Here's the latest
• Trump on Iran: President Donald Trump told CNN’s Jake Tapper the “big wave” is yet to come in the war with Iran. In separate remarks, Trump said Tehran ignored his warnings over its nuclear program, and he did not rule out sending US troops to Iran if “necessary.”
• Embassy hit: The US embassy in Kuwait was hit in strikes on Sunday and Monday during an Iranian bombardment, a source told CNN. Separately, three US fighter jets were accidentally shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses in an apparent “friendly fire incident,” according to the US military.
• Expanding war: Israel and Hezbollah are trading blows as the conflict widens, while explosions have been heard in Gulf cities including Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha.
• Global shockwaves: Qatar’s state-run energy company has stopped its production of liquefied natural gas following an Iranian attack on its facility. The war has disrupted air travel, with airspace closed in the Middle East.
There's increased security at the US Capitol but no immediate threat
Out of an abundance of caution, there’s an increased security posture at the US Capitol in the wake of the military operation in Iran.
A person familiar with the matter told CNN the posture is standard operating procedure in such a heightened political climate.
USCP, the notice said, “has not identified any specific or credible threats.”
US Embassy in Kuwait hit on Sunday and Monday, source says
The US Embassy in Kuwait was hit in strikes on Sunday and Monday amid Iranian bombardment of the country, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
There were no reported injuries, according to the source and a US official. The official would not confirm that the embassy was hit.
It was not immediately clear if there was significant damage to the embassy. Smoke was seen rising near the embassy on Monday.
In a security alert Monday, the embassy warned, “There is a continuing threat of missile and UAV attacks over Kuwait.”
“Do not come to the Embassy. Take cover in your residence on the lowest available floor and away from windows. Do not go outside,” it warned, noting that embassy personnel “are sheltering in place.”
“Due to ongoing regional tensions, the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait has canceled all appointments for U.S. visas and American Citizen Services until further notice,” the embassy said in a later security alert.
Some Iranian navy vessels are burning, satellite images show
Dramatic satellite images taken Monday afternoon show dark plumes of smoke rising from multiple burning vessels at a military harbor in Bandar Abbas, Iran.
One of the ships, over 750 feet long, appears to have been converted from an oil tanker to a naval vessel with a large helicopter landing pad. Take a look below:
The strikes appear to have targeted the largest vessels, leaving many smaller ships and at least one submarine intact.
"Safe and secure": UAE leaders walk through Dubai Mall as country reports over 800 attacks
The United Arab Emirates has come under more than 800 drone and missile attacks during the regional conflict so far, most of which were intercepted, according to its Defense Ministry.
Of the 174 ballistic missiles Iran launched at the UAE, 161 were intercepted, while the rest fell into the sea. The UAE also detected 689 drones launched toward it, with 645 intercepted, while 44 landed in the country, the state’s Emirates News Agency said, citing the ministry.
Eight cruise missiles were also destroyed, causing “collateral damage” and killing a Pakistani, a Nepali and a Bangladeshi.
The ministry said the sounds heard across the country were from “air defense systems intercepting ballistic missiles and fighter jets intercepting drones and cruise missiles,” state media reported.
Despite the attacks, UAE leadership is stressing that the country remains safe. UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was seen walking alongside Defense Minister Hamdan Bin Mohammed at Dubai Mall.
“Close to the people. Steady in leadership,” read a post by the Dubai Media Office accompanying a video of the Emirati officials walking through the mall.
Israel's UN envoy says Iran leadership is "lashing out in desperation"
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said Iran’s leadership is “lashing out in desperation” following what he described as decisive and surgical US-Israeli strikes, and he vowed that Israel will continue its military campaign for “as long as it takes.”
Speaking to reporters in New York on Monday, Danon said Israel and the US “will not stop” their operations against Iran until their objectives are met. “We will do whatever is necessary to make sure Iran doesn’t have nuclear capabilities,” he said.
Danon said Israel would do “whatever is necessary to protect our people, to protect our borders.”
He also expressed hope for new leadership in Tehran, saying he believes that freedom for the Iranian people “will come sooner than later.”
Texas Republican voters weigh in on US strikes on Iran ahead of primary election
Just one day before primary Election Day in Texas, two voters from the Lone Star State spoke to CNN about the US strikes on Iran and the spiraling war in the Middle East.
