Where things stand now
• Attack on Iran: 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 strikes: Trump has indicated the military operation is aimed at overturning Tehran’s government. One strike killed scores of students in an elementary school in southern 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. The US military has reported no combat-related American casualties.
• A region on edge: The United Arab Emirates called the attacks a “historic moment” in the Middle East, saying world leaders had failed to ensure the region’s stability.
US defense secretary says Iran is "suffering the consequences" of refusing to reach a deal
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth touted US strikes on Iran in a social media post this evening, describing the attacks as “the consequences” of Iran refusing to make a deal with the US.
Hegseth — who was monitoring the strikes with President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, according to a US official — went on to say that Iran’s missile production and its navy “will be destroyed.
“And, as President Trump has said his entire life, Iran will never have a nuclear weapon,” Hegseth added.
CNN’s Haley Britzky contributed to this post.
US claims of preemptive defense "cannot legitimize" aggression, Iran tells UN Security Council
Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Amir-Saeid Iravani, on Saturday decried the joint US-Israeli strikes on the country as a “war crime” anathema to the UN founding charter.
The comments were made at an emergency meeting called by the United Nations Security Council. Notable amongst speakers were representatives from the US, Iran, and Israel, in that order.
“The baseless allegations involved to defend this unlawful use of force have no standing under international law,” Iravani said during his remarks, adding: “The invocation of preemptive attack, claims of imminent threats, or other unsubstantiated political claims, cannot legitimize aggression.”
Shortly after the initial launch of the attacks on Iran, US President Donald Trump posted a pre-recorded address to the nation in which he rationalized the operation as one “to prevent this very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests.”
Iravani concluded his comments by asserting that Iran will “continue to exercise its inherent right of self defense,” but notably left out of his speech any mentions of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reported to be dead by Trump and Israeli officials – something Iranian officials adamantly denied.
1 killed, at least 121 injured in strikes across Israel
Israel’s national emergency service says that one person was killed and 121 others injured in strikes across the country on Saturday.
Most of the injured are in “mild condition,” Magen David Adom (MDA) said in a statement issued early Sunday local time.
EMTs and paramedics “provided medical treatment and evacuated a total of 121 casualties to hospitals nationwide, including: a woman in her fifties who was killed, 2 patients in moderate condition, and 119 in mild condition,” MDA said.
An Iranian missile strike in Tel Aviv accounted for the death and roughly a quarter of those injured, including several children. Video and photographs from the scene show the wall of a building shorn off, its concrete and rebar structure exposed.
What the supreme leader's reported death means for Iran and the region
US President Donald Trump placed a huge wager by launching a massive air assault on Iran despite having done little to prepare Americans for a new Middle East war with immense risks and years of future consequences.
But the reported death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei opens up a possible scenario in which Tehran’s brutal Islamist regime is overthrown, ending decades of repression that recently saw thousands of civilians gunned down in the streets.
Khamenei’s demise would be a seismic political event in Iranian history. It would threaten the power of hardline Islamists who turned Iran into a ruthless theocratic dictatorship.
It would also add urgency to a critical question raised by Trump’s assault: Would the removal of top leaders unleash institutional reform, or set off uncontrollable political forces that would deepen repression and tear the country apart?
No one needs reminding of the treacherous possibilities of foreign wars that begin with shock-and-awe violence. Many will view Trump’s impulsive attack as a reckless, imperial error. Critics in Congress are slamming what they see as an unconstitutional war.
Iranian counterattacks against US allies underscored the potential for his bet to spiral out of control.
But while the Middle East usually destroys the preconceptions of outsiders, it’s possible history may eventually remember Trump as the savior of Iranians.
Lapid takes shelter with his dog while sirens sound in Tel Aviv
Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid was interrupted by sirens in Tel Aviv on Saturday while he was giving an interview to Reuters news agency.
He paused during the interview to say, “There is a siren. We’ll keep on doing this, now we have the necessary dramatics for the interview.” But he is quickly interrupted again by more sirens.
As Lapid and the Reuters crew headed down to the shelter, he paused to make sure his dog was with him. “Hello, Reuters. I’m just making sure that the dog is passed because we were worried about him,” he told the crew as they filmed him heading down the stairs.
