The war in Iran so far, moment by moment

The first indications that a military operation was likely imminent began to emerge hours before the first bombs dropped. I started to get a strong sense of what was coming by late afternoon on February 27, as multiple sources described an array of unusual activity across the US government that all pointed to a looming military operation.

At about 2 a.m. local time in DC, a well-placed source said I should make my way into work. For weeks, our team had been reporting on the internal deliberations inside the Trump administration over whether to launch a large military operation targeting Iran. Now it was clear the moment had arrived.

Ultimately, the initial details of the joint US-Israeli strikes on Tehran and other Iranian areas came from President Donald Trump himself:

As the hours passed on this first day, CNN and other outlets would go on to report that the first salvo of strikes had killed Iran’s supreme leader and dozens of other senior Iranian officials, including the country’s defense minister and the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Like millions across Israel, I awoke to the sound of sirens. It was about 8:15 a.m. local time and Israel’s Home Front Command was blasting a warning to residents, urging them to move near bomb shelters and prepare for incoming Iranian missile fire.

Israel had launched what it described as “preemptive” strikes against Iran, an action I would soon learn was taken alongside the US. Iranian retaliation would be swift and fierce. The whole region was about to be at war.

As much as the attack came without warning, the writing had been on the wall. Just six hours earlier, I was live on CNN pointing to “a number of indicators pointing to the potential, at least, for imminent US strikes on Iran.” The largest US military buildup since the Iraq War appeared to be complete, the US ambassador to Israel had warned embassy personnel on Friday that those wishing to leave the country “should do so TODAY.”

The US official who confirmed to me that this was a joint US-Israeli operation told me this was “not a small strike,” making clear the option of a targeted, precision strike had been discarded. An Israeli source described the strikes to me as “huge.”

Within hours, the first Iranian ballistic missiles would be fired at Israel. And that night, my team and I rushed to the scene of the first direct impact. The missile had struck a central Tel Aviv neighborhood. At least 20 people were injured and one woman would later succumb to those injuries – the first confirmed fatality of the war in Israel.

On the first day of the Iran war, an elementary school in southern Iran was hit, killing at least 168 children and 14 teachers, according to Iranian state media. Horrifying images emerged showing rows of body bags lined up, and a mass grave dug for the young victims.

Iran’s internet blackout made it difficult to obtain images and footage from the ground, but information slowly trickled out. CNN’s team of investigators poured over every piece of evidence that could give clues as to who was responsible and assessed that it was the US that had likely hit the school.

Satellite imagery, geolocated videos, public statements from US officials and the assessment of munitions experts all suggested that the school was hit around the same time as an attack that US forces likely carried out on a neighboring Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval base.

That base and the school were once part of the same compound, as shown by satellite imagery from 2013. Images from 2016 revealed that a fence had been erected to separate the school from the rest of the base, and that a separate entrance had been built. Imagery from December 2025 showed dozens of people in the school’s courtyard, apparently playing in what appeared to be a court for ballgames.

Experts believed the scale of the damage suggested the use of air-delivered precision-guided munitions, and that the school could have been inadvertently struck due to outdated information about the nearby naval base.

Trump initially asserted that Iran might be to blame for the strike. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that an investigation had been launched but stressed that the US does not target civilians.

I woke up to news from a source that US troops had been struck and several were believed to have been killed. Learning that kind of news never gets easier. Your stomach just sinks knowing families and friends somewhere out there are about to experience the worst day of their lives.

This would also be the first instance of US forces killed in the war with Iran, just days after it began. I flagged the news to our team who immediately started working to confirm. It’s a sensitive situation to report on – not just for the families who may not have learned yet, and shouldn’t learn from a headline, but for the troops still on the ground.

We published the news that US troops had been killed after it was officially announced by the military, and I then reported the details I’d learned about the drone strike through a source familiar with the situation. It was a direct Iranian strike on a makeshift operations center at a civilian port in Kuwait on Sunday morning local time. The attack came quickly and with no warning or sirens to alert troops to evacuate or get into a bunker, the source said. We would come to learn that six service members lost their lives that day.

