The New York Times -
Tehran7:11 a.m. March 10
Live Updates: After Global Economy Shudders, Trump Zigzags on Whether War Is Nearing End
The president told reporters at a news conference in Florida that the fighting is “going to be ended soon” but added that the U.S. would strike Iran harder if needed.
After a day of conflicting signals about when the war against Iran might end, President Trump struck a belligerent tone Monday evening, warning of even more aggressive action if Iranian leaders tried to cut off the world’s energy supply.
“We will hit them so hard that it will not be possible for them or anybody else helping them to ever recover that section of the world,” Mr. Trump said, meeting with reporters.
Reporting from Washington
President Trump said on Monday the war in Iran would go on for at least another week and, facing pressure from a surge in energy prices, he suggested that the United States could begin accompanying oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz to help keep oil flowing from the Middle East.
“We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough,” he told a gathering of Republican lawmakers in Florida. “We go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long-running danger once and for all.”
Major developments — March 9
An Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps spokesman, Ali Mohammad Naeini, said that President Trump had falsely claimed Iranian missile launches were waning when the Iranian missiles were growing more powerful than in the early days of the war and larger in size, reported Tasnim, a semiofficial news agency affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, early on Tuesday in Iran.
A New York Times tally of Iranian drone and missile strikes aimed at American allies across the Middle East since the conflict began, based on reports from militaries and ministries of defense in nations that have been targeted, shows that Iran has launched more than 2,000 drones and 500 ballistic missiles. While there are signs its capabilities may be ebbing, Iranian salvos have certainly continued into early Tuesday. The tally does not include launches at Israel, where the authorities have declined to share these kinds of details.
Vice President JD Vance has witnessed the arrival of the seventh U.S. service member killed in the war with Iran at Dover Air Force Base. Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington was seriously injured in a strike on the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. He died from his injuries days later, officials said. Six other U.S. troops were killed in an Iranian drone attack on a military base in Kuwait. American-Israeli strikes on Iran have killed about 1,300 people, according to an Iranian official, while Iranian attacks across the Middle East have killed more than 30.
Shawn McCreesh reported from Trump National Doral in Miami, and John Ismay reported from Washington.
President Trump on Monday continued to suggest without evidence that Iran bombed an elementary school in the southern part of the country on the first day of the war, killing 175 of its own citizens, many of them children.
Video evidence verified by The New York Times shows a Tomahawk cruise missile striking a naval base beside the school in the town of Minab on Feb. 28.
Australia will deploy a reconnaissance and command aircraft to the Middle East at the request of the United Arab Emirates to aid in the defense of Gulf nations, Australian officials said Tuesday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia said the country would also provide medium-range air-to-air missiles to the U.A.E. that would be used for the defense of Gulf nations. He added that Australia would not be deploying troops on the ground in Iran. The plane, a E-7A Wedgetail, will be accompanied by 85 personnel, Richard Marles, Australia’s defense minister, said.
Bahrain’s Interior Ministry, which earlier on Tuesday in the Middle East reported that one person had been killed in an Iranian strike on a residential building in Manama, the capital, has now identified the victim as a 29-year-old Bahraini woman. The ministry said that eight other people were also injured in the attack.
Syria’s military said in a statement early on Tuesday morning in the Middle East that artillery shells fired from Lebanon had landed near a town about 20 miles west of Damascus, the capital. The Syrian military accused Hezbollah of targeting Syrian army positions in the area, and said military officials had observed Hezbollah reinforcements arriving along the Syrian-Lebanese border.
The Syrian army said it was closely monitoring developments and warned it would respond to any attack on its territory. It was the first such statement from the Syrian military amid the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran and the Iranian retaliation across the Middle East that began late last month. Hezbollah is an Iran-backed Lebanese militant group.
President Trump gave conflicting statements on Monday about the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, first saying that the operation was “very complete, pretty much,” then later vowing to hit Iran harder if its leaders tried to cut off the world’s energy supply.
His initial comments, made in an interview with CBS News, appeared to ease market fears of an extended war and caused soaring oil prices to fall. After markets closed, Mr. Trump told Republican lawmakers in Florida, “We go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long-running danger once and for all.”
As Senate Democrats called Monday for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to appear before congressional committees, Senator Roger Wicker, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said he expected “they’ll testify in a nonclassified setting” on the military operation in Iran. But he would not say when it might happen.
Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said early Tuesday morning in the Middle East that one person had been killed and others were injured from an Iranian attack that hit a residential building in the capital, Manama.
Trump repeatedly suggested in his news conference that another country, potentially Iran, fired a U.S.-developed Tomahawk cruise missile that struck a naval base beside a girls’ school in the Iranian town of Minab, as he sought to cast doubt on U.S. responsibility for the strike.
“A Tomahawk is very generic,” Trump said, adding that “numerous other nations have Tomahawks.”