Greeting his dog, Johnson, inside the shelter, Lapid said, “He’s the graduate of three wars already, even though he’s the young pup, and we’re in the shelter together. Right, Johnson?”
Meanwhile, White House says Trump plans to attend fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago tonight
Following the joint United States-Israel attack on Iran, President Donald Trump is planning to attend a fundraiser for his super PAC this evening at his Florida home.
The MAGA Inc. fundraising dinner was listed on his public schedule.
The White House called a travel and photo lid at 4:22 p.m. ET on Saturday, and Trump is not expected to make any in-person appearances before reporters.
“President Trump still intends to stop by the fundraiser being held at Mar-a-Lago this evening for the Republican Party, which is more important than ever,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters traveling with the president.
Drone strike on Abu Dhabi airport kills one, injures seven, authorities say
A drone strike at Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi killed one person and injured seven, the airport said in a statement on social media.
“The public is urged to avoid circulating rumors and to rely only on official sources. Updates will be provided.”
Earlier in the evening, as Iran retaliated for US and Israeli strikes on its territory, CNN teams in Abu Dhabi heard loud thudding sounds in the direction of the airport and saw numerous emergency vehicles parked outside the main terminal with flashers on, as well as a large crowd of people gathered on the sidewalk nearby.
Iranian Americans describe hope after the strikes in Iran
As the Middle East remains on edge following the strikes in Iran, in the United States, Americans of Iranian descent are processing the developments across in their own ways.
Dina Navid, 19, of New York, said she feels hopeful after Israeli sources say that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the strikes.
Navid, whose parents fled the current regime and migrated to the US before she was born, told CNN that she believes Iranians “have an opportunity to do a great thing,” describing this moment as a “once in a lifetime” chance to change the ruling structure that has been in place since the 1979 revolution.
Navid has visited Iran in the past and has relatives who still live there, but she said visiting the country again was not something she had considered, noting that the country’s rigidity had turned her away.
But after today’s developments, she said she sees a future where she could visit. “I just would wait a little bit,” she said. “I think with time, everything will ease down.”
Myer Levy, 30, of New York said he is hopeful for change in Iran, as well.
“I’m so happy if the Iranian Ayatollah is killed, is gone,” he told CNN.
Levy, who was born in Israel to Jewish Iranians before his family moved to New York, said he hopes for democratic rule in Iran and thinks there is more of a possibility for that now.
Trump says Iran’s supreme leader was killed. Catch up on the latest from the Middle East
News is moving fast out of the Middle East today as Iran responds to a large-scale military operation by Israel and the United States.
Here are some of the key headlines from our coverage over the past few hours:
- US President Donald Trump said Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the joint US-Israeli attack. Israeli sources have also said Khamenei was killed, though Tehran has denied this and no public proof has surfaced yet. Israel’s military has shared a list of other senior Iranian officials it says were killed.
- Trump also said today’s operation will be “uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective,” indicating that heavy bombing will continue as he advocates for regime change in Iran.
- Meanwhile, more bomb blasts and air raid sirens were heard by CNN teams in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Israel, which have each been a key focus of Iran’s retaliatory strikes against US military bases and other targets throughout the region.
- The US intelligence community previously assessed that in the event of a regime change in Iran, the hard-line Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps would likely fill any leadership void in the short term. 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.
- 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.
- A senior Trump administration official said today that they believed Iran was preparing to potentially launch preemptive missile strikes, a factor that influenced Trump’s decision to initiate military action. Trump also came to the decision after concluding that its leadership was unwilling to abandon its pursuit of nuclear enrichment, a senior administration official said today.
- Cheers and celebrations were heard in parts of Tehran Saturday night following reports of Khamenei’s death.
- Rubio is no longer traveling to Israel on Monday as the State Department had previously announced.
- Trump spoke with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Saturday, according to the White House. The White house has since called a travel and photo lid, signaling that Trump is not expected to make any in-person appearances before reporters.
Dubai airport "damaged" amid Iranian drone barrage of UAE, 4 staff injured
A concourse at Dubai International Airport (DXB) sustained “minor damage” early on Sunday.
