Visualizing the escalation of the US-Israeli war with Iran one week in

Saturday, Feb. 28 The United States and Israel launch strikes on Iran in the early hours of February 28. Trump announces that the United States has begun “major combat operations” in Iran, pledging to lay waste to the country’s military and obliterate its nuclear program.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is killed in an attack on his compound in the heart of Tehran, a strike that Trump said was aimed at overturning Tehran’s government. Several members of his family and other powerful Iranian officials also died in the strike.

This satellite image shows black smoke rising from Khamenei’s compound, with damage to several buildings. Source: Airbus

Tehran retaliates with attacks on multiple countries in the region, including Israel and several US allies hosting US military bases in the Gulf. Strikes hit the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Manama, Bahrain. Later in the week, Trump would tell CNN that Iran’s attacks on Arab countries are “the biggest surprise” of the war.

Note: CNN processed the satellite image to reduce the effects of clouds and haze. Source: Planet Labs, CNN analysis of satellite image

Sunday, March 1 Six US service members are killed in a direct Iranian strike on a makeshift operations center at a civilian port in Kuwait, a source familiar with the situation told CNN. Trump warns more US casualties are “expected” as the conflict continues.

Oman’s Duqm commercial port is targeted by two drones, and an oil tanker is attacked about five nautical miles off the coast of Masandam. The nation has long been a mediator between Washington and Tehran and typically stays out of the line of fire.

Monday, March 2 Satellite imagery shows three buildings at the Natanz Uranium Enrichment Plant are damaged in US-Israeli strikes. The buildings have personnel and vehicle entrances to underground facilities, according to the Institute for Science and International Studies.

Sources: Vantor, Institute for Science and International Studies

Iran and its proxies continue striking US allies in the Gulf, with the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia hit by suspected Iranian drones. The US Embassy in Kuwait is also hit in strikes on Sunday and Monday, a source told CNN.

Israel, meanwhile, is also striking Iranian-backed Hezbollah targets in Beirut after the group launched “missiles and a swarm of drones” at an Israeli army base “in revenge” for Khamenei’s death.

Tuesday, March 3 The grounds of the US consulate in Dubai are hit by a suspected Iranian drone, a source said. The US closes embassies in three countries and warns Americans to leave the region. More than 1,500 Americans are requesting assistance from the State Department to leave, Secretary of State Marco Rubio says.

The Israeli military says it struck a “covert” underground compound that it claimed Iranian scientists were using to develop “necessary capabilities” for nuclear weapons.

Israel strikes a compound belonging to a group responsible for electing Iran’s next supreme leader, an Israeli source tells CNN. Iranian state media says that the building was evacuated before the attack.

Wednesday, March 4 On Wednesday, the first confirmed US-facilitated charter flight of Americans leaves the Middle East. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says the United States will start “striking progressively deeper into Iranian territory,” and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cautioned that it’s “very early” in military operations against Tehran.

The conflict widens as Hegseth says a US submarine sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean. Sri Lanka rescues 32 people from the IRIS Dena, which the United States destroyed with a torpedo, killing more than 80 people. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warns, “The US will come to bitterly regret precedent it has set.” And NATO air defense systems shoot down an Iranian missile passing through Iraqi and Syrian airspace toward Turkey’s airspace.

Thursday, March 5 Iranian and Israeli strikes are not letting up as the war reaches its sixth day. European nations are reluctantly being drawn into the Iran conflict, sending military support to protect the interests of allies but maintaining a defensive posture amid further signs of the war spilling beyond the Middle East.

Drone attacks injure two people and damage the terminal building of an airport near the Iran-Azerbaijan border, Azerbaijani authorities said, the first strike on the country since the beginning of the conflict. Iran’s armed forces deny launching drones at Azerbaijan and suggest the incident may have been a false-flag operation by Israel.

Friday, March 6 Israel launches a “broad-scale wave of strikes” on key regime infrastructure in Tehran. CNN witnesses thick black smoke in the capital, while state media reports a busy shopping street is hit. Tehran residents tell CNN they experienced the “worst night” of airstrikes since the war began. Fresh strikes also hit Beirut, hours after Israel said it targeted Hezbollah sites overnight in the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs.