150 people dead. Tehran has accused Israel of carrying out the attack.

Russia is maintaining “constant contact” with Iran and the Gulf states, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. He added that President Vladimir Putin would hold a phone call regarding the Iran conflict in the coming hours, without revealing any details.

The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reports that Ras Tanura oil refinery sustained minor damage due to falling debris after air defenses destroyed two drones nearby.

At least 555 people have been killed in US-Israeli strikes on Iran, which have affected 131 cities, the Red Crescent has said.

A Polymarket user with the handle ‘Magamyman’ has earned more than $500,000 by betting that the US would strike Iran and that Khamenei would be removed from power.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy has suggested that the bets were based on insider information. “It’s insane this is legal. People around Trump are profiting off war and death,” he charged.

Donald Trump Jr., son of the US president, sits on the platform’s advisory board.

Fraudsters are trying to swindle stranded tourists by posing as representatives of airline companies and attempting to gain access to credit cards, TASS has reported, citing people who have been targeted in the scheme.

An Iranian drone has hit an Aramco oil facility in the coastal city of Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia, several media outlets have reported.

Several US military aircraft have crashed on Kuwaiti territory, the country’s Defense Ministry has said. It added that there were no casualties and that the crews of the planes had been hospitalized out of precaution.

The IRGC has said a tenth wave of Iranian strikes was aimed at the governmental complex in Tel Aviv, military and security centers in Haifa, and targets in East Jerusalem.

At least one Chinese citizen has been killed in Tehran during US-Israeli strikes, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning has said.

According to Tasnim, the US jet previously filmed spiraling to the ground in Kuwait was an F-15 fighter that had attempted to enter Iranian airspace but was shot down by air defenses, before retreating to friendly territory.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has urged UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to condemn “the latest horrifying and criminal act” by the US and Israel, referring to the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“The failure to respond decisively to such behavior will not only embolden the perpetrators but will also inflict lasting and irreparable damage upon the foundations of the international legal order for decades to come,” he said in a letter seen by RT.

RT footage shows the aftermath of US-Israeli strikes on Khatam al-Anbia headquarters, a seat of the Iranian command, in Tehran.

Mohammad Raad, the head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, has been killed in IDF airstrikes on Beirut, according to media reports.

In Israel, 777 people have been taken to hospitals since the start of hostilities, of whom 86 are still being treated, Israel’s Ministry of Health has said.

IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir has announced a new “offensive campaign” against Hezbollah, adding that the fighting will likely continue for several days.

Brent crude briefly surged past $80 per barrel on the ICE exchange amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, but has since retreated to around $78, according to market data.

Videos on social media claim to show smoke rising from a US military facility in Bahrain.

31 people have been killed and 149 wounded in Israeli attacks on Lebanon, health officials have said. Israel says the attacks were aimed at Hezbollah.

Another video circulating from Kuwait appears to show two US pilots descending by parachute from a downed aircraft.

Some Pentagon officials and members of the Trump administration worry that the conflict with Iran “could spiral out of control,” sources have told the Washington Post, describing the mood as “intense and paranoid.”

The article noted that some officials are concerned that the fighting could go on for weeks, straining US air defense stockpiles.

Unverified footage on social media from Kuwait shows what looks like a crash of a US warplane that spiraled out of control mid-air. According to Tasnim news agency, the jet was “downed,” with the two pilots bailing out of the plane. 

Video circulating on social media early on Monday appears to show the first operational use of Israel’s Iron Beam laser defense system, as Hezbollah launched rockets and drones from Lebanon, opening a northern front in parallel with the ongoing war against Iran.

The footage allegedly shows the laser system intercepting a drone along the northern border overnight, according to Ynet. If confirmed, it would mark the first known combat use of the system, which was delivered to the Israeli Air Force’s air defense array in late December.

Hezbollah fired several rockets from south of Lebanon’s Litani River, triggering sirens in Haifa and the Krayot towns in the Haifa Bay area. The Israeli military said one rocket was intercepted while the others landed in open areas, causing no damage.

The head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, Mohammad Raad, has reportedly been killed in Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, according to Al Arabiya and Al Hadath. At least ten people were killed in the raid, including a key commander of armed units in southern Lebanon, according to reports.

The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, has dismissed reports that he secretly sought to resume talks with Washington through Oman.

“We will not negotiate with the United States,” Larijani wrote on X.

US-Israeli airstrikes have reportedly targeted several Iranian cities, including Tehran, Isfahan, Yazd and Khuzestan, early on Monday morning, with loud explosions heard in multiple areas.

The IDF has ordered the residents of nearly 50 villages in southern and eastern Lebanon to evacuate “immediately” ahead of possible strikes.

“For your safety, evacuate your homes immediately and move at least 1,000 metres (0.6 miles) away from your village to open areas,” army spokeswoman Ella Waweya said in a post on X.

The British Royal Air Force base Akrotiri in Cyprus was in fact targeted by a “suspected drone strike” earlier in the night, the Ministry of Defense has confirmed, without clarifying whether there was any damage or casualties.

“Our armed forces are responding to a suspected drone strike at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus at midnight local time,” a ministry spokesperson told the media. “Our force protection in the region is at the highest level and the base has responded to defend our people.”

The incident took place shortly after Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK had agreed to allow the US to use British military bases for “defensive” strikes against Iran.

Iran’s Fars News Agency has shared footage of Revolutionary Guard underground tunnels showing rows of drones alongside rocket launchers. Iranian flags and images of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are visible on the tunnel walls.

“Firing toward US bases – new images from the IRGC’s drone tunnel,” the caption read, although it remains unclear where and when the footage was filmed.

Additional clips in the release show rockets and drones being launched from multiple locations at what Fars described as “US bases.”

Asked about his vision for regime change in Iran, President Trump expressed hope that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other security forces would simply lay down their arms and “surrender to the people” – while simultaneously citing the US raid on Venezuela as a “perfect scenario.”

“What we did in Venezuela, I think, is the perfect, the perfect scenario,” Trump told NYT. “Everybody’s kept their job except for two people.”

The US and Israel are fully prepared to sustain the intensity of their assault on Iran for over a month, even if it means more American casualties, President Donald Trump told the New York Times in a brief interview on Sunday.

“We have tremendous amounts of ammunition. You know, we have ammunition stored all over the world in different countries,” Trump said, insisting that it “won’t be difficult” to keep fighting for another “four to five weeks.”

The US president also acknowledged that based on the Pentagon’s projections, he expected more American casualties than the three service members officially confirmed dead so far.

“Three is three too many as far as I’m concerned,” Trump said. “If you look at projections, they do projections, it, you know, it could be quite a bit higher than that… We expect casualties.”

In a pre-recorded video address earlier on Sunday, Trump has vowed that combat operations against Iran “will continue until all of our objectives are achieved.”

The Pentagon will hold a press conference on the progress of Operation Epic Fury at 8 AM local time on Monday. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine are set to speak at the briefing.

The Department of War has released new combat footage that purports to show US strikes hitting several Iranian military aircraft and drones at an undisclosed location and time. “US forces are taking bold action to eliminate imminent threats posed by the Iranian regime. Strikes continue,” it said in a post on X.

Several explosions have been reported in the central Iranian cities of Isfahan and Yazd, according to the TV channel Alhadath.

The Pentagon has contradicted the White House’s claim that Iran posed an imminent threat by planning to attack US military bases across the region, according to CNN reporter Zachary Cohen.

“Pentagon briefers acknowledged to congressional staff in a briefing Sunday that Iran was not planning to strike US forces or bases in the Middle East unless Israel attacked Iran first,” Cohen wrote on X, citing multiple sources.

Medical sources told RT correspondent in Beirut, Omar Solh, that there were multiple casualties following the Israeli strikes.

Access to parts of southern Beirut has reportedly been restricted. Videos circulating online show heavy gridlock on main roads, with cars bumper-to-bumper as residents attempt to leave the city.

Other footage appears to show damaged buildings and vehicles along the road near the airport in the capital.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has condemned Hezbollah strikes on Israel launched from the southern part of the country, calling them an “irresponsible and suspicious act” that endangers Lebanon’s security and creates a pretext for West Jerusalem to carry out further attacks.

