Where things stand now
• JUST IN: President Donald Trump says Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in today’s massive US and Israeli attack, which Trump said will continue with heavy bombing throughout the week. Iran has claimed its leaders are “safe and sound.”
• About the attack: Trump has indicated the military operation is aimed at overturning Tehran’s government. More than 200 people have been killed in Iran, according to state media.
• Unprecedented retaliation: Iran unleashed strikes on US military bases, Israel and other targets across the Middle East, rocking densely populated areas and disrupting air travel and oil shipments.
• Latest from the US: The military has reported no combat-related American casualties. FBI counterterrorism teams are on high alert, and the State Department advised US citizens around the world to “exercise increased caution.”
• A region on edge: The United Arab Emirates called the conflict a “historic moment” in the Middle East, saying world leaders had failed to ensure the region’s stability.
Israel has confirmed Iran’s supreme leader killed in strikes, Israeli sources say
Israel has confirmed that Iran’s supreme leader was killed in strikes on Saturday, according to two Israeli sources familiar with the matter.
One of the sources said Israel had obtained a photo of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s dead body. The second source said an official announcement is being prepared.
Israel has not shared evidence of Khamenei’s death.
Earlier in the evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there are many signs that Khamenei is “no longer with us.”
Meanwhile, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Iran’s president and Supreme Leader are “safe and sound.” But Khamenei has not been seen in public or in videos since the strikes began.
White House calls press lid, meaning Trump isn't expected to appear before reporters today
The White House called a travel and photo lid at 4:22 p.m. ET on Saturday, signaling that President Donald Trump is not expected to make any in-person appearances before reporters at all today.
The press pool has not seen Trump in person since Friday, ahead of his early morning video announcement revealing US military strikes on Iran.
While a lid typically indicates no further public events, the president usually communicates through posts on Truth Social regardless of a lid. Trump has also been holding phone conversations with members of the media as developments unfold Saturday.
Trump: Iran's supreme leader is dead
President Donald Trump said Saturday that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is dead following joint US-Israeli strikes, calling it “not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans.”
“This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country,” he wrote in a Truth Social Post.
Trump added that “heavy and pinpoint bombing” of the nation would continue throughout the week or “as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD.”
Kuwait cancels Ramadan nightly prayers following Iran’s retaliatory strikes
Kuwait has canceled Taraweeh prayers, voluntary nightly prayers performed every night of Ramadan in congregation, until further notice following Iran’s retaliatory strikes on Saturday.
The Kuwaiti Ministry of Islamic Affairs in a statement announced the cancellation of Taraweeh prayers “in all mosques and keeping it only to the five daily prayers until further notice in light of the latest developments in the country.”
In the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, worshippers gathered in mosques Saturday night.
Video by national broadcaster Emarat TV shows at least hundreds of worshippers gathered at Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque for the nightly prayers.
Social media videos also show the Taraweeh prayers in mosques across Jordan.
In pictures: Blasts rock the Middle East throughout the day
The US and Israel launched a massive attack against Iran on Saturday, prompting an unprecedented wave of retaliatory strikes on US military bases, Israel and targets in other countries across the Middle East.
See more photos from around the region today in our gallery.
Israeli military publishes list of senior Iranian leaders it says were killed in strikes
The Israeli military has published a list of senior Iranian officials it says were killed in Saturday’s airstrikes.
The list includes:
- Aziz Nasirzadeh, the country’s defense minister
- Ali Shamkhani, the head of the Iranian Security Council
- Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
- Saleh Asadi, an intelligence official
- Hossein Jabal Amelian and Reza Mozaffari-Nia, research officials
- Mohammed Shirazi, longtime defense liason.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi earlier told NBC that, as far as he knew, all of Iran’s senior leadership were safe. Meanwhile, Israeli sources have told CNN that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in a strike. Israel, however, has not shared evidence of Khamenei’s death.
White House says Trump “just spoke" with leaders of UK, Kuwait and Turkey
President Donald Trump spoke with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan following his Saturday announcement that the United States begun “major combat operations” in Iran, according to the White House.
“President Trump just spoke with the leaders of the UK, Kuwait, and Turkey,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote in a post on X Saturday afternoon.
Cheers and celebrations heard in Tehran following reports of Khamenei’s death
Cheers and celebrations were heard in parts of Tehran Saturday night following reports of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s death.
In one video obtained by CNN from an eyewitness in Tehran, the voices of two women can be heard chanting “Death to the Islamic Republic” and “Long Live the Shah” in Farsi, before cheers and whistles erupt.
In a similar video, cheers are heard echoing across a residential neighborhood in the city.
Israel has confirmed that Iran’s supreme leader was killed in strikes on Saturday, according to two Israeli sources familiar with the matter.
Earlier, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Iran’s president and supreme leader are “safe and sound.”
CNN Investigates: US-Israel strike targeted the very heart of Iran's power structure
CNN's visual investigations team assessed the strategic significance of the targets hit, the emerging civilian toll and Iran’s swift retaliation
Satellite images from Airbus show black smoke rising from the compound of Iran’s supreme leader in the capital Tehran on Saturday. Damage seen in the image appears to show that several buildings in the compound were hit by strikes, after the US and Israel launched joint attacks.
