Trump says new strikes target Iranian leadership
• US consulate in Dubai impacted: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said all personnel is accounted for after a drone hit the grounds of the US consulate in Dubai. A source told CNN it was suspected to be Iranian. The US earlier closed embassies in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Lebanon and warned Americans to leave some countries in the region.
• New strikes: US President Donald Trump said most of Iran’s military installations have been “knocked out” and that new strikes today targeted Iranian leadership. Israel also struck a compound belonging to a group responsible for electing Iran’s next supreme leader, an Israeli source told CNN.
• Iran death toll: At least 780 people have been killed by US and Israeli bombing across Iran, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, citing the Iranian Red Crescent.
• Oil markets roiled: The price of gasoline in the US just had its largest one-day increase since 2005, as vessels have effectively stopped going through the critical Strait of Hormuz. Oil continued to rise and stocks fell.
The Israeli military says it has launched what it described as a new “broad wave” of strikes against Iran.
It is targeting launch sites, aerial defense systems and other infrastructure.
The announcement comes after Iran carried out a new wave of attacks against Israel overnight.
The Pentagon has identified four of the six US service members who were killed in an Iranian drone strike on Sunday.
The soldiers are Capt. Cody Khork, 35; Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42; Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, 39; and Sgt. Declan Coady, 20. All four were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command, an Army Reserve sustainment unit out of Iowa.
The two other soldiers who were killed in the strike on Sunday have not yet been identified.
CNN first reported that the suspected drone strike hit a temporary tactical operations center at the port of Shuaiba in Kuwait on Sunday. At the time of their deaths the soldiers were serving with 1st Theater Sustainment Command.
A source familiar with the situation described the operation center as a triple wide trailer with office space inside; the building was surrounded by concrete barriers that are typically used to protect military structures overseas from things like car bombs and improvised explosive devices. There was nothing overhead that could shield the building from drones or missiles.
There was no siren or warning ahead of the strike to give the troops time to take cover in a bunker, the source familiar said.
1st Theater Sustainment Command is a stand-alone group based out of Fort Knox, Kentucky, composed of troops from units around the country who are assigned to support roles overseas in nine-month rotations.
The command oversees the resupply and support of US forces around the Middle East, bringing in ammunition, water, fuel, food, repair parts and more. It also manages ports and flights, according to the command’s website.
Syria has reinforced its borders with Iraq and Lebanon to avoid the conflict in the Middle East spilling over into its territory.
The Syrian army said it boosted deployments along the borders to “protect and secure” them.
“The deployed units belong to the Border Guard forces and reconnaissance battalions, tasked with monitoring border activity and combating smuggling,” the army said.
The Israeli military has been striking Hezbollah in Lebanon since Monday, after the Iran-back militant group sent a “swarm of drones” toward an Israeli military base in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes killing Iran’s supreme leader.
Iraq has also become involved in the conflict, with Iran striking its northern region of Kurdistan.
Senators emerged from a closed-door briefing with White House officials on Iran with vastly different expectations for just how long the conflict could drag on.
GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said the administration, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, presented a timeline for US involvement in the conflict to be wrapped up in three to five weeks — echoing some of the president’s own public comments.
But multiple other senators, including fellow GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, said they believed the White House did not communicate a possible end date.
“It sounded very open-ended to me,” Hawley said, a remark that offered a hint of hesitation from the anti-interventionist senator. He said he would be unlikely to support boots on the ground and will be closely monitoring what he called a “rapidly changing” operation.
“The military has accomplished a lot. So I think given the successes that they’ve had and the amount that they’ve accomplished, I would hope for a swift conclusion,” Hawley said.
Multiple Democrats were furious by what they saw as the White House’s refusal to outline a timeline for the conflict.
“I think I’m more convinced now that this is going to be open-ended and forever,” a fiery Sen. Chris Murphy told reporters.
Sen. Tim Kaine summed it up another way. Asked how long before the operation could end, he said: “Not quick.”
