{"id":202171,"date":"2026-03-03T00:18:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T00:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/live-updates-iran-conflict-continues-3-us-fighter-jets-crash-in-kuwait-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T00:18:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T00:18:15","slug":"live-updates-iran-conflict-continues-3-us-fighter-jets-crash-in-kuwait-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/live-updates-iran-conflict-continues-3-us-fighter-jets-crash-in-kuwait-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Live updates: Iran conflict continues; 3 US fighter jets crash in Kuwait – USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Six U.S. service members have been killed in the United States’ war with Iran, the U.S. military said, as its joint airstrikes with Israel expand and Secretary of State Marco Rubio promised Washington that the Trump administration\u2019s attacks on Iran are going to plan.\u00a0
“The bottom line is, no matter who governs this country, a year from now,” said Rubio, acknowledging Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who was killed in joint U.S.-Israeli airstrikes, “they’re not going to have these ballistic missiles and these drones to threaten us.”
U.S. and Israeli military forces began striking Iran<\/a> Feb. 28 in a campaign that killed Khamenei, dozens of top officials and hit more than 1,250 targets inside the country. Iran has retaliated with strikes against U.S. military bases, Israel and other nations in the Middle East. State Department officials are urging U.S. citizens to leave the region.\u00a0
President Donald Trump<\/a> said the strikes were intended to eliminate “imminent threats” from Iran and prevent the country from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and the attack could continue for weeks.\u00a0
Democrats have questioned whether Iran posed an imminent threat<\/a> and are seeking a congressional vote on the operation amid concerns it could spiral into an extended regional war.
Follow along with USA TODAY’s live coverage.<\/em>
Zachary Schermele
Sen. Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told USA TODAY after meeting about the war with the so-called “Gang of Eight” that top Trump administration officials, including the Pentagon chief, have still presented no evidence of an imminent threat to the U.S. to justify the weekend strikes.
Though he acknowledged that the White House did a better job of communicating with Congress than in other recent military actions, he pushed back on Secretary Rubio’s assertion that the administration fully complied with laws about war powers.
“I thought their notification was much better,” he said, but “there was no imminent threat to the United States… And now we have soldiers killed.”
Michael Loria
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, described the Trump administration\u2019s move to strike Iran as defensive, given Israel\u2019s determination to bomb the country.
“If Israel fired upon Iran, took action against Iran to take out the missiles, then they would have immediately retaliated against U.S. personnel and assets,” Johnson said. “If we had waited for all those eventualities to take place, the consequences of inaction on our part could have been devastating.”
Johnson\u2019s comments to reporters in Washington come shortly after Rubio voiced a similar sentiment, defending the attacks by U.S. military.
Francesca Chambers
The United Kingdom received a detailed written request from the United States after it had already begun its Feb. 28 strikes on Iran to use its bases to repel Iranian drone attacks, a senior British official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said on Monday. The UK granted the request within 24 hours, the person said.
This allows the U.S. to use Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford, which are about half the distance to Iran, compared to the continental United States, the official added, as the close American ally pushed back on criticism from Trump over its role in the conflict with Iran.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer publicly defended a decision on Monday not to join offensive strikes, but said in remarks to parliament that the UK would help to counter Iranian missiles and defend allies from attacks.
The comments came after Trump criticized Starmer’s government<\/a> for taking too long to greenlight the use of the bases, saying he was “disappointed” in the British government in a March 2 interview with The Telegraph.<\/a>
The UK government has been helping intercept drones and other threats in the region since January, the senior British official said. The official said the UK has taken down drones over Qatar and northern Syria and shares intelligence with the United States.
Michael Loria
State Department officials on Monday called on Americans to immediately depart over a dozen countries in the Middle East amid U.S-Israeli attacks on Iran.
Mora Namdar, the State Department’s assistant secretary for consular affairs, urged Americans to use commercial means to leave the following countries: Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.\u00a0
Contributing: Reuters<\/em>
Francesca Chambers
Rubio echoed comments from Trump earlier in the day, and told reporters ahead of a briefing to congressional leaders that the most punishing strikes on Iran are yet to come.