“We will not allow the country to be dragged into new adventures, and we will take all necessary measures to arrest those responsible and protect the Lebanese,” he wrote on X.

The IDF claims to have “precisely struck senior Hezbollah terrorists in the Beirut area,” as well as another compound in southern Lebanon. A video circulating online shows a building damaged by an Israeli strike in the Haret Hreik area of the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Hezbollah has officially claimed responsibility for the attack on the Mishmar HaCarmel missile defense site in northern Israel, saying it was in retaliation for the blood of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei “shed by the criminal Zionist enemy” and in defense of Lebanon and its people.

“The Resistance leadership said that continued Israeli attacks and the assassination of its leaders and members give it the right to respond at a time and place of its choosing,” the Lebanese militant group said in a statement.

Hezbollah described the strikes as a “legitimate act of self-defense” and reaffirmed its right to respond at a time and place of its choosing for the assassination of its leaders in the pager bombing attack and Israeli raids in 2024.

London will mobilize “Ukrainian experts” to assist its Gulf partners caught in the crossfire amid the ongoing US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Tehran’s retaliation against American military installations on their territory, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced.

“We will also bring experts from Ukraine together with our own experts to help Gulf partners shoot down Iranian drones attacking them,” Starmer said in his earlier announcement of deeper British involvement in the military campaign.

Israeli aircraft have carried out at least four strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, RT Arabic correspondent Hussein Ayad reports from the Lebanese capital.

The strikes targeted areas in the southern outskirts of the city, with social media videos showing plumes of smoke rising from the impact zones. Additional strikes were also reported in southern Lebanon, the correspondent added.

The IDF has launched several strikes against alleged Hezbollah targets across Lebanon in response to missile fire toward Israeli territory, accusing the militant group of “operating on behalf of the Iranian regime.”

Military officials stated that Israeli troops had prepared and were ready for this scenario under the ongoing Operation Roaring Lion, conducted in coordination with the US Operation Epic Fury. The IDF accused Hezbollah of bringing “ruin to the State of Lebanon” and vowed to respond forcefully to any further threats to northern Israeli communities.

Several powerful blasts have rocked Tehran shortly after Israel announced an imminent new round of strikes, according to videos making rounds online. The exact targets of the latest attacks and potential casualties are not yet clear.

The IDF has announced a new mass wave of strikes against Iranian targets “in the heart of Tehran.”

At least 20 civilians were killed in the US-Israeli strikes on the Iranian capital, Tehran, earlier on Sunday, according to Mehr news agency. Footage circulating online shows damaged infrastructure and residential buildings, destroyed vehicles, and residents fleeing to safety as fires burn in the background.

An Iranian ballistic missile reportedly struck Jerusalem earlier on Sunday, creating a massive crater on a highway and damaging several vehicles. The IDF has strictly prohibited the public and media from recording the incoming strikes, but clips making rounds online suggest the projectile hit the ground at a very high speed, creating a large crater in the roadway.

At least seven people have been injured, according to Israeli emergency services, which said one person is in moderate condition.

Jerusalem District police commander Avshalom Peled visited the scene shortly after the blast. Bomb disposal teams have searched the impact zone for possible unexploded ordnance, and authorities have closed the highway in both directions while heavy machinery clears rubble from the site.

01 March 2026

The Israeli military has reportedly detected several projectiles launched from Lebanon, issuing red alert sirens in northern areas. The Israeli Air Force intercepted one projectile that crossed into Israeli territory, while several others landed in open areas, according to initial IDF assessments. No injuries or damage have been reported.

Only about one in four Americans supports the US military strikes on Iran, according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey published on Sunday. The poll showed that 27% of respondents backed the operation, while 43% opposed it and 29% said they were undecided. It also found that roughly half of participants believe President Donald Trump is too eager to use military force, including about one in four Republicans.

The US Central Command has published additional footage showing strikes against suspected ballistic missile launchers in Iran.

Iran has launched drone and missile attacks against US assets in Bahrain, reportedly striking a maritime facility near Mina Salman Port and setting fire to the US Naval Support Activity base in Manama, which houses the US Navy’s Central Command and Fifth Fleet. Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said civil defense teams were working to contain the blaze but did not confirm which facilities were damaged.

Several explosions have reportedly been heard in the vicinity of the British RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus following a suspected drone attack, according to military correspondent for Israeli Channel 14, Hallel Bitton Rosen.

A “security threat” was declared at the base, with personnel instructed to take cover and remain indoors, according to sources cited by Cyprus Mail. Local media reported alarms sounding in the area following the blasts.

The incident comes shortly after Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the UK would allow US forces to use British bases for “defensive” strikes against Iran.

At least 22 people have been killed in violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces in Pakistan during pro-Iran protests, AP has reported. The protests erupted after the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in the US-Israeli strike.

The protesters attempted to storm the US consulate in the southern port city of Karachi and attacked UN and government offices in the north of the country, according to the authorities. More than 120 people were also reportedly injured in those incidents.

The UK has allowed the US to use British military bases for strikes on Iran, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced in a video address to the nation, framing the military support of the joint US-Israeli attack as strictly “defensive.”

“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,” he said, claiming that the move was in “accordance with international law” and with “collective self-defence” agreements.

Starmer stressed that while the UK was “not involved in the initial strikes on Iran,” it has agreed to a US request to use British bases to destroy Iranian missiles “at source.” He described the measure as necessary to prevent strikes on Gulf partners and protect British citizens, citing a narrow miss on UK personnel in Bahrain.

“We are not joining offensive action now,” Starmer insisted, acknowledging the “mistakes of Iraq.”

President Donald Trump has issued a new video address, touting the results of the joint US-Israeli Operation Epic Fury against Iran, which killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and decapitated much of the country’s political and military leadership.

“Combat operations continue at this time in full force, and they will continue until all of our objectives are achieved,” Trump stated.

“I call upon all Iranian patriots who yearn for freedom to seize this moment, to be brave, be bold, be heroic, and take back your country,” Trump said in another open call for a regime change. “America is with you. I made a promise to you, and I fulfilled that promise. The rest will be up to you, but we’ll be there to help.”

Trump described the ongoing offensive as overwhelming, claiming Iranian forces are “calling by the thousands” to surrender. He offered immunity to those who lay down arms, warning others of “certain death.”

The US president also acknowledged three American service members have been killed in Iranian retaliatory strikes against US military assets in the region, vowing to “avenge their deaths.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has held a phone call with his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he conveyed concern “over recent developments and emphasized the safety of civilians as a priority.” He also reiterated “the need for an early cessation of hostilities.”

In a separate statement, the Indian PM said he spoke with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and condemned Iran’s strikes on the Gulf nation.

“We support deescalation, regional peace, security and stability,” Modi said.

“The door to diplomacy is still open,” Badr Albusaidi, the foreign minister of Oman, has said in a post on X. He hailed what he called “genuine progress” in talks between Washington and Tehran before the attack.

“War should not mean that the hope of peace is extinguished,” the minister said has he called on both sides to resume the negotiations as soon as possible. 

The US Central Command has published an overview infographic listing the military assets deployed and the targets hit during the first 24 hours of Operation Epic Fury against Iran – but offering no specific details.

Iran has targeted Jerusalem in another strike, RT's Charlotte Dubenskij reports. She was able to record a video showing smoke rising over nearby buildings. According to Dubenskij, the Israeli national emergency medical service sent ambulances to the scene to treat several people injured in what it called a ballistic missile strike.

After being struck by four Iranian ballistic missiles, the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln “fled from its mission area towards the southeast Indian Ocean,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has claimed in a statement cited by Fars news agency.

The US Central Command has strenuously denied the claim, insisting that the launched missiles “did not even approach the ship” and never posed any danger.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has confirmed the death of Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh to US-Israeli strikes, according to a press release cited by Fars news agency.

The statement also confirms the deaths of armed forces chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi, IRGC commander-in-chief Mohammad Pakpour, and a number of senior military officials.

The US attack on Iran amid negotiations, and the following assassinations of Iranian leaders and top military officials, will cement the conflict in the minds of their successors, former Pentagon security policy analyst Michael Maloof has told RT.