“A number of different objectives were discussed so but in terms of like, one clear objective, I think it’s still pretty murky,” Kaine said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Donald Trump made the decision to strike Iran when he determined negotiations were not going to work, backing away from his claim yesterday that the operation was “defensive” because Israel had planned to strike Iran.
“Once the president made a decision that negotiations were not going to work, that they were playing us on the negotiations, and that this was a threat that wasn’t tenable, the decision was made to strike,” Rubio told reporters Tuesday. “That’s what I said yesterday. And you guys need to play it.”
Rubio did not cite the perception of failing US-Iran nuclear negotiations during his remarks to reporters Monday.
Instead, he said that “ultimately this operation needed to happen.” But he also cited US knowledge of forthcoming Israeli action as a reason for the strikes, giving the impression that the US was being dragged into the strikes by Israel.
“The president made the very wise decision,” Rubio said Monday. “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 and perhaps even higher those killed, and then we would all be here answering questions about why we knew that and didn’t act.”
Rubio claimed Tuesday that answer had more to do with the timing of the action than the intent of the strikes but steered clear of reiterating that Israel’s plans impacted the US decision.
Rubio’s defensive posture came before he briefed lawmakers on the US strikes on Iran, and just hours after Trump contradicted the secretary of state’s Monday remarks.
“It was my opinion that they were going to attack first,” Trump said of Iran in the Oval Office. “If anything I might have forced Israel’s hand.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has cast the US and Israeli war with Iran as “another example of the failure of the international order” and criticized the two countries for not consulting with allies.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Carney emphasized that while Canada considered Iran’s nuclear program a “grave global threat,” it was also calling for a “rapid de-escalation of hostilities” and was “prepared to assist in achieving this goal.”
“Despite decades of United Nations Security Council resolutions, the tireless work of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and a succession of sanctions and diplomatic frameworks, Iran’s nuclear threat remains,” Carney said.
“And now the United States and Israel have acted without engaging the United Nations or consulting with allies, including Canada.”
“Canada reaffirms that international law binds all belligerents. We condemn the strikes carried out by Iran on civilians and civilian infrastructure across the Middle East,” Carney continued. “We implore all parties, including the United States and Israel, to respect the rules of international engagement.”
The prime minister’s remarks chime with a high-profile speech he delivered at the World Economic Forum in January, when he warned that the global order was experiencing a “rupture” after decades of US hegemony.
The CIA is working to arm Kurdish forces with the aim of fomenting a popular uprising in Iran, multiple people familiar with the plan told CNN.
The Trump administration has been in active discussions with Iranian opposition groups and Kurdish leaders in Iraq about providing them with military support, the sources said.
Iranian Kurdish armed groups have thousands of forces operating along the Iraq-Iran border, primarily in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. Several of the groups have released public statements since the beginning of the war hinting at imminent action and urging Iranian military forces to defect. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been striking Kurdish groups and said on Tuesday that it targeted Kurdish forces with dozens of drones.
Also on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump spoke with the president of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI), Mustafa Hijri, according to a senior Iranian Kurdish official. KDPI was one of the groups targeted by the IRGC.
Iranian Kurdish opposition forces are expected to take part in a ground operation in Western Iran, in the coming days, the senior Iranian Kurdish official told CNN.
“We believe we have a big chance now,” the source said, explaining the timing of the operation. The source added the militias expects US and Israeli support.
We’re learning more about Iran’s process of selecting a new Supreme Leader.
Iran’s Assembly of Experts, the body tasked with choosing the country’s next Supreme Leader, has been meeting virtually, according to Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency.
Fars said the elected body of 88 senior clerics is in the “final stages” of selecting a new Supreme Leader — though it is unclear when exactly the new leader will be announced.
Meanwhile, Israel’s military said it had identified a new wave of missiles heading toward the country launched from Iran.
For those catching up, here are the latest headlines:
- The grounds of the US consulate in Dubai were struck by a suspected Iranian drone, a source said. Secretary of State Marco confirmed the drone hit and said all personnel were accounted for as many had left before the conflict began.