There are no formal diplomatic exchanges taking place with Tehran at this point, he affirmed. “No, not at this time,” Rubio said.
He added that people are always reaching out from inside governments but its unclear if they are authorized to do so.
Without providing details, Rubio said, “The hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military. The next phase will be ever more punishing on Iran than it is right now.
“Someone was screaming, ‘how long will it take.’ I don’t know how long it will take, we have objectives, we will do this as long as it takes to achieve those objectives,” he said. “And we will achieve those objectives.”
Francesca Chambers
Rubio argued that the Trump administration has followed the law when it comes to a requirement to notify Congress about military action.
Congressional leaders were informed of the strikes before they took place, Rubio said. And the administration is fulfilling it’s requirement under the War Powers Act of 1974 to provide formal notification to<\/a> lawmakers within 48 hours of beginning hostilities, he added.
“We can’t notify 535 members of Congress,” Rubio said. “Congress can vote on whatever they want, but there’s no law that requires us to do that.”
Rubio argued, as he has in the past, that the War Powers Act is not constitutional. Even so, the Trump administration complied with the law, he said, and briefed the bipartisan group of lawmakers with security clearance, known as Gang of Eight, twice \u2014once on the day of the State of the Union and once the evening before the strike.
Michael Loria
An Iranian military commander has reportedly vowed to set the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway south of the country through which about 20% of the world’s oil and gas is shipped, “ablaze.”
The Iran Revolutionary Guard commander made the declaration on state-sponsored media, according to reporting by Al Jazeera<\/a> and the Wall Street Journal<\/a>.
His promise to disrupt shipping through the waterway between Iran and Oman comes as Secretary Rubio told reporters Monday that the Trump administration will roll out a program Tuesday to keep gas prices from rising.
“We knew that going in would be a factor,” Rubio said of Iran potentially disrupting the flow of oil and gas from the region. But he said without elaborating that Trump administration officials would implement their plan to “mitigate” the war\u2019s impact on gas prices.\u00a0
Francesca Chambers
With Ayatollah Ali Khamenei now deceased following the joint Israeli-U.S. strikes over the weekend, Rubio said the Trump administration “would not mind” and would not “be heartbroken” if the Iranian people rose up and took control of their government.
“We would love for that to be possible,” Rubio told reporters during an impromptu news conference on Capitol Hill.
But the objective of this administration was to destroy Tehran’s navy and ballistic missile capabilities, Rubio said, which he argued Iran was using as a shield for its nuclear program.
“And while we would love to see a new regime, the bottom line is, no matter who governs this country, a year from now, they’re not going to have these ballistic missiles and these drones to threaten us,” Rubio said.
Michael Loria
Military authorities announced at about 4 p.m. ET on Monday that two more U.S. service members were found dead from an earlier Iranian attack that killed four soldiers.\u00a0
“U.S. forces recently recovered the remains of two previously unaccounted for service members from a facility that was struck during Iran’s initial attacks in the region,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement<\/a>. “Major combat operations continue. The identities of the fallen are being withheld until 24 hours after next of kin notification. “
The discovery brings the total American death toll to six.
Bart Jansen
Persian Gulf countries are asking Europeans for military equipment to defend against missiles and drones in the war between the United States and Iran, Reuters reported.
The conflict has broadened as Tehran fired missiles at neighboring countries, Iran-sponsored Hezbollah has attacked Israel from Lebanon and an Iranian-made drone hit a British base in Cyprus.
“The Gulf countries are expressing strong concern about the evolution of the crisis and have indicated the urgent need to strengthen their defense capabilities, particularly air defense and anti-drone,” Italy\u2019s Defense\u00a0Minister\u00a0Guido Crosetto said.
He said the requests are for a Franco-Italian battery known as MAMBA that can track dozens of targets and intercept 10 at once, according to Reuters. It is the only European-made system that can intercept ballistic missiles.
Francesca Chambers
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Monday before a classified briefing with top lawmakers on Capitol Hill that he doesn’t understand “what the confusion” is around why the Trump administration preemptively struck Iran.
Rubio said the U.S. is conducting an operation “to eliminate the threat of Iran’s short-range ballistic missiles” and the threat posed by its navy. “That is the clear objective of its mission,” Rubio, a former Florida senator, said.
The administration decided to act now, because it was “abundantly clear” that if Iran came under attack from Israel, it was going to retaliate against America, the president’s national security adviser said.
“We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them, before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher causalities,” Rubio said. “And then we would all be here answering questions about why we knew that and didn’t act.”
Rubio said that was the “imminent threat” from Iran that the administration has invoked. “No matter what, ultimately this operation needed to happen,” he said. “Look at the damage their doing now, and this is a weakened Iran, imagine a year from now.”
Michael Loria
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, defended Trump\u2019s move to strike Iran.
“His administration relentlessly pursued a diplomatic solution to the threat posed by Iran,” Thune said on Capitol Hill Monday. “But the Iranian regime refused diplomatic offerings, so now the president is taking action.”
Thune lamented the deaths of U.S. servicemembers “as a result of Iranian attacks.”
Bart Jansen
U.S. Central Command, the military agency overseeing the war against Iran, said it has destroyed 11 ships that Tehran had in the Gulf of Oman.
\u201cThe Iranian regime has harassed and attacked international shipping in the Gulf of Oman for decades,\u201d the command said on social media<\/a> March 2, with a video showing an explosion. \u201cThose days are over.\u201d
Nathan Diller
About an hour into Sarah Gaither\u2019s flight out of Doha, Qatar, the crew told passengers they would be turning back.
The 27 year old, who was returning home to Dallas after vacation on the morning of Feb. 28, saw the news about U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran<\/a> on her phone. \u201cAnd then they made the announcement (about the unsafe airspace),\u201d she told USA TODAY. \u201cA lot of people had no clue what was happening, so there was a lot of panic on the plane.\u201d
She has been stuck in Doha, where the airspace remains closed, since then \u2013 seeing and hearing missiles from her hotel. Travelers across the region have been stranded<\/a> in the wake of the Trump administration\u2019s war with Iran<\/a>, and she and others are waiting for updates on when they might be able to fly out.
The U.S. government hasn’t announced plans to operate rescue flights for travelers currently stuck in the Middle East, but in general, travelers should stay in touch with the local embassy for information if they’re stranded by an ongoing conflict.
\u201cOf course, I would love to be home, but I also recognize that there’s a lot of other people in this situation, and it’s not just a me situation, and there’s people actually dying from this,\u201d Gaither said. \u201cSo, I’ll be okay.\u201d
Michael Loria
Over half of Americans are against Trump\u2019s airstrikes on Iran, a Washington Post snap poll<\/a> found Monday.
The poll, in which 1,003 people participated, was conducted Sunday at about the same time the first U.S. casualties of the war were reported. A combined 53% of respondents opposed or strongly opposed the airstrikes that launched the war; 39% of respondents strongly or somewhat supported the president\u2019s mission.
While Republican respondents tended to support the attacks and Democrats tended to oppose them, political independents overwhelmingly condemned the attacks.\u00a0
Bart Jansen
The Union of Concerned Scientists, a science advocacy group, said Trump\u2019s war against Iran raises the long-term danger of nuclear proliferation rather than reduces it.
Trump has argued that preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon is his top goal. But the scientists say the conflict could spur countries to develop weapons faster if diplomacy and international institutions can\u2019t be trusted.
\u201cPresident Trump\u2019s undermining of diplomatic efforts to end Iran\u2019s nuclear program are counterproductive and only serve to increase the long-term danger of nuclear proliferation,\u201d Tara Drozdenko, director of the group\u2019s global security program, said in a statement.
Bart Jansen
Iran\u2019s foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, told state television that the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei<\/a> is a \u201creligious crime\u201d that would have serious consequences, Reuters reported.
Israel bombed Khamenei\u2019s compound at the start of the joint war with the United States on Feb. 28 against Iran.