All weekend we were waiting for what we knew would happen: Oil prices were about to surge on the fear that Iran could retaliate against the US and Israel's attack by closing off the Strait of Hormuz. Futures markets are closed on the weekends, and the Saturday morning attack left us with a nail-biting 36 hours of speculation. Then it happened: At 6 p.m. ET on Sunday, US futures markets started trading, and oil was close to $80 a barrel for the first time in over a year.

It was a sizeable albeit more muted gain than many analysts spent the weekend predicting. But it signaled the turbulence to come as oil eventually spiked to above $100 a barrel by April, leading to a steady rise in US gasoline prices and kicking off concerns of wider inflation to come.

In the middle of night, we suddenly heard very loud explosions that shook our hotel. As we got to the roof, we saw massive plumes of black smoke to the East, South and West of the city. Fires seemed to be pulsating at the base of where the black smoke came from. An eerie sight and we soon found out that Israel had bombed three oil storage facilities around Tehran.

In the morning, it was raining and I noticed that the rainwater was blackened with what seemed to be soot from the burning oil facilities. The sky itself was a very dark grey, almost blacked out like during a solar eclipse. Inhaling the air, my lungs felt heavy and I started to get a headache. We asked for permission to visit an oil depot that had been hit and, to our surprise, the authorities granted us access.

That evening, Iranian state media reported that the Islamic Republic’s Guardian Council - a body made up of senior clerics - had elected a new Supreme Leader. Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the second eldest son of the slain former leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was announced as the Islamic Republic’s third Supreme Leader shortly thereafter.

After a second weekend of war, reality set in for the oil market: The conflict wasn't coming to an end anytime soon. Iran had threatened to blow up any oil tanker sailing through the Strait of Hormuz, choking off 20% of the world's oil supply, creating the world's largest oil supply shock in history, the International Energy Agency had said. When futures trading resumed that Sunday evening, oil rocketed higher, nearing $120 a barrel, before settling just below $100 on Monday afternoon. Hundreds of ships have waited on either side of the narrow chokepoint throughout the conflict.

By March 11, with no solution in sight, the US and 31 other nations smashed the glass and began releasing into the market a record 400 million barrels of emergency oil sitting in reserve. The idea was to saturate the market in crude and counteract skyrocketing energy prices. America contributed the bulk of the oil commitment, enacting a surprise policy that mirrored what former President Joe Biden's administration had done in 2022 when gas prices surged after Russia attacked Ukraine.

Trump had been critical of that action and pledged to fill the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve — an action he never took, making the giant oil release all the more shocking. It showed how seriously the administration feared rising gas prices, and it paired with other surprise actions, including de-sanctioning hundreds of millions of barrels of Russian and Iranian crude.

The war began with a stunning salvo of strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader and dozens of other senior Iranian officials, including the country’s defense minister and the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. Now, a few weeks later, with the targeted killing of Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani, Israel yet again proved its remarkable ability to locate, target and kill senior Iranian officials.

Despite his history of violently repressing anti-regime protests earlier this year – Larijani was viewed as a relatively pragmatic figure within the Iranian regime and someone with the heft to act as a counterweight to its most hardline figures. He was someone the US might’ve eventually wanted to negotiate with to end this war.

For all of its tactical success, Larijani’s killing triggered questions about whether Israel’s assassination campaign wasn’t ultimately empowering the most hardline elements of the Iranian regime. Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei is viewed as more hardline than his father and closely associated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps – and many Iran analysts say he likely would not have been selected to that position had his father not been killed in wartime.

Days into the war, President Trump had already acknowledged that “most of the people we had in mind (to run Iran) are dead.”

“Now we have another group, they may be dead also, based on reports. So I guess you have a third wave coming,” Trump said. “Pretty soon we’re not going to know anybody.”