It’s unclear if Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was in the compound at the time. Israeli sources have told CNN the supreme leader was killed in today’s US-Israeli attack, though Tehran has claimed both Khamenei and the Iranian president are safe.
CNN confirmed the location of the strikes on the compound by comparing it to several other videos of strikes in this area of Tehran and triangulating them.
Broader context: The supreme leader’s compound, known as the beyt-e rahbari, has for years stood as the seat of the ayatollah’s decadeslong grip on power. More than a building, it is the nerve center of Iran’s theocratic regime.
It’s where Khamenei has issued his stern pronouncements on all matters domestic and international, often using the pulpit to rail against Iran’s Western enemies and the United States in particular.
For millions of Iranians, the compound was the physical embodiment of a regime that has steadily lost the support of many of those it claims to rule over. A population ground down not only by decades of international sanctions but also by years of economic mismanagement, systemic corruption, and the brutal suppression of dissent.
Incoming missile hits Tel Aviv area as Israel launches barrage of interceptors
An incoming missile impacted in the Tel Aviv area on Saturday night, CNN teams observed, as Israel launched a barrage of interceptors.
Within a span of several minutes, CNN teams observed Israel launch a large number of interceptors against what appeared to be the largest wave of incoming Iranian missiles so far.
At least one of the missiles appeared to pierce Israel’s aerial defense array and hit the Tel Aviv area, setting off a large explosion and sending a large dark cloud into the sky.
Rubio will hold a call with G7 counterparts on Saturday
Secretary of State Marco Rubio will hold a call with his counterparts from G7 countries on Saturday to discuss the situation in Iran, a State Department official told CNN.
The G7 is comprised of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, along with the European Union.
The call between the top US diplomat and the G7 foreign ministers comes amid fears of wider escalation following US and Israeli strikes on Iran Saturday, and retaliatory strikes on countries throughout the Gulf region where the US has bases.
Israel has confirmed Iran’s supreme leader killed in strikes, Israeli sources say
Israel has confirmed that Iran’s supreme leader was killed in strikes on Saturday, according to two Israeli sources familiar with the matter.
One of the sources said Israel had obtained a photo of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s dead body. The second source said an official announcement is being prepared.
Israel has not shared evidence of Khamenei’s death.
Earlier in the evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there are many signs that Khamenei is “no longer with us.”
Meanwhile, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Iran’s president and Supreme Leader are “safe and sound.” But Khamenei has not been seen in public or in videos since the strikes began.
Trump says "a large amount" of Iranian leadership killed during strikes
President Donald Trump said “a large amount” of Iranian leadership were killed during strikes, telling NBC News, “The people that make all the decisions, most of them are gone.”
Trump also suggested that the US believes reports citing Israeli officials that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is dead. “We feel that that is a correct story,” he told NBC in the phone interview.
In additional comments to an ABC News reporter, Trump said, “I don’t want to say anything definitively until I see things but we believe he is. And much of their leaders are gone. Not only from the one site but two other sites we that we attacked also. We had great intelligence and so we think much of leadership is gone.”
While Trump said he didn’t know who might replace Khamenei, he told NBC that unnamed people may soon be calling him to weigh in on a successor.
“At some point they’ll be calling me to ask who I’d like,” Trump said, without specifying who. “I’m only being a little sarcastic when I say that.”
Also in the NBC phone call, Trump deemed the strikes a “success.”
“We’ve inflicted tremendous damage. It would take them years to rebuild,” he said.
Blasts and sirens heard in Doha, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv
CNN teams in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Israel are hearing bomb blasts and air raid sirens from the network’s bureaus.
One producer from CNN’s bureau in Tel Aviv shared video of a projectile making landfall amid warning sirens.
CNN teams in the United Arab Emirates heard explosions. In Dubai, journalists heard “several loud blasts,” and in Abu Dhabi, reporters heard blasts, as well.
Likewise, in Doha, Qatar, CNN staff saw missiles illuminating the night sky and shared video where distant explosions are clearly audible.
This has been updated with additional information.
Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait shifting to remote learning following Iran’s retaliatory strikes
The three Gulf nations of Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait are shifting to remote learning starting Sunday until further notice following Iran’s retaliatory strikes on Saturday.
“Due to the circumstances the country is going through, and based on national responsibility and the Ministry of Education’s concern for the safety of our students and all members of the educational system, it has been decided to switch to distance learning and suspend in-person work at schools for tomorrow, Sunday, March 1, 2026, at all educational levels,” the Kuwaiti Ministry of Education said in a statement.
Qatar and Bahrain’s education ministries issued similar statements, saying the move to remote learning applies to elementary, public and private schools as well as universities.
White House releases photos of Trump and national security team monitoring Iran strikes
The White House released photos of President Donald Trump and his national security team monitoring Iran strikes while in Palm Beach, at the president’s private club Mar-a-Lago.
Black curtains drape the room and Trump sits along side White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA director John Ratcliffe. Trump’s deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino is also seated in the room.