Bart Jansen
The U.S. military said it has struck more than 1,250 targets in Iran since the war began Feb. 28.
The figure released about 3 p.m. ET on March 2 was an update from the 1,000 targets that Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, cited in an 8 a.m. briefing.
Bart Jansen
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte praised the \u200bU.S. and Israeli military attacks on \u200cIran, saying action was degrading Tehran’s development of nuclear weapons, but added that his largely European organization wouldn\u2019t be involved.
“It’s really important what the \u200bU.S. is doing here, together with Israel, because it is taking out, \u200bdegrading the capacity of Iran \u200bto get its hands on nuclear capability, \u200cthe \u2060ballistic missile capability,” Rutte told Germany’s ARD television in Brussels on March 2.
“There are absolutely no plans whatever \u200bfor \u200bNATO to \u2060get dragged into this or being part of \u200bit, other than individual \u200ballies \u2060doing what they can to enable what the Americans are \u2060doing \u200btogether with Israel,” \u200bRutte added.
Contributing: Reuters<\/em>
Bart Jansen
Fifteen U.S. aircraft left bases in southern Spain after Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said his country wouldn\u2019t allow its joint bases Rota and Moron to be used for attacks on Iran, according to Reuters.
Spain has condemned the attacks.
At least seven of the planes \u2013 primarily KC-135 refueling tankers \u2013 moved to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, according to FlightRadar24, a private group that monitors the movement of planes around the world.
Bart Jansen
Trump said a key objective in the U.S. strikes on Iran is to knock out long-range missiles that served as an umbrella protecting the development of its nuclear weapons program. But he said other countries “didn’t have the courage” to dismantle that nuclear program.
\u201cThe regime already had missiles capable of hitting Europe and our bases both local and overseas, and would soon have had missiles capable of reaching our beautiful America,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThe purpose of this fast-growing missile program was to shield their nuclear weapon development and make it extraordinarily difficult for anyone to stop them from making these highly forbidden \u2013 by us \u2013 nuclear weapons.”
Trump said an Iranian regime with nuclear weapons would be an intolerable threat.
\u201cWe were the ones that were complaining. We were the ones that wanted it stopped. But everybody was behind us,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThey just didn\u2019t have the courage to say so.\u201d
Cybele Mayes-Osterman
The four American soldiers confirmed killed in the war with Iran were stationed in Kuwait, according to a source familiar with the matter.
U.S. Central Command announced that three U.S. servicemembers were killed as of March 1, and a fourth succumbed<\/a> to severe injuries the next day.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at a news conference<\/a>that they were killed when an Iranian missile escaped U.S. air defenses and hit a “tactical operations center that was fortified.”
Bart Jansen
Trump said the U.S. military strikes on Iran knocked out the country\u2019s leadership weeks ahead of schedule and denied speculation he would become bored with a long-running war.
\u201cI don\u2019t get bored. There\u2019s nothing boring about this. Do you agree with that Pete?\u201d Trump asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at a White House ceremony bestowing medals of honor on Master Sgt. Roderick Edmonds, Command Sgt. Major Terry and Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis.
“Somebody actually said from the media, \u2018I think he\u2019ll get bored after a week or two,'” Trump added. “No, we don\u2019t get bored. I never get bored.\u201d
Trump said planners hoped to knock out Iran\u2019s leadership in four to five weeks in the strikes that began Feb. 28.
\u201cAs you know, that was done in about an hour so we\u2019re ahead of schedule there by a lot,\u201d Trump said.
Francesca Chambers
In his first public remarks at the White House since U.S. attacks on Iran began over the weekend, Trump said his administration struck the Iranian regime after it ignored America’s warnings to not rebuild its nuclear program.
Laying out his justification for the strikes, Trump said that Iran’s ballistic missile program was also growing “rapidly and dramatically” and it “posed a very clear, colossal threat” to the United States and its forces stationed at overseas bases.
Tehran already had missiles capable of hitting Europe and “would soon have had missiles capable of reaching our beautiful America,” Trump said on March 2.