“It’s been twice now that during negotiations, the United States attacked,” he said. “This sends a message to anybody who wants to negotiate an agreement with the US: ‘Don’t bother, because you can’t, the US cannot be trusted.’”

Iran will replace its assassinated supreme leader and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief, “because they’ve planned for these kinds of things in Iran,” Maloof said.

“You could be getting even more strident leadership which will not trust the US or Israel, or even the West… in terms of any kind of agreements in the future.”

The leaders of Germany, France, and the UK have released a joint statement condemning Iran’s strikes in the Middle East, which it said are aimed at US bases in the region.

“E3 leaders are appalled by the indiscriminate and disproportionate missile attacks launched by Iran against countries in the region,” they wrote. “Iran’s reckless attacks have targeted our close allies and are threatening our service personnel and our civilians across the region.”

They warned that the three nations could take “proportionate defensive action” to destroy Iran’s missile and drone capabilities.

A radar of the US-made THAAD missile defense system has been destroyed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps in a missile strike near Al Ruwais, UAE, Tasnim news agency claims. Manufactured by Lockheed Martin, the missile defense system reportedly costs up to $1.8 billion per battery, including six launchers, 48 interceptors, radar, and fire control system.

UNESCO has expressed “deep concern” over the strike on the Iranian elementary school in Minab, which killed 165 people, according to local media. It also cited the broader effect of the conflict on students in the region.

“The killing of pupils in a place dedicated to learning constitutes a grave violation of the protection afforded to schools under international humanitarian law,” it said.

The US-Israeli airstrikes have targeted the Gandhi Hospital in the northern part of Tehran, several Iranian news outlets claim. Tasnim news agency published videos purporting to show the hospital building damaged in the attack.

Large crowds have gathered in several places across Tehran to mourn the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, RT’s Saman Kojouri reports from the Iranian capital. Similar events are being held in other cities. The people also used the occasion to denounce the US and Israeli aggression, Kojouri added.

The United Arab Emirates will close its embassy in Tehran and withdraw its ambassador and diplomatic mission members in response to Iran’s missile strikes on its territory, the Foreign Ministry has announced in a statement.

“These attacks constitute aggression against civilian sites, including residential areas, airports, ports, and service facilities,” it said.

US President Donald Trump has spoken to the leaders of Israel, Bahrain, and the UAE over the course of the day, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has held a phone call with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.

They condemned the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, and stressed that policies aimed at overthrowing the legitimately elected authorities of sovereign states are unacceptable, according to a press release from the Russian Foreign Ministry.

They called for the immediate cessation of hostilities and expressed readiness to work together to stabilize the situation through coordinated actions within intergovernmental organizations, including the UN Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has blamed Iran for the conflict, calling it a “regime of terror” that oppresses its own people and threatens Israel. He demanded that it immediately end its retaliatory strikes against Israel and US bases in the Middle East, adding that this is “not the time to lecture our partners and allies.”

Berlin “shares many of the goals” set by Washington and West Jerusalem, Merz said. Germany seeks a new order in the Middle East in which “all neighbors unequivocally recognize Israel’s right to exist,” he added.

Three “violating oil tankers” have been struck by missiles in the Persian and Hormuz straits in “continuing attacks on enemy maritime targets,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has claimed in a statement cited by Fars news agency.

The death toll in the US-Israeli strike on a girls’ primary school in the Iranian city of Minab has reached 165, Tasnim news agency reports, citing the regional governor. Rubble clearing operations at the site have been finished, the report said, adding that the figure is final.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors will convene on Monday to discuss the Iran situation, at Moscow’s request, Russia’s permanent representative to the IAEA in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, has said.

Iranian attacks on US bases in the Middle East have so far caused at least 560 casualties, dead and wounded, among American soldiers, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has claimed in a statement cited by Fars news agency.

Drone and missile attacks have entirely decommissioned a US base in Kuwait and damaged another, and UAV strikes have caused “severe damage” to the US naval base in Bahrain’s Mina Salman Port, it said.

The Abu Dhabi and Dubai stock exchanges will be closed Monday and Tuesday, the United Arab Emirates authorities have announced, citing the military escalation between the US, Israel, and Iran. Both cities have been affected by Iran’s retaliatory strikes targeting US bases in the region.

RT's Tehran bureau has reported that new explosions have rocked the city. Some of them hit areas relatively close to the office. Our journalists recorded a video showing plumes of smoke rising over the city.

The Iranian Broadcasting Corporation has reported that some of its facilities were targeted in the US-Israeli strikes. The state broadcaster did not provide details on the extent of the damage, but said its channels continue to operate as normal.

The US military has sunk nine Iranian ships and destroyed the country’s naval HQ, Trump has claimed in a Truth Social post.

“I have just been informed that we have destroyed and sunk 9 Iranian Naval Ships,” he wrote. “We are going after the rest – They will soon be floating at the bottom of the sea, also!”

The US Air Force struck Iran’s “hardened ballistic missile facilities” with 2,000-pound bombs dropped from B-2 stealth bombers, US Central Command said in a statement.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death in the US and the Israeli airstrikes will not lead to deescalation, nor will it end the conflict, Farhad Ibragimov, a lecturer at the Russian RUDN University, has said in a guest piece for RT.

The killing of Iran’s highest political and religious authority could lead to a rapid and potentially uncontrollable escalation, plunging the entire Middle East into a wider conflict, he warned.

Close associates of former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have denied reports that he died in the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, according to Khabar Fouri news agency.

Earlier, Iranian media outlet ILNA claimed that the former president, who served two terms from 2005 to 2013, was killed in one of the attacks on Tehran.

The US-Israeli military operation in Iran killed 48 of the country’s leaders “in one shot,” Fox News cited Trump as saying in a phone interview.

US President Donald Trump says he has agreed to resume negotiations with Iran.

“They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them,” he told The Atlantic. “They should have done it sooner.”

The Israeli and US attack on Iran after the third round of Omani-mediated talks in Geneva, in which Trump pressured Tehran to abandon its missile and nuclear programs.

“A deal was at our reach… We were able to address serious questions related to Iran’s nuclear program,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview with NBC News on Saturday, adding that he is not sure why “they decided to attack us.”

The IDF has announced that it has mobilized an extra 100,000 reservists amid the conflict with Iran.

Ground troops have been reinforced on the borders with Lebanon and Syria, as well as in the West Bank and along the line of contact in Gaza, the Israeli military said in a press release.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that the IDF will intensify its strikes on Iran.

“Our forces are now striking the heart of Tehran with increasing intensity, and this will only intensify further over the coming days,” he said in a statement.

Two Iranian drones struck the United Arab Emirates’ Al Salam naval base in Abu Dhabi, the Defense Ministry has announced.

“Specialized teams today responded to an incident resulting from the targeting of a warehouse… by two Iranian drones, leading to a fire in two containers storing general materials,” it said in a statement, adding that there were no casualties.

“The UAE reserves its full right to respond to this escalation.”

US Central Command has denied that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln was struck.

“The Lincoln was not hit. The missiles launched didn’t even come close,” it said.

Iran’s missile strike on Beit Shemesh was “most likely a direct impact” on a bomb shelter, Jerusalem District police chief Avshalom Peled has told Israeli media.

“Most, if not all, of those killed were in there,” he said.

The death toll from the strike has risen to nine, Israel’s medical emergency and disaster service Magen David Adom has announced. At least 28 people wounded in the attack have been hospitalized, two of them with serious injuries, it said.

The Israeli Air Force has launched another wave of airstrikes on Tehran, the IDF has announced.

“Interception efforts continue at all times,” it said in a brief statement.

Iran currently has no plans to close off the Hormuz Strait, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has told Al Jazeera.

Commenting on Iran’s retaliatory strikes in the region, he stressed that Tehran is not attacking Gulf states, but US bases on their territories.

“Our neighbors cannot expect us to watch attacks against us originate from their countries and remain silent,” he said.

Washington and West Jerusalem have allowed their ideology overshadow their common sense and rationality, Finn Andreen, an economic and political contributor at the Mises Institute, has told RT, adding that the strikes on Iran would disrupt the global oil trade and eventually hit Western economies.