But the U.S. military is the only force involved in the conflict that uses Tomahawk missiles. Sales of the weapon to other countries is tightly controlled, with only Australia and Great Britain known to have them outside of the U.S. Other close U.S. allies have announced purchases of the missile in recent years, but the weapon entered service years after the 1979 Iranian revolution, so the U.S. would not have sold that weapon to the Islamic republic. Iran does have its own locally designed and manufactured cruise missiles, but they are not Tomahawks.
In a new accounting of military actions during the Iran war, the United States Central Command released a statement Monday evening that says American forces have attacked more than 5,000 targets since Operation Epic Fury began on Feb. 28. That is an increase of 2,000 targets attacked since the last such update from Central Command on Friday. The statement Monday also included mention of the U-2 spy plane being used for the first time in the war.
Stock futures have nudged lower in after hours trading, with the president’s backtracking over how near the war is to ending likely unnerving investors.
In repeatedly asserting that the military campaign against Iran has been a huge success, Trump seems to be pushing back on criticism even from some Republicans that his military operation lacks a clear objective. He acknowledged that Vice President JD Vance was “maybe less enthusiastic about going,” before quickly adding: “But he was quite enthusiastic.”
Trump has concluded the news conference after speaking for about 35 minutes.
Trump says he remains interested in an “internal” candidate ruling Iran, referring again to his operation seizing President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, where the new leader, Delcy Rodriguez, has emerged as a U.S.-aligned leader. “I like the idea of internal because it works well,” Trump says. “I mean, I think we’ve proven that so far in Venezuela.”
Trump again voiced a lack of enthusiasm for installing Reza Pahlavi, the eldest son of Iran’s former shah, who was overthrown in 1979, as a new leader of Iran, saying that “I would like to see people that are inside.” Pahlavi has not lived in Iran since the 1970s.
Trump does not reply directly to a question on whether he will seek to assassinate Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the beginning of the war. Trump says: “I was disappointed because we think it’s going to lead to more of the same problem for the country, so I was disappointed to see their choice.”
More imprecise discussion of how close Iran was to a nuclear weapon: “They would have had a nuclear weapon within two weeks to four weeks,’’ Trump said. He would have been correct to say that, before last year’s attacks on Iran’s three major nuclear enrichment sites, it could have had the fuel to make such weapons. But the estimates of how long it would have taken to make a working weapon range from many months to a year.
Trump asserts that Putin took note of U.S. military prowess in today’s call. “He was very impressed with what he saw because nobody’s ever seen anything quite like it,” Trump said. He did not address intelligence reports that Russia has provided wartime intelligence to Iran.
Trump says he knew that oil prices would go up if he engaged in this military effort against Iran. “They’ve gone up probably less than I thought they’d go up,” he said.
Trump is trying to have it both ways: Arguing that he has already achieved almost all his goals and yet backing up Pete Hegseth, his defense secretary, for saying the battle is just beginning. “It’s the beginning of building a new country,’’ he said, arguing that Iran has “no navy, they have no Air Force, they have no anti-aircraft equipment It’s all been blown up.”
Referring to his phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia today, Trump says Putin “wants to be helpful” in the Middle East. Trump added: “I said, ‘You could be more helpful by getting the Ukraine-Russia war over with.’” Trump delivered a similarly skeptical message when Putin offered up Russia as a mediator during the 12-day war with Iran last June.
“Look, everything they had is gone including their leadership,’’ Trump said, sidestepping the question of whether he has achieved regime change in Iran if the new supreme leader is the son of the previous one.
When asked if the war with Iran would be over this week, Trump said, “No.” He only said “soon, very soon.”
Oil prices are little changed from earlier this afternoon as Trump takes questions, trading around $90 a barrel. That is up from less than $73 a barrel before the war began.
Trump is delivering ambiguous messages about how much longer he is prepared to fight. “It’s going to be ended soon,” he says. “And if it starts up again they’ll be hit even harder.”
Trump also seemed to suggest he may lift oil sanctions against Russia, saying that “we are also waving oil related sanctions to reduce prices. So we have sanctions in some countries, and we will take the sanctions off until this straightens out.”
“We’re doing this for other parts of the world, like China,’’ Trump said, which raises the question why China — which buys the vast majority of Iran’s oil — is not joining the effort. It is a usual argument for Trump, who has made one of his signature issues that he would not have the U.S. provide protection for other nations, especially European allies, who do not contribute heavily to their own defense.
Trump is also downplaying the impact of rising oil prices, saying it “doesn’t really affect us” even as oil prices have skyrocketed in the United States over the last week because of the war with Iran.
Trump threatens even more aggressive action against Iran if it attempts “to stop the globe’s oil supply.” Without clarifying what would trigger such action, he says, “we will hit them so hard that it will not be possible for them or anybody else helping them to ever recover that section of the world.”