The purpose of the missile program was to shield their nuclear program and make it harder to take out, he added.
“An Iranian regime armed with long-range missiles and nuclear weapons would be an intolerable threat to the Middle East but also to the American people. Our country itself would be under threat. And it was very nearly under threat,” Trump said in East Room remarks at a Medal of Honor ceremony.
Francesca Chambers
An Iranian official said the country is prepared for a “long war<\/a>” with the United States in response to President Donald Trump saying in calls with journalists that he expects the war to last around four weeks or perhaps less.
“Iran, unlike the United States, has prepared itself for a long war,” Ali Larijani, a top national security official inside Iran, said on X.<\/a>
Larijani said in a March 2 statement that Iran will continue to fight “regardless of the costs” and make its “enemies sorry for their miscalculation.”
Francesca Chambers
Trump signaled on Monday morning that the U.S. is preparing to launch an even bigger wave of attacks on Iran.
\u201cWe haven\u2019t even started hitting them hard. The big wave hasn\u2019t even happened. The big one is coming soon,” the president told CNN host Jake Tapper in a phone call<\/a>.
Trump also revised his estimation for how long the war could take, saying it could be shorter than four weeks. \u201cI don\u2019t want to see it go on too long. I always thought it would be four weeks. And we\u2019re a little ahead of schedule.”
He also said the U.S. doesn’t know who Iran will pick to run the country with dozens of its top leaders now deceased.
\u201cWe don\u2019t know who\u2019s leading the country now.\u00a0They\u00a0don\u2019t know who\u2019s leading. It\u2019s a little like the unemployment line,” the president added.
Julia Gomez
The death toll continues to climb after the\u00a0United States and Israel began striking Iran<\/a>, and airstrikes continue in the Middle East. So far, four U.S. service members have been killed, according to the Pentagon. The identities of the deceased have not been released.
The following casualties have been reported in the Middle East, according to\u00a0Al Jazeera<\/a>, citing aid organizations, government officials and local media outlets:
Additionally, 23 protestors were killed in Pakistan after demonstrations against the airstrikes turned violent, according to\u00a0Reuters<\/a>.\u00a0In the Pakistani city Karachi, 10 people were killed after guards at the U.S. consulate fired on demonstrators who breached an outer wall; 11 people in the northern city of Skardu were killed after a crowd set fire to a U.N. office; and two more people were killed in Islamabad.
One Chinese citizen was also killed in the US-Israeli strikes that hit Tehran, the capital of Iran, according to\u00a0Reuters<\/a>.
Bart Jansen
Republican Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio called for a congressional vote on whether to authorize the undeclared war against Iran.
Davidson argued that “Congress declares war. America is at war. Congress did not declare war.” He said on social media<\/a> Monday the vote to authorize the use of military force<\/a> came three days after the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, 2001.
This week, Davidson said lawmakers will see “real intel” and hear “a persuasive explanation with a defined mission” to declare war. Or lawmakers would vote to cease the military operation in Iran, he said.
With 218 Republicans and 214 Democrats in the House, if all Democrats opposed the military action, a couple of GOP defections could help put restrictions on the mission. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky earlier proposed a vote. But support for operation hasn’t broken down strictly along party lines.
Melina Khan
The U.S. launched strikes on Iran without Congress’ approval because Trump said the attacks are military actions<\/a>, not an act of war.
Under the U.S. Constitution, only Congress has the power to declare war. But the president can authorize military actions through their power as commander in chief, according to the\u00a0War Powers Act<\/a>\u00a0of 1973.
The\u00a0War Powers Act<\/a>\u00a0requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of military action and prohibits troops from being deployed for more than 90 days unless a war is declared.\u00a0Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/a>\u00a0briefed leaders in Congress before the attack.
Democrats in Congress<\/a>\u00a0are expected to push a vote this week on whether to authorize military operations in Iran. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, said he would join with\u00a0Rep. Ro Khanna<\/a>, D-California, to force a vote on the War Powers Act when Congress reconvenes this week.