I was in the office early when CNN learned about claims that Iran had shot down a US fighter jet. I remember initially being skeptical. Iran had claimed routinely to have shot down US fighter jets. And Kuwait had recently shot three down accidentally, according to the US military.

There’s often confusion and missing details when it comes to war and reports of what’s happening on the battlefield. This time, though, there were photos floating around online, and questions about a pilot ejecting.

We eventually learned the jet was an F-15, and that two US airmen were involved. We knew that it was a race against the clock for the US military to find these airmen. The pilot was found quickly, but the weapon systems officer wasn’t immediately located. What we know now: The Air Force colonel worked for a day to evade capture, scaling rugged terrain to a ridgeline 7,000 feet above sea level, equipped with little more than a pistol, a communication device and a tracking beacon. The next day, a team of American commandos, accompanied by US aircraft dropping bombs to clear the area, headed into the high mountains to locate the officer, eventually finding him and bringing him to safety.

My colleague Jim Sciutto breaks down the dramatic rescue:

As Vice President JD Vance took off from Joint Base Andrews aboard Air Force Two that Friday morning, a drama was playing out thousands of miles away in Tehran: Iran’s top negotiator, Parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and his delegation refused to board their aircraft. The Iranians wanted to make sure Vance was actually on his way before they left for the venue in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad. But several hours after Vance was airborne, Ghalibaf and the Iranians were still on the tarmac in Tehran. They wanted a Lebanon ceasefire locked in before they’d commit. Last minute Pakistani diplomacy prevailed, and Ghalibaf was greeted off his plane in Islamabad a little after midnight.

Vance followed about 10 hours later, met by Pakistan’s most powerful man, Field Marshal Asim Munir, Pakistan Army Chief of Staff. Vance’s first formal meeting came in the early afternoon with Pakistan’s prime minister, kicking off hours of talks, most of which were face to face with the Iranians.

Iran came to the talks lacking trust in the Americans and loaded with issues to address. A little after 6 a.m., following all-night negotiations, a slightly shell-shocked looking Vance walked in front of the awaiting cameras to announce there was no agreement. “Bad news for Iran” he said, which had not done enough to convince the US “they will not seek a nuclear weapon.“

Four questions, and four tight answers later he was turning for the door, having said, “We leave here with a very simple proposal, a method of understanding that is our final and best offer. We'll see if the Iranians accept it.”

In his wake there was extreme surprise, Pakistani mediators had praised Vance’s positive attitude to the talks and were surprised he left, relatively — to diplomatic norms — quickly without being able to land a deal.

The Iranians later criticized Vance’s team for moving the goal posts after some parts of the deal had been agreed upon.

The implications of many of Trump's Truth Social messages aren't immediately apparent, but the one he posted Sunday morning, April 12, was a head-scratcher: He announced the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz — the crucial waterway that he has repeatedly told Iran must be reopened unconditionally.

Why would Trump want to blockade the strait that he wants reopened?

By closing off the strait, Trump aimed to cut off the world's access to Iranian oil — a key source of financing for Iran’s government and military operations. Even as Iran had closed the strait to most traffic, the country had been allowing its own oil to pass in and out of the region throughout the war (mostly to China). Actually, Iran had produced more oil during the war than before it started.

Blockading the strait was a bold move — a lever the administration had been unwilling to pull, because Iranian oil was at least keeping some oil flowing around the world. That had put a cap on oil prices. The blockade threatened to raise oil prices even higher, and it potentially required the US Navy to intervene against ships that tried to pass through, raising the risk of a reignited military conflict with Iran.

I arrived early in the morning at Rome’s Fiumicino airport to board the papal plane.

Just hours earlier, President Trump had launched his extraordinary broadside against the pope due to Leo’s stance against the Iran war. It now meant that Pope Leo wasn’t just departing for an 11-day, four country visit to Africa, but also flying into a political storm.