“We are putting an end to this threat once and for all,’’ Trump said, arguing that he was making an “excursion into something that had to be done.” So he argues that in the long run, his actions will result in lower prices for oil and gas.
President Trump is again back-pedaling on his suggestion that the U.S. was close to concluding the war when he told CBS News that it “the war is very complete, pretty much.” The assessment eased market fears, caused oil prices to drop and stocks to rise. At this press conference, he said, “we’re ahead of our initial timeline by a lot. I would say that we probably would not have thought after a month we’d be here.”
Trump repeated that “I thought they were going to attack us,” which would have created a legal rationale for a pre-emptive strike. But intelligence agencies in the U.S. and elsewhere said they did not see any evidence of an imminent strike.
Trump said, inaccurately, that the Iranians told Steve Witkoff, his special envoy, that “we want to keep building nuclear weapons.” The Iranians have always insisted that they have a right to enrich uranium, but they have denied wanting to seek weapons — despite evidence that they were working, over the past 25 years, on designs that could be used in weapons.
Trump is making hyperbolic claims about the status of the war, saying that “we have wiped every single force in Iran out very completely” and that the U.S. had eliminated more than 90 percent of Iran’s missile launchers and more than 80 percent of its drone launchers.
Trump alludes to his previously stated desire to be involved in picking Iran’s future leader. “We want to be involved,” he said. The country’s future leader, he said, should “be able to do something peacefully for a change.”
At his news conference at his golf club in Doral, Fla., Trump says the U.S. is “achieving major strides towards completing our military objective” in Iran. He adds that “some people could say they’re pretty well complete.”
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic minority leader, called on President Trump to “immediately” release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help bring down gas prices. The reserve has a storage capacity of 714 million barrels, but it is not full. The Energy Department said it held over 415 million barrels as of last week. The reserve “exists precisely for moments like this,” Schumer added.
President Trump spoke with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia for an hour about the Iran and Ukraine wars and Venezuela, according to a top foreign policy adviser to Putin, Yuri Ushakov. A U.S. official confirmed the call took place. Ushakov told reporters in Moscow that Putin said the parties in the Iran war should try to reach a diplomatic solution, and that Trump should take into account the views Iran’s leaders, according to a transcript of Ushakov’s remarks by the Kremlin.
Ushakov also said Trump and Putin spoke about the negotiations involving the United States over the war in Ukraine, and about Venezuela in the context of global oil markets. The Kremlin’s summary of the call emphasized that Trump called Putin.
Trump also suggested that the U.S. would continue to target Iran’s top leaders, saying that Iran’s “leaders are gone or counting down the minutes until they will be gone.”
He added, “Think of it. We had leaders and they’re gone, then we had new leaders and they’re gone, and now nobody has any idea who the people are that are going to be the head of the country. And we will not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated.”
After comments that seemed to suggest President Trump was looking towards an exit from his war with Iran, Trump said in a speech to Republican lawmakers in Florida that “we have won in many ways, but not enough. We go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long-running danger once and for all.”
Airstrikes resumed on Tehran, according to Iranian media and the Israeli military. Entekhab News said large explosions were rocking Tehran. Fars News, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, said airstrikes were also targeting Isfahan and Tabriz. The Israeli Defense Forces said it had begun “a large scale wave of attacks” on targets in Tehran.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani of Iraq congratulated Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, in a social media message on Monday that reaffirmed Iraq’s solidarity with Iran. Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said of Oman also sent Khamenei a cable congratulating him on his new position, Oman’s state news agency reported.
Turki Al-Balushi and Ismaeel Naar
Turki Al-Balushi reported from Muscat, Oman, and Ismaeel Naar reported from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates
Oman has spent years cultivating a reputation as a quiet mediator in a turbulent Middle East, maintaining diplomatic ties with both Tehran and Washington and frequently serving as a vital backchannel between the United States and Iran, including in the days before U.S.-Israeli strikes hit Iran.
Now, as the conflict snarls air travel for thousands of people, Oman has assumed another critical function in the region. It has become an evacuation hub for the tourists, expatriates and business executives stranded in the adjacent United Arab Emirates.
Oil prices also tumbled on Trump’s reported remarks to CBS News, falling around 11 percent from earlier this afternoon to roughly $88 a barrel.
President Trump told CBS News Monday afternoon the Iran war is “very complete, pretty much.” Stocks rose on the news. The S&P 500 made a modest gain, helping recoup some of its 2 percent loss from last week.
S&P 500
France will send 10 warships to the Eastern Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Strait of Hormuz, where oil tanker traffic has been choked off by the war with Iran, in addition to the two ships already deployed to the Mediterranean, President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday.
“This mobilization of our navy is unprecedented,” Mr. Macron said during a news conference Monday afternoon at a military base in Cyprus, days after the island was attacked by Iranian-made drones and missiles.