Linda Johnson, a Republican voter from Waco who cast a ballot early for state Attorney General Ken Paxton in the high-stakes Senate primary, told CNN’s Arlette Saenz that the US strikes are “necessary.”
Meanwhile, Kurt Krakowian — a GOP voter from Hewitt who remains undecided in the Senate race — applauded President Donald Trump for taking action.
Krakowian added that he hopes “the end result is that the people will be free.”
The voters’ support for the operation comes as a new CNN poll shows that nearly 6 in 10 Americans disapprove of the US decision to take military action in Iran. However, 77% of Republicans approve of the military action, compared with 32% of independents and 18% of Democrats.
State TV shows Iranians protesting the death of Khamenei
Anti-US and anti-Israeli protesters are on the streets of Iran’s capital, Tehran, today after the death of Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, Iranian state media Press TV reports.
Protesters are heard chanting “no submission, no surrender, and war with America,” according to Press TV.
They are showing “their support and their continued dedication to the Islamic Republic of Iran,” a Press TV reporter tells viewers, adding that there are people of all ages among the demonstrators who want to “send a message to the world” that Iranians “remain steadfast despite everything you throw at us.”
Iranians have told CNN they feel a mixture of joy and unease after Khamenei’s death.
Iran says its enemies won't be safe "even inside their own homes"
Iran has warned that its enemies will not be safe even in their own homes.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said the recent losses of its supreme leader and other top officials “have not shaken (Iran), but rather made it stronger,” the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) reported.
The IRGC said Iran would continue to fight “until the enemy is defeated”
Israeli strikes kill more than 50 in Lebanon
At least 52 people were killed and 154 were wounded in Israeli strikes across Lebanon on Monday, the Lebanese government said.
Israel said it had carried out strikes against Hezbollah targets in the country after the group launched several projectiles at what it said was a military base in northern Israel.
More than 70 missiles and drones have hit Iraq's Erbil, minister says
More than 70 missiles and drones have hit the city of Erbil in northern Iraq, Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein said on Monday, with additional attacks in the south and west of the country.
In a call with the UAE’s Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Hussein said Iraq had “become a victim of this war” and had come under attack by “various parties involved in the conflict,” according to a government statement.
Earlier in the day, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani directed the country’s security agencies to confront “any act that harms security and stability.”
Remember: On Sunday, the Iran-backed militia Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces said four of its members were killed in US-Israel strikes that targeted one of its headquarters in eastern Iraq.
NATO has “absolutely no plans” to join war with Iran, Rutte says
There are “absolutely no plans” for NATO to get involved in the war with Iran, the military alliance’s secretary general said on Monday, though he praised the US and Israeli action.
In an interview with German ARD television in Brussels, Mark Rutte described the US and Israeli operations as “really important.”
“It is taking out, degrading the capacity of Iran to get its hands on nuclear capability, the ballistic missile capability,” he told ARD.
However, he added there were “absolutely no plans whatever for NATO to get dragged into this or be part of it, other than individual allies doing what they can to enable what the Americans are doing together with Israel.”
Some context: Rutte’s comments come as individual NATO members calibrate their own responses to the escalating conflict. The UK, for instance, has said it is not part of the offensive against Iran but has agreed to allow its military bases to be used for “defensive” strikes on Iranian missile stocks. On Sunday, the UK, Germany and France said in a joint statement they would “take steps to defend our interests and those of our allies in the region, potentially through enabling necessary and proportionate defensive action to destroy Iran’s capability to fire missiles and drones at their source.”
US military shares video of bombers taking off to strike Iran
The US military shared video on social media today of US bombers taking off to strike targets in Iran.
The 45-second video shows B-1 bombers being prepared and taking off.
US Central Command said in a post on X that the bombers “struck deep inside Iran to degrade Iranian ballistic missile capabilities” last night.
Travel disruption is rippling far beyond the Middle East. Get the latest here.
Open the airplane-tracking website Flightradar24 right now and the change is unmistakable. Where one of the world’s busiest aviation crossroads should be — a dense web of aircraft linking Europe, Asia and Africa — there is instead a yawning gap. A hole in the sky.
As conflict escalates in Iran with secondary effects across the Middle East, vast swaths of regional airspace have closed or emptied. And because this region sits at the center of modern long-haul travel, the disruption is rippling far beyond it.