The situation could become “particularly difficult” for the US' Western allies, he said, adding that “this must not come as a surprise for the aggressors, namely the United States and Israel.”

At least three American soldiers have so far been killed in action and five seriously wounded in the military operation against Iran, US Central Command has announced.

“Several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions – and are in the process of being returned to duty,” it added. “Major combat operations continue and our response effort is ongoing.”

US Central Command has claimed that it successfully struck an Iranian Jamaran-class corvette.

“The ship is currently sinking to the bottom of the Gulf of Oman at a Chah Bahar pier,” the command said in a statement.

Trump has no plans for “any kind of large scale ground force inside of Iran,” Senator Tom Cotton, the chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has told CBS News’ ‘Face the Nation’.

“Obviously one risk of that kind of campaign is that an aircraft could be shot down, and the president would never leave a pilot behind,” he said, adding that in this case, “combat search and rescue assets” would be sent in for extraction.

A “hunt” for the leaders of sovereign states contradicts the basic principles of civilized international relations and blatantly violates international law, the Russian Foreign Ministry has said in the wake of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death in US and Israeli strikes. Moscow resolutely condemns the practice of political assassinations, the ministry’s statement said.

Russia also called for an immediate de-escalation, warning that continued hostilities could disrupt oil and gas shipments from the Persian Gulf and destabilize the global energy market.

The US has used the talks with Iran as a distraction to prepare an attack, former US Senate staffer and RT contributor Tara Reade has said, adding that it has become a pattern of US foreign policy. Washington was “pretending that there are talks, distracting, giving time and then striking in the middle of those negotiations,” she told RT, adding that “war is not a diplomatic tool.”

Iran’s IRGC claims that it struck the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier with four ballistic missiles, without detailing the amount of damage. Washington has yet to comment.

Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who held the post between 2005 and 2013, has been killed in the US-Israeli strikes on Tehran, according to the news agency ILNA.

Footage obtained by RT shows flowers and children’s toys laid at the Iranian Embassy in Moscow.

In an address to the nation, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has described Khamenei’s death as “a great disaster for our country,” but said that it would bring Israel and the US “nothing but shame.”

“We must join hands and thwart the evil plans of the enemies,” he said, adding that Iranian forces would “continue to crush with power the enemy bases.”

The OPEC+ oil cartel has agreed to increase crude production by 206,000 barrels per day following US and Israeli strikes on Iran.

The death toll in Israel’s Beit Shemesh has risen to eight as first responders retrieved additional bodies from the rubble, local officials have said.

Three people have been killed and 58 injured by Iranian strikes in the UAE, the Defense Ministry has said. They added that air defenses have intercepted 152 ballistic missiles and 506 drones, but that 35 UAVs struck UAE territory.

Israel will conduct “a nonstop air train” of strikes on military targets and officials in Iran, Defense Minister Israel Katz has said.

Pope Leo has expressed “deep concern” over the Middle East conflict, urging all sides to “stop the spiral of violence before it becomes an irreparable abyss.”

China has denounced Khamenei’s killing as “a grave violation of Iran’s sovereignty and security, adding that it “tramples on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter” while urging de-escalation.

Four people were killed and 20 others were wounded after an Iranian ballistic missile landed in Beit Shemesh, a city some 30km east of Jerusalem, according to local officials. Videos circulating on social media depict the moment of impact and its aftermath.

Protests against the US and Israel have now spread to Athens, Greece, where hundreds of activists marched on the American Embassy.

Hundreds of pro-Iran protesters in Baghdad have attempted to break into the Green Zone, a fortified area which is the seat of the Iraqi government and US Embassy.

A security source told AFP that “their attempts had been thwarted so far, but they keep trying.”

RT’s Charlotte Dubenski reporting from a badly damaged building in Tel Aviv following Iranian strikes: 

An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman has declined to comment on the deadly strike on a girls' school in Minab, Iran, which Tehran claims was conducted by the IDF. He added, however, that the “Iranian regime is known to produce fake information for propaganda purposes.”

Palau-flagged oil tanker Skylight has been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Omani authorities. Four people have been injured and the crew of 20 evacuated. Videos on social media show the vessel on fire.

It is unclear who attacked the vessel, which has been under US sanctions as an “enabler of Iranian petroleum exports,” according to Bloomberg.

The IDF claims that it killed 40 senior Iranian commanders, including seven members of the security leadership, adding that it “dismantled the majority of the aerial defense systems in western and central Iran” and is now working to establish air superiority over Tehran.

The IDF has released footage of a powerful strike on Tehran, which hit at least two buildings.

Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi has declared a jihad – or a holy war – against the US and Israel, as cited by Mehr news agency.

UK Defense Secretary John Healey claimed that two Iranian missiles were fired in the direction of Cyprus, which is home to a British military base, adding that while “we are pretty sure they weren’t targeted at our bases,” “it shows how indiscriminate” the retaliatory strikes can be.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered his condolences over the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of his family, condemning the attack as a “cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law.”

Putin said Khamenei will be remembered in Russia as an outstanding statesman who made a “significant personal contribution” to strengthening Russian-Iranian ties and elevating them to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

The Russian leader also expressed “sincere sympathy and support” to Khamenei’s relatives, as well as the Iranian government and people.

Hezbollah, Lebanon’s paramilitary movement, has vowed to continue “confronting the aggression” from the US and Israel, according to the group’s chief, Naim Qassem.

The US and Israel have carried out as many as 60 attacks on the Tehran region alone over the past 24 hours, leaving 57 people dead, IRNA has reported, citing local officials.

What we know about Alireza Arafi, Iran’s interim supreme leader:
• Born in 1959 in Meybod, central Iran; a Shia cleric and Islamic jurist.
• Head of Iran’s Center for the Management of Islamic Seminaries; Director of the Qom Seminary (since 2016).
• Member of the Guardian Council, a constitutional body that vets legislation and oversees elections.
• President of Al-Mustafa International University (2008–2018).
• Permanent member of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution (since 2011).

RT footage shows a major protest in Pakistan against the US-Israeli strikes, this time near the US Embassy in the capital, Islamabad.

If you’re joining us now: 
• Iran claims to have targeted 27 US bases across the region, as well as Israel’s Tel Nof base, the IDF command in Hakirya, and a defense complex in Tel Aviv
• A strike on an Iranian elementary girls’ school in Minab has killed 148 people, with dozens of others injured, according to local authorities.
• Iran has confirmed that Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh and the chief of staff of the armed forces, Abdolrahim Mousavi, have been killed in US-Israeli strikes.
• A crowd of protesters has attempted to storm the US consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, leading to clashes with police and at least nine deaths.

Ayatollah Alireza Arafi has been appointed as Iran’s interim supreme leader after the death of Ali Khamenei, according to local media.

Hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets in Kashmir following US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

A newly surfaced video on social media shows the moment an Iranian drone narrowly misses the person filming as it slammed into a high-rise building in Bahrain.

RT’s Saman Kojouri reports from Tehran following a new series of explosions:

Iran’s defense minister, Major General Aziz Nasirzadeh, has been killed in US-Israeli strikes, the IRNA news agency has confirmed. 

Video footage from Dubai shows what looks like to be another attack by an Iranian drone. Media reports suggested, however, that the drone may have failed to conduct a deliberate strike but was instead neutralized by electronic warfare measures.

Multiple new explosions have occurred in Tehran, with RT footage showing several large plumes of smoke and dust rising over the Iranian capital.

At least six people have been killed in clashes with police in Karachi, Pakistan, as hundreds of protesters vandalized a local US consulate, AP reports, citing officials.

Footage circulating on social media suggests that while supermarkets in Dubai remain well-supplied, shoppers have been stocking up on bottled water and toilet paper in light of the uncertainty.

RT footage shows the aftermath of Iranian strikes in Tel Aviv.

Around 6,000 to 8,000 Russian tourists are currently unable to return home after the UAE and neighboring states – Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman – closed their airspace, according to Artur Muradyan, vice president of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia.

The debris of drones downed by air defenses in Dubai fell in the courtyards of two homes, injuring two people, local authorities have said.

Unconfirmed media reports claim that security forces at the US consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, have opened fire on protesters who have been attempting to storm the building, killing several people.

The chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, has been killed in the US-Israeli strikes, local media have confirmed.

A sizable group of protesters is attempting to storm the US consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, with some seen pelting the building with rocks and hitting windows with sticks.

A US military base in Erbil, Iraq, has come under a new attack, with the Iraqi Shiite group Seraya Evliya ed-Dem claiming responsibility, according to several media reports.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has vowed to continue Khamenei’s political trajectory, adding that “the wicked governments of the US and the Zionist regime” would face “harsh, decisive and regret-inducing retaliation.”

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has called Bahrainian King Hamad bin Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa to express solidarity in the aftermath of the Iranian strikes, according to SANA news agency.

Footage from Tehran shows a large crowd of Iranians carrying the national tricolors and portraits of Khamenei.

The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, has issued a strong warning to Tehran’s adversaries: “You burned the heart of the Iranian nation, we will burn yours… Our strikes will be more painful for the Americans than ever before.”

He added that the Interim Leadership Council will be formed today.

The death toll from an attack on a girls’ school in the Iranian city of Minab has reached 148, according to local governor Mohammad Radmehr, cited by the IRNA news agency.

Thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets across the country to mourn Khamenei, according to clips posted by Press TV. Some of the footage shows civilians carrying both national flags and the so-called red flags of revenge.

Oil tankers are now avoiding the Strait of Hormuz after Iranian media said the route had been “practically closed,” Bloomberg has reported. According to the Financial Times, insurers have also warned ship owners that they would raise prices or revoke policies for those travelling in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz.

According to various estimates, 20-21 million barrels of crude pass through the Strait of Hormuz daily, accounting 20% of global oil consumption.

Prior to the strike on Khamenei, the CIA had been tracking the Iranian leader for months, the New York Times reported, citing sources.

The decision for the attack was reportedly taken after the CIA learned of a high-level meeting at the leadership compound in Tehran with Khamenei present, prompting the US and Israel to adjust the timing of the bombing.

Trump has warned Iran against launching a major wave of new retaliatory attacks. Writing on Truth Social, he noted that “THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE.”

Israeli warplanes dropped 30 bombs on Khamenei’s compound after getting exact data on his whereabouts, the Wall Street Journal has reported. 

Several explosions have been heard over Dubai, the Times of Israel reports, citing witnesses. Unconfirmed media from the scene shows smoke rising over the city.

The IDF has announced that it had detected an additional barrage of missiles launched toward Israel, adding that the military is currently “identifying and intercepting threats.”

“The public is requested to stay in protected spaces until official notice,” the IDF said in a statement. “The IDF repeats and emphasizes not to publish and share the footage and locations of hits.”

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claims to have targeted 27 US bases across the region, as well as Israel’s Tel Nof base, the IDF command in Hakirya, and a defense complex in Tel Aviv, in the latest round of retaliation dubbed “True Promise 4,” according to the Fars news agency.

In a statement, the IRGC vowed it “will not let sirens fall silent in occupied territories or US bases” and promised a “different and difficult step of revenge” against the US and Israel for the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the ongoing strikes on Iranian territory.

Multiple explosions have been heard across the Qatari capital of Doha, according to Al Jazeera. At least 11 blasts were heard in the sky above the city, residents told the broadcaster, with the detonations occurring within a short span of time.

The Qatari Interior Ministry earlier said the total number of injuries since the onset of Iran’s retaliatory strikes had grown to 16, with “limited material damage in various areas.”

Clashes have erupted outside the US Embassy in Baghdad following the death of Ayatollah Khamenei, with loud explosions heard in the background, according to videos circulating online.

Mourners are also gathering in other cities across Iran. A video shared by Iran’s judiciary shows crowds at Gorgan’s main square in Golestan Province following the announcement of the leader’s martyrdom in the joint US-Israeli strikes.

“The evil regime of America and the humiliated and wretched Israeli regime should know that the great nation of Iran will avenge the blood of its heroic leader, just as it did not forgive the crimes of the defunct Shah and the aggressor Saddam, who were the despicable mercenaries of arrogance,” Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei said in a statement.

Several explosions have reportedly rocked the northern Iraqi city of Erbil, after Iran-affiliated Iraqi armed factions announced that they had targeted a US military base in the area, according to local media.

Large crowds have gathered at Tehran’s Enghelab Square to mourn Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei following the announcement of his killing, videos circulating online show.

A three-member council comprising President Masoud Pezeshkian, Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, and a jurist from the Guardian Council will oversee Iran’s leadership during the transitional period following the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to the IRNA news agency.

Under Iran’s constitution, the council assumes leadership duties until a successor is appointed by the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member clerical body that holds ultimate authority over the country’s political system, armed forces, and key institutions.

The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), General Mohammad Pakpour, has been killed in the US-Israeli attack on Tehran, according to IRNA news agency. The secretary of Iran’s Defense Council and top political adviser to Khamenei, Ali Shamkhani, was also confirmed dead.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has announced the beginning of “the most devastating offensive operation in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran” that will target Israel and “American terrorist bases” in the region, according to the Fars news agency.

The Iranian military has vowed to make the US and Israel “regret” their attack on the Islamic Republic and the murder of the Supreme Leader, according to a statement from the General Staff of the Armed Forces.

“We will make the enemies of this nation, especially the criminal America and the evil Zionist regime, regret it with the strength, firmness, and support of the honorable people, and we will continue the path of that wise and powerful Leader until the last drop of blood and the surrender of the enemies,” it said.

New footage, allegedly captured by US service members at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, is circulating online. It appears to show three interceptor missiles launched by MIM-104 Patriot long-range air defense systems failing to shoot down an incoming Iranian ballistic missile before impact. 

Iran launched missile and drone strikes against multiple American military bases in the Middle East earlier on Saturday, in retaliation for the coordinated US-Israeli military assault against the country.

The Pentagon has denied any casualties among US service members but admitted to “minimal” damage to military installations that “has not impacted operations.”

The US Central Command has published a new video of its strikes against Iran, saying that it is “delivering swift and decisive action as directed” by President Donald Trump.

The IDF has announced that Israeli Air Force fighter jets have completed a new wave of strikes against more than 30 Iranian targets, including aerial defense systems, missile launchers, and military command centers.

“A short while ago, dozens of Israeli Air Force fighter jets, guided by IDF intelligence, completed a strike wave aimed at degrading the Iranian terror regime’s ballistic missile array and aerial defense systems in western and central Iran,” the military said, promising more strikes to “further expand the degradation of such infrastructure and preserve the IDF’s achievements.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has expressed “profound regret and sorrow” over the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowing to “make the perpetrators and commanders of this great crime regret their actions.”

“This great crime will never go unanswered and will mark a new chapter in the history of the Islamic and Shiite world,” the presidency said in a statement, announcing 40 days of public mourning.

Iranian state media has confirmed the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the ongoig joint US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic. Tasnim, Mehr and Press TV simultaneously reported early Sunday that the 85-year-old leader had been “martyred” in the attack.

“The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in a joint attack by the criminal America and the Zionist regime,” the official statement said. The government has announced 40 days of public mourning.

A suspected Iranian drone or missile has been intercepted near the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, in Dubai, according to several videos making the rounds online.

Four relatives of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, including his daughter, grandchild and son-in-law, were reportedly killed in the US-Israeli strikes, according to government sources cited by Press TV and Fars News Agency.

The IDF has announced yet another wave of strikes, allegedly targeting Iranian ballistic missiles and air defense systems. It also shared new footage from one of its previous raids.

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has issued his first statement after President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to commence the so-called Operation Epic Fury against Iran, praising it as the “most lethal, most complex, and most precise aerial operation in history.”

“The United States did not start this conflict, but we will finish it. If you kill or threaten Americans anywhere in the world – as Iran has – then we will hunt you down, and we will kill you,” Hegseth wrote in a post on X.

The Secretary of War echoed the president’s justifications for the strikes, accusing Tehran of targeting and killing Americans for decades, “always seeking the world’s most powerful weapons to further their radical cause.”

“Last night, unlike any previous president, President Trump began dealing with this cancer. We will not tolerate powerful missiles targeting the American people. Those missiles will be destroyed, along with Iran’s missile production. The Iranian navy will be destroyed. And, as President Trump has said his entire life, Iran will never have a nuclear weapon,” he added.