“Four staff sustained injuries and received prompt medical attention,” Dubai Airports said in a statement to CNN.
Most of the terminals were already cleared of passengers as an earlier precautionary measure when the airports were closed on Saturday.
Social media videos verified by CNN show the interior of the airport filled with smoke as dozens of airline employees calmly evacuated the building.
Eyewitnesses have also described to CNN scenes of ambulances rushing toward the airport.
The UAE Ministry of Defense said that although it managed to intercept 195 drones that were launched at the country since the start of Iran’s attack on Saturday, 14 fell within the country’s territories “causing some collateral damage.”
Earlier on Saturday, Dubai Airports issued a statement that said “passengers must not travel to the airport and are advised to contact their airline directly for the latest flight updates.”
The airport is one of the busiest in the world and serves as a major aviation hub in the Middle East.
CNN’s Tala Alrajjal contributed reporting
Iranian state media says 108 girls killed in US-Israeli strike on school
The number of students killed in a US-Israeli strike on a girls’ school in the southern Iranian city of Minab has risen to at least 108, Iranian state media IRIB reported, citing the city’s prosector.
The local governor has declared a day of public mourning in the province on Sunday, IRIB added.
Video posted by IRIB shows at least eight body bags on the floor of a building in the aftermath of the strike.
Iranian officials say a US-Israel strike on a girls’ primary school in southern Iran killed and injured more than 150 students.
In another attack in the southern province of Lamerd, at least 18 civilians were killed in US and Israeli strikes that hit a sports complex and residential areas, the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported, citing the local governor.
A health official told IRNA most of those killed in Lamerd were children and that around 100 other people have been injured in the attacks.
Iranian American congresswoman calls for "real plan" to support democracy in Iran
Arizona Rep. Yassamin Ansari, the first Iranian American Democrat elected to Congress, warned that removing Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei alone “does not dismantle a brutal regime” and called for a “real plan” to support democracy in Iran.
“Military force alone will not secure a democratic future for the Iranian people, and it risks putting U.S. troops in further danger if there is no serious plan for what comes next,” Ansari said in a post on X Saturday. “An action of this magnitude demands strategy, clarity, and a credible path forward.
At the same time, she said Khamenei’s death is nothing to be mourned, empathizing with those who are celebrating in Iran.
“Khamenei was the epitome of evil. For decades, he oversaw the torture, imprisonment, and murder of countless Iranians who dared to demand freedom. American blood is on his hands as well. No one should mourn him and his death is a relief,” Ansari said.
Beyond military action, her argument is that Iranians need to be supported with a real plan on the path toward democracy.
“I want nothing more than a free Iran and safety and security for innocent Iranians. That requires more than force. It requires seriousness, accountability, and a real plan to support the Iranian people in determining their own future,” she added.
Ambassador Mike Waltz tells UN Security Council strikes on Iran were "lawful actions"
US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz defended American military strikes on Iran during remarks at the UN Security Council, calling them “lawful actions” and arguing that diplomacy cannot move forward without a credible partner for peace.
“The international community has long affirmed a simple and necessary principle, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. That principle is not a matter of politics, it’s a matter of global security, and to that end, the United States is taking awful actions this month,” Waltz said.
He described what the Pentagon called “Operation Epic Fury” as narrowly focused on military targets and framed the strikes as part of a broader effort to counter Iranian aggression and prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“Operation Epic Fury is directed towards specific and strategic objectives, to dismantle missile capabilities that threaten allies, to degrade naval assets used to destabilize international waters and to disrupt the machinery that arms proxy militias and to ensure the Iranian regime never, ever can threaten the world with a nuclear weapon,” he added.
“Diplomacy cannot succeed where there is no genuine willingness to cease aggression, where there is no genuine partner for peace,” Waltz said.
Waltz is the first US official other than President Donald Trump to speak publicly following the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
These are the Iranian sites that US and Israel attacked
US and Israeli strikes targeted several cities inside Iran, largely in the center and northwest of the country, according to Iranian state-run media.