Cybele Mayes-Osterman
Asked about the status of Iran’s remaining capability to launch long-range strikes, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth told reporters the “the best defense is good offense.”
“Think of it as shooting the archer instead of the arrows,” he said.
Bart Jansen
Hegseth said there were no U.S. troops on the ground in Iran, but he said wouldn\u2019t signal future American strategy.
“No, but we\u2019re not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do,” Hegseth said. “It\u2019s foolishness. We\u2019ll go as far as we need to go.”
He said the military wouldn\u2019t need 200,000 troops in the country for 20 years.
Bart Jansen
Trump gave the final approval for the initial strikes at 3:38 p.m. Feb. 27, Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
“No aborts,” Trump\u2019s message said. “Good luck.”
Caine said said the attack began at 1:15 a.m. Feb. 28 when “the skies surged to life” with 100 aircraft, Tomahawk missiles and electronic warfare. The military had 1,000 targets in the first 24 hours, he said.
“This was a massive, overwhelming attack,” Caine said.
Cybele Mayes-Osterman and Bart Jansen
Air Force Gen. Dan Caine<\/a>, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the objectives of the attack on Iran “will take some time to achieve.”
“This is not a single overnight operation,” he said at a news conference Monday. The military’s operations “will take some time to achieve,\u00a0and in some cases will be difficult and gritty work.”
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth boiled down the goals of attack on Iran in very simple terms.
“Destroy the missile threat. Destroy the navy. No nukes,” Hegseth said.
Bart Jansen
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth called the attack on Iran the “most precise air-power campaign in history” and said it wouldn\u2019t get bogged down in a “nation-building quagmire.”
Hegseth contrasted the campaign with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which Trump had opposed and criticized as long-running and ineffective.
“This is not Iraq. This is not endless,” Hegseth said. “Our generation knows better.”
Bart Jansen
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Sunday<\/a> that his country will allow the U.S. military to use its bases in the Middle East for defensive action against Iran\u2019s retaliatory strikes.
Starmer had said Britain wasn’t involved in the initial U.S. attack on Iran on Feb. 28. But with 200,000 British citizens at risk in Iran’s retaliatory strikes, Starmer said his country’s jets are flying defensive missions against Iranian missiles and he will allow U.S. use of military bases.
“We all remember the mistakes of Iraq and we have learned those lessons,” Starmer said. “But Iran is pursuing a scorched-earth strategy so we are supporting the collective self defense of our allies and our people in the region.”
Starmer continued to advocate for a negotiated settlement to halt Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon.
Kim Hjelmgaard
The number of U.S. service members killed in action since the start of the U.S and Israel attacks on Iran rose to four on March 2, the Pentagon said in a statement. The fourth service member, who was not identified, succumbed to injuries after being seriously wounded during Iran\u2019s initial counter-attacks. The identities of the three other service members have also not been released. President Donald Trump has told Americans to expect more American casualties.
Kim Hjelmgaard
Oil prices rose sharply on March 2 after they opened for the first time since the U.S. and Israel launched a bombing campaign on Iran. Brent crude oil, the global benchmark for oil prices, jumped by as much 10% to hit $82 a barrel before falling back slightly to hover around 7% higher. WTI crude oil, another gauge, also traded sharply higher, according to data published by MarketWatch<\/a>, a financial news website.
Higher oil prices typically translate into higher gas prices for American consumers. Iran has warned vessels not to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway it controls in the south of the country, through which about 20% of the world’s oil and gas is shipped.
Kim Hjelmgaard
Three American fighter aircraft crashed in Kuwait on March 2, according to the Middle Eastern country’s defense ministry and the Pentagon. The crews of the planes “survived unscathed” and were in a stable condition, Kuwait\u2019s defense ministry<\/a> spokesperson Col. Said Al-Atwan said. The ministry said it was coordinating with U.S. officials about the “circumstances of the incident” and investigating what caused the crash.