Senate Democrats are demanding a public hearing on President Trump’s war in Iran, threatening to force repeated votes on war powers resolutions if the Republican majority does not call senior officials to testify.
“Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio must immediately come before Congress for a public hearing and explain why we’re in this war, how it will end, and why they are prioritizing billions of dollars on an open ended war instead of lowering costs for American families,” several Democrats said in a statement, referring to the secretaries of defense and state.
The senators can force floor action on the resolutions as early as next week. The threat comes amid a showdown over funding the Homeland Security Department and after Trump demanded Republicans pass a strict voter identification measure.
International oil prices settled up 7 percent at $98.96 a barrel on Monday after a wild trading session that saw prices approach $120 a barrel late Sunday. That suggests anxiety has eased somewhat about access to energy from the Persian Gulf. Still, oil costs about 37 percent more than it did before the war began on Feb. 28.
The International Maritime Organization said at least seven seafarers had been killed and several others injured by attacks on merchant vessels near the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran 10 days ago. The head of the agency, Arsenio Dominguez, said personnel on merchant ships “must be protected from the consequences of broader geopolitical tensions.” A fifth of the world’s oil moves through the passage. It has been paralyzed since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
Fresh graves. Weeping relatives. Anti-American and anti-Israeli slogans.
On the tenth day of a sustained U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign against Iran, the toll was apparent at Behesht-e Zahra, the largest cemetery in Tehran, the capital.
Macron also described a proposal to set up an international mission to escort tanker and container ships through the Strait of Hormuz once hostilities have subsided sufficiently. A fifth of the world’s oil usually travels through the strait, which is now essentially closed due to hostilities. The mission would escort oil tankers and container ships carrying supplies for the region, he said. So far, several European nations “are ready to do it with us,” he added, along with India and other Asian countries affected by the blockage. He noted that he spoke to President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran about the proposal on Sunday.
The Lebanese health ministry said Monday that Israel had targeted two civil defense sites, killing two paramedics and injuring six others, near the city of Tyre and the town of Jouaya. “The toll of paramedics continues to rise in this war,” the ministry said in a statement. The latest deaths come after three Lebanese paramedics were killed and another six injured while rescuing victims of Israeli strikes in the Tyre district last week. The head of the World Health Organization called for all “warring parties” to abide by international humanitarian law.
President Emmanuel Macron of France, speaking Monday from the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, currently stationed in the Mediterranean, said he believed the intense phase of the war in the Middle East would continue for “several more days, maybe several weeks.”
In a subtle criticism of the military operation launched by the United States and Israel nine days ago, Macron said that the duration “depends on what the ultimate objectives are.” Macron has walked a delicate line since the beginning of the war, calling the strikes illegal international law, while also maintaining that Iran’s actions had caused it.“I don’t believe there can be profound changes to a regime or a political system solely through aerial bombardments,” he added. “However, if the desired end state is to neutralize ballistic capabilities or a navy, that is possible within a timeframe of a few weeks.”
Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed 486 people, including dozens of children, Lebanese state news reported Monday, citing the country’s health ministry. More than 1,300 people have been injured since the Israeli attacks began on March 2, after Hezbollah fired rockets toward Israel, saying it was responding to repeated Israeli attacks and to avenge the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
President Trump just announced he would be holding a news conference at his golf property in Miami at “approximately” 5:30 p.m. He did not specify its focus.
At the Imam Reza Elementary School for boys in Abyek, a small city in the Qazvin Province, west of Tehran, security camera footage from Feb. 28 shows scenes from an ordinary morning. Some 40 boys play on the playground. A few wander around, others linger by the soccer goal and a large group gather in a circle.
That was just hours after the first joint Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran, according to Iranian state media. Schools were still open.
An Emirati billionaire has become a rare public critic in the country of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and President Trump.
Khalaf al-Habtoor, the founder of a major conglomerate, wrote then deleted a social media post in which he rejected Senator Lindsey Graham’s call for Persian Gulf countries to join the war on the side of the United States — and blamed rushed American decision-making for embroiling the Middle East in the conflict. “We know who took the whole region into this dangerous escalation without consulting their ‘allies’ in the region,” he wrote.
The Emirates, an authoritarian country that limits free speech, is a close ally of the United States, but Mr. al-Habtoor’s sentiments reflect views that are regularly voiced in private by businessmen in the region.
Al-Habtoor has been increasingly critical of Trump’s conduct in recent days, telling CNN in an interview that the president “cannot take everything by force.” He made the comments after posting an open letter to the president expressing his frustrations with the war, and also criticizing Iran.
A crowd gathered at Enghelab Square in Tehran to celebrate the announcement of Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the recently killed supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as his father’s successor.