- The Israeli military said it struck a “covert” underground compound that it claimed Iranian scientists were using to develop “necessary capabilities” for nuclear weapons.
- Israel’s military also claimed it killed a commander of Iran’s Quds Force, the unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in charge of foreign operations, in a strike on Tehran.
- France is deploying its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and its escort frigates to the Mediterranean, President Emmanuel Macron announced.
- The Trump administration said it is working to secure military aircraft and charter flights to assist the many US citizens trapped in the Middle East. More than 1,500 Americans have requested assistance from the State Department to leave, Rubio said.
- Separately, the United Arab Emirates said it opened safe air corridors with its neighbors to facilitate the return of its citizens and help visitors leave the country.
- The US military has hit an additional roughly 700 targets in Iran since Sunday and has introduced new bombers and fighter aircraft to the operation, according to US Central Command.
- President Donald Trump said he has ordered the United States International Development Finance Corporation to provide “insurance and guarantees” for ships traveling through the Persian Gulf.
CNN’s Dana Karni, Hira Humayun, Haley Britzky, Michael Rios, Jennifer Hansler, Samantha Waldenberg, Chris Isidore, David Goldman, Pierre Bairin and Jonny Hallam contributed to this report.
Israel will gradually reopen its airspace to incoming flights, Transport Minister Miri Regev said today.
Starting Wednesday night into Thursday local time, airspace would reopen to safely bring Israelis back to the country, subject to security developments, Israeli authorities said.
Israel closed its airspace on Saturday morning after the country carried out strikes on Iran.
During the first 24 hours of the gradual reopening, only one flight per hour, a single narrow-body aircraft, will be allowed to land at Israel’s main airport Ben Gurion (TLV), said Sharon Kedmi, Director General of the Israel Airports Authority.
If operations go smoothly, two narrow-body aircraft or one wide-body aircraft will be allowed per hour.
“If everything proceeds as planned, within a week to ten days it will be possible to bring all Israelis back to the country,” Kedmi said.
Ramon Airport and Haifa Airport will remain closed for now.
The UN’s humanitarian chief has warned of an “increasingly daunting” fallout from the war with Iran.
While civilians are suffering as strikes hit homes, hospitals and schools across the region, the incessant violence is limiting the UN’s ability to respond, Tom Fletcher said in a statement.
Airspace closures have meant personnel cannot rotate in and out, Fletcher said, and while he has activated contingency plans, “the limited presence of international NGOs and operational space in Iran makes the challenge there greater.”
“If energy routes or maritime corridors such as the Strait of Hormuz continue to be disrupted, food prices will soar, health systems will be squeezed, and basic supplies will tighten in countries that rely on imports,” Fletcher said.
The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow channel off Iran’s coast where nearly 20% of global oil consumption flows. Iran is vowing to attack any ship trying to pass through the passageway and oil prices have surged as the war has all but stopped the flow of oil through the channel.
In Lebanon, where the Israeli military said it has been targeting Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, the UN said Israeli strikes have killed dozens and caused large-scale displacement. More than 60,000 people are sheltered in 330 sites amid Israeli evacuation warnings for more than 100 towns and villages, the UN says.
House Democrats will discuss the upcoming vote on President Donald Trump’s Iran war powers in tomorrow’s caucus meeting, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said.
It’s unclear whether the resolution can get across the line in the House.
“There is going to be very strong Democratic support for the War Powers resolution across the ideological spectrum that I can guarantee you, and it may be a handful of members who have still not made a decision and want to participate in the secure briefing before they come to a final conclusion,” he said during a press conference Tuesday.
Jeffries criticized the administration, saying there was no “imminent” threat based on the briefings he has attended.
“Having been briefed now, not once, but twice. There is no evidence that has been presented to us that the United States was under threat of imminent attack from Iran. Zero evidence of that,” he said.
Jeffries called the action illegal as Congress did not authorize the attack.
“The Constitution of the United States is not a mere inconvenience,” he said.
Israel’s military says it has identified a new wave of missiles heading toward the country launched from Iran.