US President Donald Trump’s unilateral decision to launch strikes against Iran has met a mixed response in Congress, as lawmakers are split over the issue, mostly along party lines. 

High-ranking Republicans have lined up behind Trump, commending his decision as a necessary step. Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Roger Wicker hailed what he called a “decisive action” and one of the “hardest decisions” taken by Trump, referring to the strikes as “a pivotal and necessary operation to protect Americans and American interests.”

The Democratic leaders in the House and the Senate criticized Trump for not being transparent enough about the operation’s goals and strategy, arguing that it could turn into a new endless war. They also called for invoking the 1973 legislation limiting the use of the Armed Forces without congressional approval.

28 February 2026

Israel has “succeeded in dragging the United States into the quagmire of war with Iran,” Tehran’s UN ambassador told the Security Council, stating that Tehran now views “all bases, facilities and assets of the hostile forces in the region” as “legitimate military objectives within the framework of Iran’s lawful exercise of self-defense.”

“Iran will continue to exercise its right of self-defense decisively and without recitation until the aggression ceases in full and unequivocal terms,” Saeid Iravani said. “Iran remains firmly committed to respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighboring countries.”

Israel’s UN ambassador has vowed that West Jerusalem and Washington will continue their “joint effort” against Tehran “for as long as the threat remains.”

“We did not act on impulse. We did not act out of aggression. We acted out of necessity, because the Iranian regime left no reasonable alternative,” he claimed.

At least one person was killed and 21 others wounded in an Iranian ballistic missile strike on Tel Aviv. Most of the victims received light injuries, while four were seriously wounded, Israeli media has reported citing first responders with Magen David Adom, the country’s national emergency medical service.

The White House has released photos of US President Donald Trump monitoring “military operations” in Iran alongside US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other senior officials.

US Vice President J.D. Vance has been monitoring the situation as well at a different location, the official imagery indicates.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has canceled his trip to Israel, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, over “current circumstances,” the State Department has announced.

“Due to current circumstances, Secretary Rubio will no longer travel to Israel on March 2,” Assistant Secretary Dylan Johnson wrote on X.

Iran’s UN ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani has accused the US and Israel of committing a “war crime,” referring to the strike on an elementary girls’ school in Minab, which allegedly killed over 100 children.

“This is not only an act of aggression, it is a war crime and a crime against humanity,” he said, adding that the strikes were “entirely devoid of legal foundation.”

President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier said that “savage act adds another black page to the record of countless crimes by the aggressors, a memory that will never be erased from our nation’s history.”

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, has justified the Israeli-American attack on Iran as a “lawful action,” accusing Tehran of “destabilizing the world.”

“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. That principle is not a matter of politics. It’s a matter of global security, and to that end, the United States is taking lawful actions,” Waltz stated.

Tehran has consistently denied seeking nuclear weapons, insisting its program is for peaceful purposes. During the latest round of indirect negotiations with Washington, it even reportedly agreed to significant concessions, such as “zero stockpiling” of enriched material and rigorous international verification.

Iran has fired some 137 ballistic missiles and launched more than 200 kamikaze drones at the UAE, the country’s Defense Ministry has claimed. At least 132 missiles were intercepted, while the rest fell into the sea, it said. Additionally, 195 drones were shot down, while 14 fell within the country’s borders and its waters, inflicting “some collateral damage,” the ministry added.

Fire has erupted at the Burj Al Arab, the iconic luxury hotel in Dubai, footage circulating online suggests. The sail-shaped building, which stands on an artificial island, has reportedly been hit by an Iranian kamikaze drone or missile debris. Open flames are visible on the lower floors of the hotel, the video shows.

China’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Fu Cong, has condemned the strikes on Iran as a violation of international law and an infringement on the country’s sovereignty

“The US and Israel brazenly launched strikes on Iran,” he said, adding that Beijing is “deeply saddened” about the large number of civilian casualties and condemns the indiscriminate use of force as “unacceptable.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that signs are increasingly indicating that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been killed, after his compound was struck in a “powerful surprise attack.” 

US President Donald Trump similarly claimed in a post on Truth Social that Khamenei is “dead.”

However, Iranian news agencies including Tasnim and Mehr have insisted that the Iranian supreme leader is “steadfast and firm in commanding the field.”

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned the “military escalation in the Middle East.” The actions of the US and Israel, as well as the subsequent attacks by Iran, “undermine international security,” Guterres said in a statement.

“These actions carry the risk of igniting a chain of events that no one can control in the most volatile region of the world. Lasting peace can only be achieved through peaceful means, including genuine dialogue and negotiations,” the secretary-general added.

US President Donald Trump has claimed that “a lot” of Iranian leadership have been killed in the opening strikes against the country. The US-Israeli operation will go on for “as long as we want to,” Trump told ABC News, claiming that the attack has “done such damage already.” 

“A lot of it is, yeah. But we don’t know all, but a lot of it is. Was a very powerful strike,” the US president asserted. 

The remarks come amid unconfirmed reports of the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, allegedly killed in his residence in Tehran, which was heavily damaged in the strikes. Iranian media, however, has refuted the claims of his death, insisting that the country’s leader is “steadfast and firm in commanding the field.”

Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, has denounced the US-Israeli operation as a betrayal of diplomacy, launched just as talks were reaching their peak.

The Russian and Chinese missions requested the meeting to address “the unprovoked act of armed aggression by the United States and Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran.” However, according to Nebenzia, the rotating president of the chamber attempted to downplay the degree of danger.

“The hypocrisy of our European colleagues knows no borders,” Nebenzia said. “We demand that the US and Israel immediately cease their aggressive actions. We insist on the immediate resumption of diplomatic and political settlements.”

On March 1, the US will take over from the UK as president of the Security Council for the next month.

The UN Security Council is holding an emergency session in the aftermath of major airstrikes across Iran by the United States and Israel. In retaliation, Tehran has launched its own attacks throughout the Middle East, with reports of strikes in Dubai, Doha, Bahrain and Kuwait. UN chief Antonio Guterres condemned the escalation, saying it undermines international peace and security – and threatens to plunge the region into a broader conflict.

A small rally has been staged in central New York to protest the US attack on Iran, RT’s Caleb Maupin reports. The protesters condemned the strikes, arguing that the true enemy of the US was the “Israeli lobby” rather than Tehran.

Explosions have been heard across Doha, Qatar, as Iran launched a new wave of retaliatory attacks on US military bases in response to joint US-Israeli strikes.

According to a Qatari interior ministry official speaking to Reuters, the attacks resulted in 8 injuries.

US CENTCOM has published a video reportedly showing it carrying out attacks in Iran.

RT correspondent Saman Kojouri has reported a long line of cars waiting to fill up at a gas station in Tehran.

A projectile, believed to be an Iranian Shahed-family kamikaze drone, has hit a high-rise building in the Bahraini capital city of Manama, footage circulating online suggests. After the skyscraper sustained a hit on its upper floors, fire rapidly spread across its cladding, the video shows.

Iran has attacked a US military base in the Iraqi Kurdistan city of Erbil, Tansnim news agency has reported. Footage circulated by the agency shows a projectile striking the installation and sparking a large fire on the ground.  

Former US Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris has strongly condemned the attack on Iran, branding it a “dangerous and unnecessary gamble with American lives.” The new conflict launched by US President Donald Trump is “recklessness dressed up as resolve,” which is bound to jeopardize “stability in the region and our standing in the world.” 

“Donald Trump is dragging the United States into a war the American people do not want. Let me be clear: I am opposed to a regime-change war in Iran, and our troops are being put in harm’s way for the sake of Trump’s war of choice,” Harris said in a statement.  

“During the campaign, Donald Trump promised to end wars rather than start them. It was a lie. Then last year, he said ‘we obliterated’ Iran’s nuclear program. That, too, was a lie,” she added.

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has cheered the strikes on Iran, urging US President Donald Trump to take decisive action against the country and bring down its government. Zelensky reiterated his longstanding claims that Tehran has been supplying Moscow with kamikaze drones in the tens of thousands, an allegation both Iran and Russia have denied. 