The Pentagon said the planes involved were F-15E “Strike Eagles” and went down over Kuwait due to an apparent friendly fire incident. All six aircrew ejected safely. The U.S. military has as part of operation “Epic Fury” also deployed F-18, F-16 and F-22 fighter jets. It has also deployed A-10 attacks jets, F-35 stealth fighters, aircraft that specialize in communications, reconnaissance, refueling and B-2 stealth bombers, according to the Pentagon.
Kim Hjelmgaard
Lebanon was pulled into the widening war on March 2 after Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia militant group backed by Iran, fired missiles at Israel’s northern port city Haifa.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that it responded to the projectiles by striking sites in Hezbollah’s stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut, as well as dozens of villages along Israel’s border with Lebanon. Lebanon’s health ministry<\/a> said in a statement published on its website that the strikes on Beirut and southern Lebanon have killed at least 31 people and injured 149 more. Hezbollah was seriously weakened in its recent war with Israel connected to the Oct. 7 attacks<\/a>.
Kim Hjelmgaard
Iranians woke up to a world on March 1 that for the best part of four decades they dared not hope for: one without the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<\/a>.
The atmosphere in Tehran was a strange combination of quiet, terror, hidden joy and official mourning said Ali, 42, a shopkeeper. He said that \u2212 unusual for car-clogged Tehran \u2212 there was very little traffic on the roads.
Zac Anderson
After unleashing operation “Epic Fury” in Iran, President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0is facing MAGA skepticism at home as the\u00a0military campaign<\/a>\u00a0threatens to strain his political coalition heading into the midterm election.
Trump campaigned as a staunch critic of U.S. wars in the Middle East, and his aggressive foreign policy moves since returning to office have\u00a0sparked backlash<\/a>\u00a0within the MAGA movement, including accusations he has betrayed those who subscribed to his anti-interventionist, “America First” pledges.
BrieAnna J. Frank
The White House said the Pentagon spent more than\u00a090 minutes\u00a0briefing the bipartisan\u00a0staffs\u00a0of\u00a0various national security committees\u00a0in Congress about\u00a0Iran\u00a0on March 1.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and\u00a0Chairman\u00a0of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine will brief all members of Congress\u00a0on March 3, according to White House\u00a0spokesperson\u00a0Dylan Johnson.
Rubio will brief top congressional leaders on March 2, the State Department said.
BrieAnna J. Frank
A top Iranian\u00a0security\u00a0official said Tehran would not negotiate with the United States in a\u00a0statement posted to X<\/a>\u00a0local time Monday morning.
Ali Larijani, who was also an adviser to the country’s former Supreme Leader, made the declaration in response to a report that Tehran tried to revive negotiations with the U.S.
Larijani\u00a0accused the U.S. and Israel of trying to plunder and disintegrate Iran and warned “secessionist groups” of a harsh response if they attempted any action, Iranian state television said on Sunday.
Contributing: Reuters<\/em>
BrieAnna J. Frank
Kuwait\u2019s military intercepted\u00a0several aerial projectiles\u00a0at\u00a0dawn\u00a0local time on March 2, the country\u2019s Ministry of Defense\u00a0said on X<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0
No casualties were reported, according to a translation of the statement, which added that the nation\u2019s armed forces would monitor\u00a0the situation and respond to any further developments.\u00a0\u00a0
The military said it intercepted Iranian ballistic missiles over a base hosting the U.S. Air Force on Feb. 28, the American military newspaper Stars and Stripes reported<\/a>. Kuwait International Airport was damaged in a drone attack on the same day, causing minor injuries.
The\u00a0first U.S. casualties\u00a0of the military campaign, including the deaths of three\u00a0service personnel, were confirmed on Sunday. Two U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the U.S. service members were\u00a0killed on a base in\u00a0Kuwait.
Contributing: Reuters<\/em><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Six U.S. service members have been killed in the United States’ war with Iran, the U.S. military said, as its joint airstrikes with Israel expand and Secretary of State Marco Rubio promised Washington that the Trump administration\u2019s attacks on Iran are going to plan.\u00a0“The bottom line is, no matter who governs this country, a year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":202172,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-202171","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}