It said its defense systems are working to intercept them.
The public has been instructed to take shelter until further notice.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department is actively working on efforts to assist Americans who want to leave the Middle East.
“We have identified and continue to identify charter flights, military flight options and expanded commercial flight options, meaning working with the airlines to send bigger airplanes with more seats,” Rubio told reporters on Capitol Hill today.
Rubio said that in “a couple instances” planes were on their way to the region before the airspace was closed and they had to turn around.
More than 1,500 Americans have requested assistance from the State Department to depart the Middle East, Rubio said.
“We know that we’re going to be able to help them. It’s going to take a little time, because we don’t control the airspace,” he said.
Rubio asked Americans to register with the State Department so they can get updated information about evacuation opportunities.
“We need to know where you are. … They have to register with us, because as these options begin to open up … we have to be able to call you, we have to be able to reach you,” Rubio said.
Americans should register with the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program at
step.state.gov.
The secretary of state’s comments come a day after the State Department’s top official for consular affairs called on US citizens to depart “using available commercial travel” from Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Only a limited number of commercial flights are operating in the region.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the attacks against Iran will intensify in the coming hours and days.
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations has called on Lebanon to “act now to prevent further escalation” in the country by restraining the Iranian-back militant group Hezbollah. His comments at the UN come as Israel has been carrying out near round-the-clock strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, as it widened its campaign following its large-scale attacks on Iran.
“We expect the Lebanese Government to restrain Hezbollah. Take control, act now to prevent further escalation,” Ambassador Danny Danon said Tuesday in a news conference, arguing that the militant group has violated a UN resolution to disarm.
“To the government of Lebanon, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has said Hezbollah must disarm. He is absolutely right. But statements do not dismantle rockets. We all know declarations do not stop terror. Only action does,” Dannon said, warning that Israel will “finish the job” to take out threats on its northern border.
Danon also appeared to call on Iranian people to rise up against their government, echoing statements made by US officials, including US President Trump.
“I can tell you that there are a lot of brave people in Iran that live there. They deserve a better future. They were oppressed for generations, and now they have a chance. They have a chance, and should grab this chance,” Danon said.
What Lebanon has said: Salam said his government “will take all necessary measures to stop those responsible and protect the Lebanese people,” and already banned Hezbollah’s military activities.
A drone that attacked the grounds of the US consulate in Dubai hit a “parking lot adjacent to the chancellery building,” according to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
All personnel were accounted for, Rubio said, as many had left before the US-Israeli action against Iran had begun.
An Emirati official told CNN’s Erin Burnett that the consulate was closed at the time of the strike. Earlier, a source told CNN the drone hit the consulate grounds late on Tuesday night and was suspected to be Iranian.
A security alert issued Tuesday said both the US Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the consulate had “cancelled all appointments for US visas, American Citizen Services, and notary services through at least March 4.”
US government personnel in the UAE have been told to shelter in place, it added. “Do not come to the embassy or consulate for any reason,” the alert said.
Videos geolocated and verified by CNN show a black plume of smoke rising over the consulate building, visible from a considerable distance.
In a post on X, the Dubai Media Office later announced that the fire, caused by a “drone-related incident,” had been extinguished and no one had been hurt.
The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Defense says it has intercepted the vast majority of missiles and drones launched toward its territory since the start of the war. On Tuesday, it said that 812 Iranian drones had been detected, “of which 755 were intercepted, while 57 fell within the country.”
This post has been updated with additional information.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France is deploying its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and its escort frigates to the Mediterranean as war spreads across the Middle East following US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
“In view of this unstable situation and the uncertainties of the days ahead, I have ordered the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, its air assets, and its escort frigates to make their way toward the Mediterranean,” Macron said in a televised address to the nation.
He said the United States and Israel had launched military operations against Iran “outside the framework of international law, which we cannot approve,” even as he sharply criticized Tehran, saying the Islamic Republic bears “primary responsibility” for regional instability.