“Other nations have also suffered from Iranian-backed terror. Therefore, it is fair to give the Iranian people a chance to rid themselves of a terrorist regime and to guarantee security for all nations that have suffered from terror originating in Iran,” Zelensky added.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed the signs are growing that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “is no more,” Israeli media has said.

Netanyahu also claimed that Israel killed IRGC commanders, senior Iranian regime officials, and senior nuclear officials, and that in the coming days, “we will hit thousands of targets of the terror regime.”

He says that Israel will create the conditions for the Iranian people to “free itself from the chains of dictatorship.”

The operation against Iran “will continue as long as is necessary,” Netanyahu added, “and stamina is necessary.”

Between 17 and 20 female basketball players have been killed in a strike on a gymnasium in the southern Iranian city of Lamerd, the local governor has said, as cited by the Student News Network (SNN).  

The city was hit by at least four projectiles, with two of them hitting residential areas and one striking the gymnasium. The official told SNN that the strikes wounded about 100 people across the city.

Footage shows drones reported to be Iranian hitting buildings in Bahrain.

According to social media, some people are welcoming the strikes.

The US Central Command has claimed that its forces defended against “hundreds” of Iranian missile and drone attacks, and that there have been no reports of US casualties or combat-related injuries.

Damage to US military installations has been “minimal,” it added.

It said that the US-Israeli operation targeted “Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command and control facilities, Iranian air defense capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields.”

The Iranian Red Crescent Society has said 201 people were killed in Iran in US-Israeli attacks. A spokesperson has told Mehr News Agency that the strikes have hit 24 of Iran’s provinces, injuring 747 people.

The spokesperson said more than 220 Red Crescent teams are present at the targeted sites, and rescue operations continue.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the US-Israeli attacks on Iran violated the Islamic Republic’s sovereignty and targeted the peace of the Iranian people, adding he was saddened and concerned.

In a speech in Istanbul, Erdogan stressed that Iran’s attacks on Gulf countries were also unacceptable. He called for urgent action to prevent further bloodshed, adding that Ankara will accelerate diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire.

The US-Israeli attack on Iran killed 85 students at an elementary school in Minab, according to Iranian state media.

RT footage shows the bodies of those killed (WARNING: DISTURBING VIDEOS).

Rocket fire and an explosion were heard in the southern Iranian city of Bushehr, media have reported.

Iranian outlets said Bushehr, home to the nuclear power plant built by Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom, had come under US and Israeli attack.

Rosatom has said it has evacuated 94 people from Iran connected to work at the plant. CEO Aleksey Likhachev said the evacuated included all children of plant employees, excess personnel and others who chose to leave the country.

Unverified semi-official reports on social media said witnesses were hearing strikes roughly every half hour.

Israel has banned public gatherings, closed schools and non-essential workplaces, and moved some hospital patients to underground facilities.

Defense Minister Israel Katz has declared a nationwide state of emergency and warned of possible drone attacks.

The has military instructed the public to follow emergency guidelines and said tens of thousands of reservists were being called up, including to reinforce land borders.

An official from the European Union’s naval mission ‘Aspides’ told Reuters on Saturday that vessels have been receiving VHF transmissions from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards saying “no ship is allowed to pass the Strait of Hormuz.”

The strait is the world’s most vital oil export route, which connects the biggest Gulf oil producers, such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates, with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.

Tehran’s military forces used the Fattah hypersonic missile during the conflict with the United States and Israel, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported.

Beijing is demanding that the US and Israel halt their military operation against Iran immediately, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has said.

Iran has destroyed an American FP132 radar system with a range of 5,000 kilometers located in Qatar; its unique equipment had been used to track ballistic missiles, according to Tasnim.

Footage shows explosions in Dubai and a fire near a hotel, according to social media.

RT footage shows the aftermath of Israeli strike on a girls’ primary school in the city of Minab, in the south of Iran. Seventy students were killed in the attack.

World reacts to US-Israeli strike on Iran

The strikes came after indirect nuclear talks in Geneva between Tehran and Washington ended without a breakthrough on Friday and amid a major US military build-up in the region.

• Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, who has mediated the latest nuclear talks in Geneva, said the US-Israeli action had undermined peace efforts. “Neither the interests of the United States nor the cause of global peace are well served by this,” he said.

• In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin convened a Security Council meeting by videoconference to discuss the situation, the Kremlin said. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov condemned the move as an “unprovoked armed attack” and urged an immediate halt to the strikes, saying Russia was ready to work through the UN Security Council to seek a diplomatic solution.

• French President Emmanuel Macron warned that an “outbreak of war” in the Middle East would carry grave consequences for international peace and security.

• Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez criticized what Madrid described as unilateral US and Israeli military action, saying it represented an escalation and risked deepening global instability.

• A British government spokesperson said Iran “must never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon” and called for a negotiated solution.

• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said “bombs and missiles are not the way to resolve differences,” urging restraint and a return to negotiations.

• Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Ottawa supported American efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and from threatening international peace and security.

• Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said it would not accept being drawn into matters that threaten its security and unity.

• Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said that while Israel had described its action as preventive, such strikes were not in line with international law without an imminent threat.
• China is demanding that the United States and Israel halt their military operation against Iran immediately, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has said.

• In Tehran, a spokesperson for Iran’s armed forces general staff said the Islamic Republic would teach what he called “criminal” Israel and the “aggressive” United States a lesson they had “never experienced in their history,” adding in a televised interview that the strikes had taken place during negotiations with Washington.

Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi, spokesman for Iran’s armed forces general staff, said Tehran would teach “criminal” Israel and the “aggressive” US a lesson they had “never experienced in their history.”

In a televised interview following the US-Israeli strikes, he urged Iranians not to worry and said the attacks had come during negotiations with Washington.

He added that, as previously promised by the Revolutionary Guards, Iran had launched missile strikes against American bases and locations used to support Israel’s operations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has held a Security Council meeting by videoconference to discuss the situation surrounding Iran, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, a key mediator in the US-Iran nuclear talks, has said that US-Israeli strikes against Iran have undermined peace negotiations. “Neither the interests of the United States nor the cause of global peace are well served by this,” he stressed.

The third round of the negotiations finished in Geneva only two days ago.

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s late US-backed shah who was toppled in 1979 and who hasn’t been on Iranian soil for decades, welcomed the US-Israeli strikes, calling it “a humanitarian intervention” and thanking Donald Trump for delivering on his promise for aid.

He went on to urge Iranians to prepare for new protests, saying “it is we, the people of Iran, who will finish the job in this final battle.”

An unverified clip from Qatar shows what looks like a downed Iranian missile falling on a residential area in Doha, with an explosion and fire ensuing.

The Houthis in Yemen, who have had traditionally close ties with Iran, have vowed to resume strikes on Red Sea shipping routes and Israel, two sources with the movement have told the AP.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Aragchi on Saturday, according to the Foreign Ministry in Moscow.

Lavrov condemned the “unprovoked armed attack” by the US and Israel on Iran, and urged an immediate halt to the strikes. He stressed that Russia is ready, including in the UN Security Council, to facilitate the search for peaceful solutions based on international law, mutual respect, and a balance of interests.

French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that the “outbreak of war” in the Middle East “carries grave consequences for international peace and security” while urging for a UN Security Council meeting.

He insisted that Iran must “understand that it now has no other option but to engage in good faith in negotiations to end its nuclear and ballistic programs.”

A UK government spokesperson has said Iran “must never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon” while calling for a “negotiated solution.”

The spokesman stressed that while “we do not want to see further escalation into a wider regional conflict,” the UK “stand[s] ready to protect our interests.”

Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has indicated that both sides are to blame for the conflict. Madrid, he said, denounces “unilateral military action by the United States and Israel,” saying that it “represents an escalation and contributes to a more uncertain and hostile international order.”

“We likewise reject the actions of the Iranian regime and the Revolutionary Guard. We cannot afford another prolonged and devastating war in the Middle East.”

Israel has banned ⁠public gatherings, shut schools ⁠and workplaces and moved hospital patients to underground facilities. The police have also asked people to forego non-essential travel to allow security and emergency vehicles to move freely.