At least 600,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon since fighting began escalating last week, according to Joseph Aoun, the Lebanese president. In a statement, Aoun issued unusually fierce and direct criticism of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group, for igniting the current escalation with Israel with a rocket barrage last week.
He said Lebanon was trapped between an Israeli assault which “show no respect for the laws of war” and “an armed group operating outside the law in Lebanon which has no regard for the interests of Lebanon and the lives of its people.” He made the comments in a phone call with senior European officials, according to the readout provided by his office.
Eleven countries have asked Ukraine for security support to help counter Shahed drones, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. He said in a social media post that the requests have come from countries neighboring Iran, European nations and the United States — and that some “have already been met with concrete decisions and specific support.”
He did not provide further details, though Zelensky earlier told The New York Times that Ukraine sent interceptor drones and a team of experts to protect U.S. military bases in Jordan.
“There is clear interest in Ukraine’s experience in protecting lives, relevant interceptors, electronic warfare systems, and training,” Zelensky added in his post on social media. “Ukraine is ready to respond positively to requests from those who help us protect the lives of Ukrainians and the independence of Ukraine.
Roland Lescure, France’s finance minister, said that Group of 7 countries had decided to hold off from releasing strategic oil reserves to mitigate the impact of spiking oil prices because of the conflict in the Middle East. “We’re not there yet,” Lescure told reporters in Brussels after a video meeting with his counterparts and Fatih Birol, the head of International Energy Agency.
The price of Brent Crude, the international benchmark, soared to almost $120 a barrel before falling on Monday over worries that the war could lead to prolonged disruptions to Middle East supplies. “What we’ve agreed upon is to use any necessary tools, if need be, to stabilize the market, including the potential release of necessary stockpiles,” Lescure said.
Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, said the deteriorating energy supply situation in the Middle East was “creating significant and growing risks for the market.” Mr. Birol, who met with Group of 7 finance ministers on Monday, said the group discussed the possibility of releasing some of the oil that the countries hold in their strategic reserves but he stopped short of saying whether the countries planned to do so.
The International Energy Agency’s 32 member countries have more than 1.2 billion barrels of oil and refined fuels such as gasoline in reserve. In emergencies, governments can access another 600 million barrels that are held by companies in those countries. For context, the world uses more than 100 million barrels of oil daily.
Two major British motoring groups, the RAC and the AA, have advised drivers in the country to conserve fuel by changing their driving habits as the war in the Middle East sends oil prices soaring.
Simon Williams, a spokesman for the RAC, said gasoline and diesel prices had “rocketed” since the start of the conflict just over a week ago, and would probably continue to rise. “Driving fuel efficiently by avoiding harsh accelerating and braking and ensuring tyres are inflated to the right pressures can help eke out every last mile and save money,” he said.
Edmund King, president of the AA, said people should “consider cutting out some non-essential journeys and changing their driving style to conserve fuel.”
Airline stock prices fell Monday morning on news of rising oil prices. JETS, an exchange-traded fund that tracks global airline shares, was down more than 5 percent shortly after trading began on Monday. As of Friday, jet fuel prices were up more than 50 percent since the war began. In the U.S., fuel accounts for nearly 17 percent of airline costs, second only to labor, which accounts for about 35 percent.
“When Cyprus is attacked, it is Europe that is attacked,” President Emmanuel Macron of France said during a visit to a Cyprus on Monday, in a show of solidarity for the European Union member after an Iranian drone crashed into a British air base in Cyprus last week. No casualties were reported in that attack. In response, Macron sent a French warship and air defense systems to the island, which lies off the coasts of Turkey, Syria and Lebanon.
The State Department said it would label the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood a specially designated global terrorist and a foreign terrorist organization, after saying it had received training and support from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a powerful arm of the Iranian military.
The designations are aimed at imposing economic penalties on the group or people associated with it, and restricting their financial transactions. “The Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood uses unrestrained violence against civilians to undermine efforts to resolve the conflict in Sudan and advance its violent Islamist ideology,” the department said.
A ballistic missile launched from Iran entered Turkish airspace on Monday and was shot down by NATO defenses, the Turkish defense ministry said in a statement. It was the second time in six days that Turkey announced the interception of a missile from Iran.
Debris from the missile fell in the area of the city of Gaziantep, near Turkey’s southern border with Syria, the statement said. No injuries were reported. There was no immediate comment from Iran.
NATO confirmed that it had intercepted a missile targeting Turkey on Monday, that the Turkish authorities said was fired from Iran. “NATO stands firm in its readiness to defend all allies against any threat,” Allison Hart, a spokeswoman for the alliance, said in a statement.
Iranian airstrikes on Bahrain wounded more than 30 people on Monday and sparked a fire near a petroleum refinery, according to the Bahraini authorities, prompting Arab countries to condemn the latest wave of Iran’s retaliatory strikes.
Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at its neighbors in the Persian Gulf since Israel and the United States began their military campaign against Iran just over a week ago. The Iranian government says that it is targeting American military bases, but the strikes have killed civilians and damaged sites including airports, hotels and energy infrastructure.
President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would mobilize a total of eight frigates and two helicopter carriers to the Eastern Mediterranean, Red Sea, and Strait of Hormuz, to help defend against Iranian attacks and ensure the continued flow of oil and gas. The French aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, is already dispatched to the Mediterranean, and a French frigate arrived in Cyprus last week, after an Iranian-made drone crashed into a British air base there. “This mobilization of our navy is unprecedented,” Macron said during a press conference at a Cypriot military base, alongside the leaders of Cyprus and Greece.
Global markets came under renewed pressure at the start of the week, as surging oil prices stemming from the conflict in Iran weighed on stocks and bonds from New York to Tokyo. The S&P 500 fell roughly 1 percent as trading opened Monday morning. That came after a drop of more than 2 percent last week, the biggest weekly decline for the benchmark index in about five months.
Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats party in Britain, called on King Charles III to cancel his state visit to the United States in protest of what Mr. Davey calls President Trump’s “illegal war” against Iran.
Mr. Davey urged Prime Minister Keir Starmer to advise the king to call off the trip, which is expected to take place next month as part of celebrations to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence. A specific date has not been announced.
Israeli forces advanced in southern Lebanon on Monday, entering new territory as part of a stated effort to expand a military-controlled buffer zone, as Israel stepped up its campaign against the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.
Israeli fighter jets also launched among their heaviest bombardment yet of the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Lebanese capital, sending huge explosions echoing throughout the city. Earlier on Monday, Israel had threatened to attack sites linked to Al-Qard Al-Hasan, Hezbollah’s de facto bank.
It was the second time in six days that Turkey announced it had intercepted a missile from Iran that it had entered its airspace. Last Wednesday, NATO also shot down a missile that a senior U.S. official and another Western official said was aimed at the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, where the U.S. Air Force and other NATO forces operate. Iran denied that it had targeted Turkey.
An Iranian strike on Turkey would mark a dramatic escalation in the war in Iran because Turkey, unlikely U.S. partners in the Persian Gulf that have been targeted, is a member of NATO. An attack on Turkey could activate the alliance’s mutual defense clause, puling other countries into the war.
A ballistic missile launched from Iran entered Turkish air space and was shot down by NATO defenses, the Turkish defense ministry said on Monday.
Debris from the missile fell in the area of the city of Gaziantep, near Turkey’s southern border with Syria, the statement said. No injuries were reported.
There was no immediate comment from Iran or from NATO about Monday’s missile.
Iran warned the United States and Israel against attacking Kharg Island, a land mass in the northern Persian Gulf that is the key export hub for Iranian oil. Esmail Baghaei, a spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry, said at a news conference that Iran was a “graveyard for foreigners” when he was asked to respond to reports that the United States could target the island. Kharg has not been hit in the conflict but over the weekend, the U.S. and Israel expanded their targets to include Iran’s oil infrastructure.
The Israeli military said it had started a new wave of “wide-scale” attacks in Iran, including against targets in Tehran, Isfahan, and in southern Iran. Israeli strikes have mostly focused on the north and west of the country, according to officials, while the United States has predominantly attacked farther south.
Lebanon’s Parliament on Monday postponed legislative elections that were scheduled to take place in May by two years, according to state media, because of the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group and political party. The decision was taken as Lebanon has hit a political tipping point, with Hezbollah confronting rising public frustration and the loss of key political allies within the government.
Saudi Arabia on Monday condemned the recent spate of Iranian attacks against its territory, after intercepting Iranian drones and ballistic missiles overnight. In a statement, the Saudi foreign ministry said the country had the “full right to take all necessary measures to safeguard its security.” The statement did not explicitly threaten further Saudi actions against Iran, but it did say that Iran “would be the greatest loser” in the event of “a widening of escalation.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain again defended his decision not to participate directly in strikes against Iran, even as President Trump has mocked him for it. Starmer said the relationship between the U.S. and Britain is strong, noting that “intelligence is being shared every day in the region. We have our military personnel and U.S. military personnel co-located in the same places, in the same bases.”
Starmer warned that the longer the war goes on, the more damage there will be to the nation’s economy. He said the government is “talking to our international partners as well about what we can do together to reduce the likely impact on people here, and businesses here.”
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, one of Iran’s closest allies, congratulated Mojtaba Khamenei on his selection to become Iran’s new supreme leader in the face of severe difficulties. “I would like to reaffirm our unwavering support for Tehran and solidarity with our Iranian friends,” Putin said in a statement on Monday.
Russia and Iran’s partnership has deepened following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Iran providing critical military drones in the intial stages of the war.