Several phones are in the middle of the table and a poster board behind Trump shows a map of the region with “Operation Epic Fury” written in the bottom right corner.
In additional photos shared by the White House, Trump’s top general Dan Caine is shown pointing at maps. Vice President JD Vance is also pictured in the Situation Room at the White House, where he dialed into a conference line with Trump and the rest of the national security team. CNN previously reported that Vance was in the Situation Room overnight alongside Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
US had indicators Iran planned preemptive strike before Trump ordered action, senior officials claim
A senior administration official said today that they believed Iran was preparing to potentially launch preemptive missile strikes, a factor that influenced President Donald Trump’s decision to initiate military action.
“We had indicators that they intended to use it potentially, preemptively, but if not, if not simultaneous, against with any actions against them, immediately against us,” the senior administration official added. “And the president decided he was not going to sit back and allow America’s forces in the region to absorb attacks from conventional missiles.”
“We are not going to be held hostage by them, and we are not going to let them hit us first, because it would have substantially increased the risk to our troops in the region and to our allies,” the official added.
However, a source familiar with the intelligence contradicted that assertion to CNN, saying that there were no indications that the Iranians planned to strike US forces or assets first — unless they were attacked by Israel or the US.
In his first public remarks following Saturday’s US military strikes, the US president said in a video posted to social media that Iran has been developing missiles that “could soon reach the American homeland,” and made a similar argument earlier this week in his State of the Union address.
But sources told CNN that US intelligence does not support the claim that Iran is close to fielding missiles capable of striking the United States.
IRGC likely to fill any leadership void in short term, US officials previously assessed
The US intelligence community previously assessed that in the event of a regime change operation in Iran that deposed the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the hard-line Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps would likely fill any leadership void in the short term, CNN has reported.
But intelligence has not been definitive on the issue, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers in January that “no one knows” who would take over if the regime falls.
The IRGC “is definitely prominent and functions above the standard military bureaucracy, but it is hard to predict exactly what would happen in a regime collapse scenario,” said one source familiar with recent US intelligence reporting on the matter.
The US has also lacked clear insight into the IRGC’s hierarchy following the US assassination of Iran’s most powerful military commander, Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, during Trump’s first term.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in today’s massive US and Israeli strikes on Iran, according to Israeli sources. The news comes shortly after Iran claimed its leaders were “safe and sound.”
Iran's weakened proxies condemn US-Israeli strikes without carrying out retaliatory attacks
Iran’s network of proxy groups across the Middle East issued stern condemnations of the US-Israeli strikes on their sponsor.
However, the groups have not yet declared their participation in retaliatory strikes.
The proxy groups had previously been quick to come to the defense of Iran, but each group has faced varying levels of diminishment in recent years.
Hezbollah, once a fearsome force in southern Lebanon that has seen its capabilities considerably degraded in waves of Israeli strikes, called on other countries to oppose the attacks.
“We are confident that the American and Israeli enemy will receive a great slap and will reap nothing but failure from its tyrannical, criminal aggression,” the group said in a statement.
In televised remarks, Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi said that his forces are “in a state of high readiness for any necessary developments.”
Al-Houthi also sought to assure other Middle Eastern countries that faced retaliatory attacks from Iran that the strikes are Iran’s “legitimate right and is not a targeting of the countries in which the American bases are located.”
Hamas, which has accrued massive losses in Israel’s war in Gaza and faces disarmament, issued a statement calling for unity among Muslims, condemning the attacks, and reaffirming its solidarity with Iran.
Holy sites in Jerusalem closed to worshippers, Israeli police say
Holy sites in Jerusalem are closed to worshippers as a safety measure, Israeli police said in a statement Saturday.
As the holiest city in Judaism and Christianity, and the third-holiest in Islam, the ban includes many important sites.
A 24-hour webcam aimed at the Western Wall shows its plaza completely deserted as of 9:30 p.m. local time. Likewise, the ban precludes any gatherings at the adjacent Al-Aqsa Mosque, shuttering the holiest site for Muslims in city in the midst of Ramadan.
Trump attacked Iran after negotiations devolved into "games, tricks, stall tastics," senior official says
President Donald Trump decided to strike Iran after concluding that its leadership was unwilling to abandon its pursuit of nuclear enrichment, a senior administration official said today.
“It was clear that the intent for them was to preserve their ability to do enrichment so that, over time, they could use it for a nuclear bomb,” the official told reporters. “We could have made another short-term, bad deal, but it wouldn’t have dealt with the long-term issue.”
Trump had dispatched Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as envoys for negotiations with Iran in the weeks leading up to today’s early-morning strikes. But the talks stalled, with the president saying repeatedly on Friday that he was “not happy” with their trajectory.
The administration had offered Iranian leaders options for developing what the senior official called a “peaceful nuclear program,” including “free nuclear fuel forever.” But they said Iran declined, saying they “needed to enrich uranium.”
“We offered them many, many ways to do that,” the senior official said. “But instead, that was met with games, tricks, stall tactics, and that was really the conclusion that we came back with.”