Defense Minister Israel Katz has declared a ⁠state of emergency across the country, warning the public of Iranian missile and drone attacks.

Explosions continue to be heard periodically in Qatar’s capital as air defenses continue to intercept Iranian missiles, according to Al Jazeera.

This latest series of blasts comes after multiple missiles were fired towards Qatar and other Gulf states.

Saudi Arabia has condemned Iranian attacks on US military bases across the region in the “strongest terms” while warning Tehran of “consequences” should it continue its actions which it said violate international law.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has described the Middle East escalation as “perilous,” but noted that Iran’s “ballistic missile and nuclear programs, along with support for terror groups, pose a serious threat to global security.”

At least 35 ballistic missiles have been launched from Iran to Israel, according to the preliminary military assessment cited by the Times of Israel.

CNN reported, citing sources, that the Israeli attack was aimed at Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Masoud Pezeshkian, armed forces Chief of Staff Sayyid Abdolrahim Mousavi, the secretary of Iran’s Defense Council, Ali Shamkhani, and the secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, Ali Larijani.

According to IRNA news agency, an Israeli strike on a girls’ school in Minab, southern Iran, killed five people, with some reporting suggesting the death toll could be much higher.

Warning: Disturbing video

The UAE has joined the condemnation of what it described as “brazen Iranian rocket attacks” targeting the nation and its neighbors.

The Qatari Foreign Ministry has issued a “strong condemnation of the targeting of Qatari territory with Iranian ballistic missiles,” describing it as “a flagrant violation of its national sovereignty.” 

Journalist Ibrahim Wahdi has told RT that the new US-Israeli strikes differ from the operation carried out against Iran last year.

“It’s not like the 12-day war last year. This time it’s a joint military attack directly targeting the political establishment in addition to the [Iranian] Supreme Leader’s headquarters,” Wahdi said.

Targeting a sovereign country is an escalation that goes beyond military messages and threatens the whole region, he added.

Iraqi group Kataib Hezbollah has threatened imminent attacks on US bases in response to the strikes targeting Iran.

Kataib Hezbollah is one of the largest groups within the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), founded in 2014 to stop lightning advances by Islamic State at the time.

Two fighters were killed in US-Israeli airstrikes that hit the Jurf al-Sakhar base, also known as Jurf al-Nasr, in southern Iraq, according to Al Jazeera.

In case you’ve just joined us:

• US President Donald Trump has vowed that a “massive and ongoing” campaign against Iran will crush its military, eliminate its nuclear program, and bring about a change in the government.
• Iran’s Revolutionary Guards says it has launched the first large-scale wave of retaliatory missile and drone strikes towards Israel.
• Bahrain has said a missile attack has targeted the US Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters in the country, while another missile has been intercepted in Qatar. An explosion has also been reported in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, while countries across the region have shut their airspace.
• Multiple explosions have been heard in Iran’s capital, Tehran, while blasts have also been reported in several other locations across the country.

An American official has told Al Jazeera that the US will “continue our strikes against Iran over the coming days.”

Russia‘s Foreign Ministry has condemned US-Israeli strikes on Iran, calls for urgent diplomatic response.

In a statement released on Sunday, Moscow said the scale of military, political, and media preparations preceding the strikes, including the buildup of a large US military presence in the region, left little doubt that the operation had been planned in advance and violated fundamental principles of international law.

The ministry described the strikes as a “premeditated and unprovoked act of aggression” against a sovereign UN member state.

An American reacts to Iranian attack on naval base in Bahrain. 

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has struck the American naval base in Bahrain with missiles, according to Iranian media agency Fars.

Smoke was seen rising from the Juffair area of Bahrain, where the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet is headquartered – as seen in this video:

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has issued a statement calling Saturday’s strikes a “criminal military aggression” by the US and Israel, saying they took place while Iran was “in the midst of a diplomatic process.”

The ministry said “now is the time to defend the homeland and confront the military aggression of the enemy” and called on UN member states to condemn what it described as an act of aggression and a violation of the UN Charter.

US military bases in Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have been targeted by Iranian missile strikes, Mehr News has reported.

Iran’s armed forces general staff said any military base of a country providing assistance to Israel would become a target for strikes by the Islamic Republic.

The United Arab Emirates has announced a 'temporary and partial' closure of the country's airspace.

Explosions have been heard in Bahrain, APA reports, citing Al Arabiya TV.

It is also reported that Qatar has closed its airspace.
Meanwhile, the US Embassy in Qatar issued an alert ordering Americans to shelter-in-place due to an imminent missile threat.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has denounced the latest strikes. The deputy chairman of the Security Council highlighted that all of the recent negotiations with Iran are merely a cover operation, noting that no one really doubted this and that there was little genuine desire to reach any agreements.

Sirens heard in Jerusalem

Unconfirmed media reports suggest that at least one Iranian missile exploded in Bahrain, which hosts a major US naval base in Manama. Footage circulating on social media shows what appears to be plumes of smoke over the facility.

Earlier in the day, the US Embassy said it was “implementing a shelter-in-place for all personnel” while recommending all American citizens “do the same until further notice.”

In the wake of the strikes, Israeli intelligence has launched a propaganda campaign targeting the people of Iran, urging them to share photos and videos of “resistance against the regime.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the latest military operation is aimed to achieve regime change in Iran. In his first video statement regarding the US-Israel strikes on the Islamic Republic, he reiterated demands that Iran curb its nuclear program.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has announced that, in response to aggression by a “hostile and criminal enemy” against the Islamic Republic of Iran, it has launched the first wave of extensive missile and drone strikes on Israeli targets.

General Amir Hatami, Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Army, has been killed in a series of IDF attacks on Iran, according to unconfirmed reports from the Israeli media. Authorities in the Islamic Republic have yet to confirm the claim.

The US has begun evacuating personnel from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar following the attack on Iran, Reuters has reported, citing a source.
The facility is the largest American military installation in the Middle East, hosting about 10,000 service members. In June 2025, the base was targeted by an Iranian missile strike in response to a US and Israeli attack against nuclear sites in the Islamic Republic.

‘Thick black smoke RISING’ over Tehran after Israeli strikes, RT correspondent Saman Kojouri reports

‘I’m hearing ANOTHER EXPLOSION right now’ as Iran warns of a ‘decisive response’

According to RT sources, the IDF is focusing its strikes on taking out missiles.
A source familiar with the matter also said a security meeting is currently taking place chaired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

An air raid alert has been declared in Israel, with launches detected from Iran, authorities said.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has urged his people to remain steadfast “in the coming days” following the start of the operation against Tehran.

At least five explosions were heard in Tehran and were also reported in other cities – including Qom, Isfahan, Kermanshah and Karaj – Iranian news agencies have reported.

The military operation has been named “Roar of the Lion” for the Israeli phase and “Shield of Judah” for the joint operation with Washington.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was not harmed in the US and Israeli attack, Mehr news agency reported, citing a source.

Israel is preparing for four days of strikes in the initial phase of the operation against the Islamic Republic, Channel 12 reported.

US forces have begun a military operation against Iran, President Trump confirmed in a video posted on Truth Social. He said the aim of the operation was to protect the American people by eliminating what he described as the “threat” posed by the Iranian government.

He said the “major combat operation” against Iran was aimed at its nuclear and missile programs and added that Tehran would never obtain a nuclear weapon.

The current attack on Iran will be far larger in scale than US strikes on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities in June last year, American officials told the New York Times.
The strikes were reported to have come after US President Trump expressed dissatisfaction with the progress of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.

Tehran is preparing retaliatory measures and its response will be devastating, an Iranian official told Reuters.

Farhad Ibrahimov, a lecturer at the Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow and a specialist on Iran and the Middle East, says Israel’s strikes on Iran were similar to the June 12-13 attack last year.

On the eve of those events, US President Donald Trump announced a new round of negotiations with Tehran, and the following day Israel struck Iran, he posted on his Telegram channel. “The same thing is happening today,” Ibrahimov, a regular RT contributor, added.

Israel carried out what it described as a “pre-emptive strike” on Tehran and a number of other Iranian cities, fully aware that Iran would respond, he posted. “And if Iran responds, the Americans will step in and the negotiations will be over.”