Oil prices have retreated considerably from the highs they reached overnight. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was trading at about $103 a barrel on Monday morning, down from a high of almost $120. But energy analysts remain concerned that without a clear path to restarting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, prices could rise again.
“With no clear definition of what winning looks like, it is hard to forecast whether this will be a multi-week or multi-month conflict,” analysts at RBC Capital Markets wrote on Sunday.
At least one person has just been killed at a missile impact site in central Israel, said Magen David Adom, the Israeli emergency service. Air-raid sirens warning of incoming Iranian ballistic missile fire had rung out minutes earlier across the country. The Israeli authorities did not immediately identify the victim. Another man with severe wounds was being evacuated to a nearby hospital, the medics said.
The price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, surged to almost $120 a barrel before falling following a report in the Financial Times that the Group of 7 finance ministers, the top finance officials from the world’s wealthiest economies, would meet on Monday to discuss a joint release of petroleum from their strategic reserves in coordination with the International Energy Agency.
Global markets opened sharply lower on Monday, as the oil price soared to its highest level since 2022, over worries about prolonged disruption of supplies caused by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 index was down more than 2 percent in early trading, London’s FTSE 100 was more than 1.5 percent lower, and Germany’s Dax fell more than 2.5 percent. U.S. futures signaled that American stock markets were set to open lower as well.
The declines followed a turbulent day in Asia, where stock markets plummeted across the region. Asian economies, including China, are among the biggest importers of oil from the Middle East.
The Israeli military said it had seized more ground in southern Lebanon on Monday, as part of the escalation of its conflict with the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah. Israeli forces were raiding a new area, the military said, without specifying where they were targeting.
Israeli troops have captured what Israeli officials say are strategic points, as part of a broader effort to expand an Israeli military buffer zone. Israeli fighter jets also bombarded sites on the southern outskirts of Beirut, after the military warned it was preparing to attack Al-Qard Al-Hassan, a Hezbollah-linked financial institution.
Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior said that a fire at a “facility” in the Ma’ameer area, where the state-owned petroleum company’s refinery is located, was brought under control. No injuries or casualties were reported and the authorities blamed the fire on “Iranian aggression,” without elaborating.
Reporting from Sydney, Australia
Australia was facing mounting calls on Monday to help the members of Iran’s national women’s soccer team, after Iranian state media referred to them as “traitors” for not singing the national anthem during a tournament in Australia.
The 26-member squad is expected to return home after playing its final game of the women’s Asian Cup on Sunday night, but members of the Iranian diaspora, sports officials and Australian politicians are concerned that their safety could be at risk when they arrive in Iran. It was not immediately clear when they were scheduled to depart Australia.
Bahrain’s Ministry of Health said that 32 people were injured, including four seriously, in an Iranian drone strike in the Sitra area early Monday. Among the injured are a 17-year-old girl; two children, aged 7 and 8; and a two-month-old infant, the ministry said, adding that all of the injured are Bahrain citizens.
Sitra, an island near Bahrain’s capital, Manama, is home to part of the refinery complex of Bapco Energies, the state-owned energy company.
“When Cyprus is attacked, it is Europe that is attacked,” President Emmanuel Macron of France said at a news conference at a Cypriot military base.
An Iranian-made drone crashed into a British air base in Cyprus last week. No casualties were reported. In response, Mr. Macron sent a French warship and air defense systems to the former British colony that lies off the coasts of Turkey, Syria and Lebanon.
France has signed various strategic partnerships with the country, the most recent just last December which included elements of defence, like joint military exercises and intelligence sharing.
The presence of French military, Mr. Macron said, should assure that behind those military agreements, were real actions.
“Your fellow citizens can truly believe in them,” he said.
The Israeli military said early Monday that it had struck Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut and launched a new wave of strikes against the Iranian regime’s infrastructure. It said it had struck a rocket engine factory, long-range ballistic missile launch sites, and buildings used as headquarters and bases for Iran’s forces.
Saudi Arabia released a statement early Monday condemning Iranian attacks against itself and other countries in the Gulf region. The statement said attacks on civilian targets, airports and oil facilities were a violation of international law.
Qatari officials issued a similar condemnation early Monday, blaming the recent death of two civilians in Saudi Arabia on Iran and warning against the “dangerous escalation that threatens the security and stability of the region.”
Joe RennisonRiver Akira DavisMeaghan Tobin and Eshe Nelson
Joe Rennison reported from New York, River Akira Davis from Tokyo, Meaghan Tobin from Taipei, Taiwan, and Eshe Nelson from London.
S&P 500
Global markets came under renewed pressure at the start of the week, but U.S. stocks ended the day on Monday slightly higher and oil prices fell after President Trump signaled that the war in Iran may be coming closer to an end.
In an interview with CBS News on Monday afternoon, Mr. Trump said that the war was “very far ahead of schedule,” an unexpected assessment that eased investors concerns about the long-term economic impact of the conflict.