For decades, Europe-to-Asia traffic has flowed straight through the Middle East.
The region is home to some of aviation’s most powerful megahubs — Dubai International Airport, Hamad International Airport in Qatar and Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi — and to carriers such as Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, whose business models are built on connecting East and West.
Read more about the travel delays and disruption here.
Potentially thousands of cruise passengers in Doha are facing uncertainty after regional airspace closures linked to escalating tensions between Israel, Iran and the US grounded flights across the Middle East disrupting travel plans and extending what was meant to be the end of a holiday.
Three teenage siblings among those killed in Iranian missile strike near Jerusalem
Three teenage siblings were among those killed when an Iranian missile landed in a residential area in the city of Beit Shemesh near Jerusalem, according to the municipality.
The funerals for Yaakov Biton, 16, Avigail Biton, 15, and Sarah Biton, 13, were held on Sunday afternoon. “The Beit Shemesh municipality shares the family’s deep sorrow and embraces them at this difficult time,” the city said in a statement.
At least nine people were killed when the missile struck a residential area, hitting a synagogue that collapsed on a shelter in the city.
A volunteer for United Hatzalah, an Israeli emergency response service, and her mother were also killed in the strike, the service said.
A single mother of three, Ronit Elimelech had sent her children into the shelter when she ran out to bring her mother, according to Eli Beer, the founder of United Hatzalah.
“Right away we knew it was her, missing at the scene, because her car was right there, and the whole car was burnt completely,” Beer said. “Every scene you go to, you never know if you’re gonna meet someone you know very well, and I always have that fear.”
Iran's energy attacks are a way to "maximize leverage in retaliation," expert says
A fire at a massive oil refinery in Saudi Arabia and an attack on a liquefied natural gas plant in Qatar are worrying developments for energy markets and could signal the start of further attacks on vital infrastructure, analysts say.
“That’s a morphing of this crisis,” said David Oxley, chief commodities economist at Capital Economics. Oxley told CNN that continued attacks on energy infrastructure, particularly processing facilities such as oil refineries, could cause the current situation to “spiral” and drive “much bigger” moves in energy prices.
Two drones targeting Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery were intercepted and destroyed Monday, causing a fire at the complex. Reuters reported that production at the refinery had been suspended as a precaution. Meanwhile, Qatar’s state-run energy company stopped production of liquefied natural gas following an Iranian attack on its facility in Ras Laffan today.
Simone Tagliapietra, a senior fellow at think tank Bruegel, echoed this sentiment. He said that moves to shut down production created “huge uncertainty” and presented a “key risk” in the region.
“Iran is deliberately targeting energy (infrastructure) as a way to maximize leverage in retaliation,” he told CNN.
Also on Monday, a major oil refinery in Kuwait was hit by falling shrapnel, according to state-run Kuwait News Agency.
UK does not believe in "regime change from the skies," Starmer says
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK Government does not “believe in regime change from the skies” after a joint US-Israeli military operation killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Starmer said earlier that the UK had agreed to a request from the US to allow British military bases to be used for “defensive” strikes on Iranian missile stocks. “I am not prepared to commit our military service people to action unless I am sure that what they’re doing is lawful,” Starmer added.
On Monday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the goal of the strikes on Iran was not regime change. President Donald Trump has, however, pushed for regime change.
Catch up on recent developments across the Middle East as war spirals
President Donald Trump just spoke about the US’s war with Iran, following his decision to launch strikes on the country with Israel over the weekend.
We’ve been bringing you updates throughout the day on developments in the Middle East. Catch up on the latest news below:
- In his remarks moments ago, Trump said Iran ignored the White House’s warnings not to rebuild its nuclear program. He said the US’ objectives in the conflict are “clear” and include destroying Iran’s missile capabilities, annihilating its Navy, ending its nuclear ambitions and preventing it from arming terrorists.
- Trump told CNN this morning that the US military is “knocking the crap” out of Iran — but that the “big wave” is yet to come. In a separate interview with the New York Post, the president didn’t rule out sending US troops to Iran “if they were necessary.”
- Qatar’s defense ministry said it shot down two Iranian Su-24 bombers, marking the first time any country has shot down Iranian aircraft since the latest conflict began.