The custom on papal trips is for the pope to come to the back of the plane — known as “Shepherd One” — soon after take-off and greet the journalists travelling with him.

Usually this is an informal moment, a chance to exchange a few words and say hello, but this time was different. As Leo circulated the plane, reporters asked him about Trump’s remarks. I was with one group who asked for his reaction. The pope struck me as unfazed, insisting he would continue to talk about his messages of peace and the mission of the church. He insisted he wasn’t afraid of the Trump administration and even remarked to one reporter that the title of the president’s social media platform, “Truth Social”, was “ironic.”

Through the first months of his pontificate, Leo became known for his reserved, and low-key style. But the war in Iran has revealed an inner steel and determination. The day he departed for Africa is likely to go down as the moment the world started to sit up and pay attention to Leo’s leadership. Yet seeing the pope up close, it strikes me that in almost all his interactions he doesn’t seek the spotlight, even though it’s been thrust upon him. The pope later said he does not seek to “debate” Trump, but he has not backed down in calling for peace. Leo, you could say, is the lion who knows when to roar.

Shortly after midnight, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi touched down amidst the roar of two Pakistani fighter jets sent to escort him into Islamabad’s Nur Khan air base. There was a sense of urgency as the country’s powerful Field Marshal Asim Munir greeted him.

Along with Pakistan’s interior and foreign ministers, they strode down the red carpet, then were swept away in waiting limousines for meetings at the nearby military headquarters

Four hours later as the sky shaded from black to blue, they emerged from ‘Army House’, their talks wrapped. It was a little after 8:30 p.m. ET.

President Trump had put his diplomatic duo Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on standby to fly 17 hours to Islamabad to meet the Iranians, even though the Iranians said they didn’t trust the pair and preferred Vice President JD Vance, whom they’d met at failed talks two weeks previously.

Even before he touched down in Islamabad, Araghchi made clear he wasn’t coming to meet the Americans. But, if by some stretch of the improbable a second round of face-to-face talks could get traction, rumors were rife that Trump himself might come to the signing ceremony.

The Islamabad city center was already on lockdown and much of the advance US security and logistics for a presidential visit was in place.

Late afternoon Saturday local time, after a few hours of sleep at the heavily fortified Marriott Hotel, Araghchi went into a meeting with Pakistan’s prime minister.

After two hours, they were done. Araghchi sped back to Nur Khan airbase, on his way to board a Pakistani plane to fly to meetings in Oman and then back to Islamabad.

His flight would take him over the US Navy, and he didn’t trust them not to shoot down his Iranian plane.

Araghchi had barely taken off when Trump’s announcement came — he was pulling the Witkoff/ Kushner visit.

On Sunday, President Trump’s surprise announcement flashed across my phone: The United States was going to “guide” ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

The effort, which the president dubbed Project Freedom and described as a “humanitarian” mission, was devoid of details. I immediately began making calls — what did this mean? Was the US going to provide military escorts through the strait — something Trump once promised but never came to fruition? US officials quickly attempted to clarify that this would not be an escort mission.

For the next two days, Trump’s top officials touted the operation. The White House announced Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be giving a rare press briefing to reporters on Tuesday about the state of play.

An animated Rubio went as far as to tell reporters definitively that the combat mission, Epic Fury, in Iran was over — and that Project Freedom was the new phase. But almost as quickly as it came, it was gone.

Hours after Rubio’s proclamation, another Truth Social from Trump flashed across my phone — Project Freedom was being put on hold, after only two ships had made it through the strait. The president was once again dangling the prospect of a peace deal with Iran in the near future, as gasoline prices around the country spiked to their highest point in years.

A senior White House official insisted to me that the president understood the need to extricate the US from this fight. But while Americans are left wondering when this war could be over, the president called reporters into the Oval Office on Wednesday to show new renderings of the planned UFC fight on the White House lawn. When asked, Trump announced there was no deadline for Iran to accept the latest US proposal.