Qatari officials issued a strongly worded condemnation early Monday over the deaths of two civilians in the Kharj region of Saudi Arabia. Saudi officials said the two were killed after a “military projectile” fell on their residence, without specifying the origin of the projectile. But Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described it as an “Iranian attack that targeted a residential facility.”
Qatar’s foreign affairs ministry said in a statement that the attack was a significant violation of international law and a “dangerous escalation that threatens the security and stability of the region.”
Qatari authorities have arrested 313 people for spreading “rumors” and photographing and sharing videos that contained “misinformation” during the war, the country’s interior ministry said on Monday. The authoritarian countries of the Persian Gulf maintain tight control over information in their countries and have warned people against taking videos of Iranian attacks.
Democrats seized on a surge in oil prices on Sunday, arguing that it was an immediate consequence of the war in Iran that would inflame an affordability crisis, as Republicans sought to downplay the data.
“We’ve been saying for months that affordability is the No. 1 issue,” Representative Tom Suozzi, Democrat of New York, said in an interview. “But this is a very real-life consequence of some of the actions being taken by the administration.”
Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry said it intercepted four separate attacks involving five drones in the past 12 hours, all headed toward the kingdom’s enormous Shaybah oil field. It added that two drone attacks had been thwarted over northern Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, and that three ballistic missiles targeting Prince Sultan Air Base had been intercepted.
Malachy Browne is an expert in verifying online imagery, and John Ismay is a former Navy bomb disposal officer.
A newly released video adds to the evidence that an American missile likely hit an Iranian elementary school where 175 people, many of them children, were reported killed.
The video, uploaded on Sunday by Iran’s semiofficial Mehr News Agency and verified by The New York Times, shows a Tomahawk cruise missile striking a naval base beside the school in the town of Minab on Feb. 28. The U.S. military is the only force involved in the conflict that uses Tomahawk missiles.
Iran’s military and hard-line political forces trumpeted the selection of Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of the recently killed supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as his father’s successor, celebrating the ascension of one of their own.
The powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps endorsed Mr. Khamenei in a statement, praising him as a “new dawn and a new phase for the revolution and the Islamic republic’s rule.” Mr. Khamenei, 56, was seen as their favored candidate. He is believed to have especially close ties with the Revolutionary Guards because he served in their ranks during the last years of the Iran-Iraq war.
Carlotta Gall has reported from Istanbul, Ukraine, the Middle East and Central Asia.
There have been only two supreme leaders since the job was created after the Iranian Revolution in 1979 for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Now Iran has a third.
Mojtaba Khamenei, a 56-year-old politician, cleric and son of the previous supreme leader, was appointed to the role by a council of 88 clerics, known as the Assembly of Experts, according to a statement released early Monday morning local time.
Edward WongMark MazzettiVivian Nereim and Adam Rasgon
Reporting from Washington; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and Jerusalem
American employees of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Saudi Arabia have been told to leave the country under mandatory departure orders issued by the State Department, according to current and former U.S. officials.
The move by the State Department means American officials are aware of growing risks in the region. It is the first time the agency has approved or issued what it calls an ordered departure in Saudi Arabia since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran began on Feb. 28.
More on the Fighting in the Middle East
Mojtaba Khamenei: There have been only two supreme leaders of Iran since the job was created after the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Now Iran has a third. Iran’s security establishment celebrated the choice, but the selection of a son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the previous leader who was killed at the start of the war, could anger Iranians seeking change.
Impact on the Global Economy: Global markets came under renewed pressure, as surging oil prices weighed on stocks and bonds from New York to Tokyo. The price of gasoline in the United States jumped again as the war entered its 10th day. Across Asia, where countries are highly exposed to rising oil and gas costs and tightening supply, governments are acting to mitigate economic harm.
Strike on Iranian School: A newly released video, uploaded by Iran’s semiofficial Mehr News Agency and verified by The New York Times, adds to the evidence that an American missile likely hit an Iranian elementary school where 175 people, many of them children, were reported killed. The evidence contradicts President Trump’s claim that Iran was responsible.
Lebanese Villagers Bury Hezbollah Fighters: After a fierce ground fight between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah, the village of Nabi Sheet mourned its dead.
Iranian Women’s Soccer Team: Australia was facing mounting calls to help the athletes, after Iranian state media referred to them as “traitors” for not singing the national anthem during a tournament in Australia.
Trapped Between Bombs and Defiant Rulers: Many in Iran feel helpless in the face of their entrenched system, and some are becoming increasingly embittered by the fierce American and Israeli bombardment.
Widening Conflict: Key U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf have stepped up their criticism of Iran after facing a barrage of missiles and drone attacks. For the second time in six days, Turkey announced the interception of a missile from Iran.
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