Macron warned that strikes against Iran are expected to continue in the coming days and that retaliatory Iranian attacks across the region are also likely to persist.
Alongside Germany and the United Kingdom, he said France had called for an immediate halt to the strikes, stressing that “lasting peace in the region will only come through the resumption of diplomatic negotiations.”
France has also deployed Rafale fighter jets, air defense systems and airborne radar assets to protect allied airspace, and will maintain those measures “as long as necessary,” he said.
The mayor of a town on Israel’s northern border said there aren’t many other places to evacuate to as the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalates dramatically.
“This emergency exists throughout the whole home front, all of Israel,” said Avichai Stern, the mayor of Kiryat Shmona. “At this stage, I don’t think there are very many other places to evacuate to.”
Stern mused that it might even be safer in his town, since Hezbollah is severely weakened, while other parts of the country have faced the greater threat of Iranian ballistic missiles.
Kiryat Shmona was forced to issue evacuation orders in October 2023 when Hezbollah launched rockets and drones at Israel following the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. Now the Israeli military, which seized more locations in southern Lebanon, has vowed that it will not be forced to evacuate residents in the north again. Stern says most residents have stayed.
“I very much hope that now we will seize the opportunity and this time remove this threat posed by Hezbollah,” Stern told CNN. “Who knows? Maybe one day we’ll go back to the days of the ‘Good Fence,’” he said, a reference to the loose border that once existed between the two countries.
“We lived together. Today it sounds like science fiction.”
Iran’s Assembly of Experts, the body tasked with choosing the country’s next supreme leader, has been meeting virtually, according to Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency.
The elected body of 88 senior clerics has been holding remote meetings after Israel struck compounds belonging to the assembly this week.
State media said US-Israeli strikes hit the Assembly of Experts compound in Tehran on Monday, and on Tuesday, Israeli military spokesman Effie Defrin confirmed a hit on the compound in Qom.
“The results of the strike are still being examined. If there are confirmed outcomes, we will provide updates accordingly,” Defrin said at a briefing.
No assembly session was being held in the building at the time of the strike, according to Fars.
The strikes come as Fars says the assembly is in the “final stages” of selecting a new supreme leader, though it is unclear when exactly the new leader will be announced.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei does not have an officially declared successor. With Khamenei gone, his powers have been temporarily transferred to a three-person council comprising the president, the head of the judiciary, and a senior cleric from the Guardian Council until a new supreme leader is chosen. The Guardian Council is a body of 12 jurists that oversees the activities of Iran’s parliament.
Satellite images taken today show significant damage at Iranian government and military facilities, as well as a hospital.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he has ordered the United States International Development Finance Corporation to provide “insurance and guarantees” for ships traveling through the Persian Gulf while suggesting the US Navy would escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz “if necessary.”
“Effective IMMEDIATELY, I have ordered the United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to provide, at a very reasonable price, political risk insurance and guarantees for the Financial Security of ALL Maritime Trade, especially Energy, traveling through the Gulf. This will be available to all Shipping Lines,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“If necessary, the United States Navy will begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, as soon as possible. No matter what, the United States will ensure the FREE FLOW of ENERGY to the WORLD. The United States’ ECONOMIC and MILITARY MIGHT is the GREATEST ON EARTH — More actions to come,” he added.
Iran this week threatened to attack vessels traveling through the strait, and some tankers have already come under attack in the area. A number of maritime insurers, including Skuld, Steamship Mutual and North Standard, notified clients that they have terminated coverage for any war-related damage in the surrounding waters.
“I don’t think Iran can shut down the Strait of Hormuz, but insurance companies and vessel operators can,” Tom Kloza, an independent oil analyst who advises Gulf Oil, previously told CNN.
Trump’s program would aim to cover ships that lost their insurance — without which they’d be saddled with the cost of any lost oil in an attack.
The strait has been effectively shut down as a result: Just two oil and chemical tankers transited it on Monday, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea data shared with CNN. Typically, 60 vessels pass through the strait each day, carrying about 20% of the world’s oil flows.
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