- The wife of Iran’s slain supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has died, according to local media, after she sustained wounds during US and Israeli strikes on Tehran. Those strikes killed her husband days earlier.
- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he stands by his decision not to get involved in the “initial” US-Israeli strikes on Iran over the weekend, despite criticism from Trump.
- Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country and the US “will be there” when the people of Iran “cast off the yoke of tyranny together.”
- Nearly 20 people were injured by falling shrapnel in the southern Israeli city of Beersheva this afternoon, Israel’s emergency response service said.
- All crossings into Gaza have been closed “until further notice” amid Israel’s ongoing strikes on Iran, according to a statement from the liaison agency.
CNN’s Samantha Waldenberg, Donald Judd, Jake Tapper, Kit Maher, Tal Shalev, Mostafa Salem, Lauren Kent, Sana Noor Haq, Billy Stockwell, Oren Liebermann and Dana Karni contributed to this reporting.
Trump lays out objectives for military strikes
President Donald Trump offered a four-pronged explanation for this weekend’s strikes against Iran, telling reporters and guests during a Medal of Honor ceremony today that he wanted to destroy the country’s missile capabilities, annihilate its navy, end its nuclear ambitions and prevent it from arming terrorists.
“Our objectives are clear,” Trump said in the East Room, offering a robust justification for the ongoing military action.
The president said the strikes, which began Saturday morning and continued Monday, will ensure that Iran “can never obtain a nuclear weapon.” He claimed that the regime was “on the road to getting one legitimately” under an agreement signed by President Barack Obama. However, doing so could not have been done without violating the accord, in which Iran pledged never to “seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons.” Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement in his first term. (He previously said that June strikes obliterated Iran’s nuclear program.)
“And finally, we’re ensuring that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm, fund and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders,” Trump said.
The president said talks with Iran about a deal moved in fits and starts and ultimately stalled ahead of the military strikes.
“We thought we had a deal, but then they backed out. And they came back and we thought we had a deal, and they backed out,” he said. “I said, you can’t deal with these people — got to do it the right way.”
Trump says US is "substantially ahead" on Iran war timing projections
President Trump says that the United States is "substantially ahead" of their initial time projections for the war with Iran, but he did not offer a definitive answer on when he expects the military operation to conclude.
President Donald Trump said that the United States is “already substantially ahead of our time projections” on the war with Iran, but he did not offer a definitive answer on when he expects the military operation to conclude.
During remarks in the East Room, Trump dismissed the notion that he would get bored after four to five weeks of conflict in Iran.
“They said, ‘Oh, well, the president wants to do it really quickly. After that, he’ll get bored.’ I don’t get bored. There’s nothing boring about this,” Trump said.
Earlier today, Trump told CNN’s Jake Tapper: “I don’t want to see it go on too long. I always thought it would be four weeks. And we’re a little ahead of schedule.”
While the timeline is still up in the air, Trump gave his condolences to the families of the four US troops who have lost their lives in the war.
“In their memory, we continue this mission with ferocious, unyielding resolve to crush the threat this terrorist regime poses to the American people, and a threat, indeed it is. We have the strongest and most powerful, by far, military in the world, and we will easily prevail,” Trump said.
Trump pivots from war abroad to construction at home, praising ballroom project
Moments after delivering a closely watched update on the US’ war with Iran, President Donald Trump pivoted to a priority closer to home: the White House ballroom.
Trump boasted about the construction around him during a Medal of Honor ceremony, predicting the renovations would create “the most beautiful ballroom anywhere in the world.”
“We’re improving the building,” he said, reiterating his claim that the project is ahead of schedule and under budget. “It’ll be spectacular.”
Trump also joked about the noise from the construction, saying first lady Melania Trump “isn’t thrilled” about the all-day hammering.
“But when I hear that sound, that beautiful sound behind me, it means money,” he said. “So I like it, but my wife isn’t thrilled.”
Some background: Demolition of the East Wing began in October, making way for Trump’s 15-year ambition to construct an event space on the White House grounds that expands the building’s entertaining capacity — but that also resembles the gilded spaces of his private clubs.
The president has been personally involved in ballroom details, from floor plans to marble selection. The sprawling ballroom project has an estimated size of approximately 89,000 square feet, according to lead architect Shalom Baranes. By contrast, the primary White House structure, the Executive Mansion, is just 55,000 square feet.