More notably, the strikes also targeted the Iranian supreme leader’s compound, known as the beyt-e rahbari. More than a building, it is the nerve center of Iran’s theocratic regime. The attack on the compound carries enormous symbolic weight. It’s a deliberate signal aimed at the very heart of the Islamic Republic’s power structure.
Rubio no longer traveling to Israel on Monday
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is no longer traveling to Israel on Monday as the State Department had previously announced.
“Due to current circumstances, Secretary Rubio will no longer travel to Israel on March 2,” Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs Dylan Johnson said on X.
Rubio has spent Saturday with President Donald Trump monitoring the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, which Trump said would continue “uninterrupted throughout the week.”
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told embassy staff in an email on Friday that if they want to leave the country amid the possibility of a strike on Iran they “should do so TODAY,” according to a source familiar with the message.
Americans offer mixed reaction to US strikes on Iran
Protesters gathered near the White House today to condemn US strikes on Iran and stress that they do not want the country to enter a new war.
Fatemeh, an Iranian American woman who brought along her three children and mother, said the strikes are not “something that the American people want.”
“As an American-born Iranian, I am grieving right now for the children that were bombed by Israeli and American forces in Iran,” Fatemeh, who did not want to share her last name, told CNN. Iranian officials said dozens of students were killed in a strike a girls’ school.
The Washington, DC, protest featured neon green signs that said “Stop the war on Iran!” and “No new US war in the Middle East,” along with Palestinian flags and a massive banner displaying the Constitution’s preamble.
Gustave Kerndt, a student from American University, told CNN he is calling for “a peaceful solution.” Kerndt said the “indiscriminate bombing” while the Trump administration was engaged in peace talks with Iran is not the way the US “should be conducting diplomacy.”
A similar protest took place in New York City, where demonstrators chanted, “We reject his fascist plan, no war with Iran.” Attendees held signs and banners that said “Stop the War in Iran,” “Trump must Go” and other anti-war messages.
Meanwhile in Los Angeles, Mike Kazerouni, an Iranian-born attorney, was excited about the strikes, and told CNN the Iranian people are ready for regime change.
CNN’s Mounira Elsamra, David Williams, Julia Vargas Jones and Sophia Peyser contributed to this post.
The attention will now be on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, expert says
As US President Donald Trump and Israeli sources say Iran’s supreme leader was killed in strikes on Saturday, attention turns to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the elite wing of the Iranian military, according to national security expert Joe Cirincione.
He explains why:
What to know about the IRGC: It is the most powerful branch of Iran’s military, independent of the regular army and accountable only to the supreme leader. Made up of between 150,000 and 190,000 troops, it has an army, navy, air force and intelligence wing, and has also become enmeshed throughout Iran’s civilian economy. Khamenei has turned repeatedly to the IRGC to restore order during political crises, making the group indispensable for the survival of his regime.
One killed and more than 20 injuries from missile strike near Tel Aviv, Israeli authorities say
One person has died and more than 20 people were injured from a missile that hit the Tel Aviv area, according to Israel’s emergency response service.
Paramedics and EMTs “pronounced the death of a woman approximately 40 years old who sustained severe bodily injuries,” Magen David Adom (MDA) said in a statement.
Another person was severely injured, MDA said in an earlier statement. Three others were moderately injured and 16 suffered mild injuries.
According to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, three of the injured brought to the medical facility for treatment are children.
This post has been updated with new reporting.
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 Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is dead following a barrage of joint US-Israeli strikes on the nation.
The president celebrated Khamenei’s killing in a Truth Social post, calling him “one of the most evil people in History.”
“This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS,” Trump wrote, adding that other regime leaders were killed as well.
The announcement came after Israeli sources concluded earlier on Saturday that Khamenei and other senior Iranian officials were dead, though no public proof has surfaced yet. In his post, Trump again urged Iranians to overthrow the current regime, calling it the “single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country.”
The Saturday attack came after Trump officials concluded that negotiations with Iranian leaders had stalled and that they were not likely to agree to the United States’ demands to abandon what the US claimed were efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon.
Trump has not offered a specific timeline for the war or laid out longer-range plans for stabilizing and rebuilding the country. But in his Truth Social post, he indicated that strikes could continue for several days.
“The heavy and pinpoint bombing, however, will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!” he wrote.
