Today so far
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US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that a US submarine sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, marking the first US attack on Iranian forces outside of the Middle East. More than 80 people were killed.
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In a press briefing at the Pentagon, Hegseth declared that “America is winning” and suggested that in under a week, the US and Israel “will have complete control of the Iranian skies.” Hegseth stated that the US can sustain the military action against Iran “for as long as we need to,” asserting that Iran “can no longer shoot the volume of missiles they once did.” ”.
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Hegseth also revealed that the strikes had killed the leader of the Iranian covert unit, which had planned to assassinate Trump in 2024.
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Dan Caine, the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, who also spoke at the briefing, said more than 20 Iranian naval vessels have been destroyed and that the US has “effectively neutralised Iran’s major naval presence.” ”.
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Hegseth said that the US is investigating the deadly strike on a girls’ school in Iran that killed a reported 168 people on Saturday but provided no further detail. “All I can say is that we’re investigating and that we, of course, never target civilian targets,” Hegseth said.
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The US and Israel’s airstrikes against Iran continued, with the Israeli military announcing a “broad wave of strikes” against Tehran’s security forces. In turn, Iran upped its retaliatory strikes against Israeli and US targets across the region, with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait all announcing Iranian attacks today.
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Lebanon’s health ministry said on Wednesday that Israeli strikes on two towns south of Beirut killed six people and wounded eight. Aramoun and Saadiyat are both towns outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds. Meanwhile, the Israeli military issued an “urgent warning” to residents of a large swathe of southern Lebanon, urging them to evacuate to the north of the Litani River. The UN reports that heavy Israeli airstrikes have displaced at least 30,000 people in Lebanon.
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Clerics in Iran said they were close to choosing a successor to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to state media. It has been widely suggested that his second son, Mojtaba Khamenei, could replace him.
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The authorities have postponed the funeral ceremony for Khamenei that was supposed to take place on Wednesday night in Tehran. The state media, citing officials, reported that the funeral was delayed to allow time for expanded infrastructure because of “overwhelming demand.” No timeframe was given as to when the funeral would take place.
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The death toll in Iran has reached 1,045, according to Iranian officials. Iran’s Foundation of Martyrs and Veteran Affairs said the death toll represented the number of bodies that had been identified and prepared for burial, state media reported.
An Iranian official said the country has not sent any messages to the US. In response to an earlier Axios report, Iran’s Tasnim news agency said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Axios reported that the Iranians had sent messages to the US over the last few days, but the US did not respond, citing an American official and a second source.
“No message has been sent from Iran to the US, nor will any response be given to US messages. Tasnim quoted the unnamed official as saying, “Iran’s armed forces have prepared themselves for a long war.”
US citizens urged to leave Iraq as soon as possible, state department says
The US State Department is urging US citizens currently in Iraq to leave the country as soon as possible.
The department’s consular affairs official X account wrote on Wednesday that “US citizens in Iraq are strongly encouraged to depart as soon as they are safely able to do so and shelter in place until such time as conditions are safe to depart. Have a supply of food, water, medications, and other essential items.
Reports claim that Kurdish Iranian militias have launched a ground offensive in north-western Iran
Reports are coming in that Kurdish Iranian militias have launched a ground offensive in northwestern Iran.
Israeli news television channel i24News says a US official has confirmed the offensive in Iran. A correspondent for Axios also reported confirmation from a senior American official, and a correspondent for Fox News wrote on X that “thousands” of Iraqi Kurds have launched a ground offensive in Iran, according to a US official source.
Kurdish Iranian dissident groups based in northern Iraq are preparing for a potential cross-border military operation in Iran, and the US has asked Iraqi Kurds to support them, Kurdish officials told the Associated Press.
Kurdish party leaders have also discussed the Iran crisis with Trump, according to Iraqi Kurdish officials. One official says Trump has asked them to open the border and back the groups militarily.
Many view the Kurdish groups as the most well-organised segment of the fragmented Iranian opposition, boasting thousands of trained fighters. Their entry into the war could pose a significant challenge to the embattled authorities in Tehran and they could also risk pulling Iraq further into the conflict.
Asked about reports that the Trump administration was considering arming Iranian Kurdish groups, the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, told reporters Wednesday, “None of our objectives are premised on the support or arming of any particular force. ” So, we are aware of other entities that may be doing this, but our objectives are not centred on them.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has offered to help other countries in their fight against Iranian drones and missiles.
“I held a meeting to discuss developments in the situation in the Middle East and the Gulf region, and we discussed the challenges facing Ukraine and our partners, as well as our potential to contribute to protecting lives, preventing the expansion of war, and helping stabilise global markets,” he wrote on X on Wednesday.
Zelensky said that military and intelligence officials would “present options for assisting the relevant countries” and “provide aid in a way that does not weaken our own defence here in Ukraine.” ”.
He added, “Our army has the necessary capabilities for that. And Ukrainian experts will work on the ground, and the teams have already begun coordinating in this regard. And we are ready to contribute to protecting lives, protecting civilians, and supporting real efforts to achieve stability and restore security, including resuming safe navigation in the region.”
Ukraine has much experience fending off drones, as Russia has frequently deployed one-way attack drones, which detonate on impact, since the start of its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The State Department has said that the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, spoke with Hakan Fidan, the Foreign Minister of Turkey, on Wednesday about the recent developments in Iran and throughout the Middle East.
“The secretary told the foreign minister that attacks on Turkey’s sovereign territory were unacceptable and pledged full support from the United States,” the press release reads. “Both leaders reiterated the continued strength of the bilateral relationship.”
All scheduled Emirates flights to and from Dubai remain suspended until 7 March, says the airline.
Emirates Airlines has said that all scheduled Emirates flights to and from Dubai remain suspended until 11:59 p.m. Due to airspace closures across the region, Emirates Airlines has suspended all scheduled flights to and from Dubai until 11:59 p.m. UAE time on March 7.
“Emirates continues to operate a limited flight schedule,” they said. “We are accommodating customers with earlier bookings as a priority on these limited flights. Customers transiting in Dubai will only be accepted for travel if their connecting flight is operating.”
The Dubai International Airport has announced that “most flights remain suspended” and advised people not to come to the airport unless their airline has confirmed their departure time.
“Guests without a confirmed flight may not be able to access the terminals,” it said in a statement on social media. “Please contact your airline directly for the latest updates on your flight.”
‘We’re doing very well on the war front,’ Donald Trump said.
As Donald Trump kicked things off for his roundtable event with tech companies today, he noted that those in the room “probably want to speak about war” rather than energy costs linked to the rapid buildout of data centers across the country.
“We’re doing very well on the war front,” the president added. “If we didn’t do it first, they would have done it to Israel … “They would have had a nuclear weapon if we hadn’t hit within two weeks.”
He added that the ongoing military action against Iran is depleting the regime’s leadership. “Everybody who seems to want to be a leader, they end up dead,” the president said.
The Israeli military has said that it has launched a new wave of strikes on Tehran.
The Associated Press is reporting that the Israeli military says the strikes on the Iranian capital are targeting “military infrastructure”.
White House spokesperson refuses to rule out US boots on the ground but says ‘they’re not part of the plan’
During today’s White House press briefing, Karoline Leavitt did not rule out the possibility of US troops on the ground in Iran.
“They’re not part of the plan for this operation at this time,” Leavitt said. “But I certainly will never take away military options on behalf of the president of the United States … and he wisely does not do the same for himself.”
She pointed out that numerous leaders in the past have eliminated options without fully comprehending the potential outcomes. ”.
The uncertainty surrounding American troops on the ground contrasts sharply with Donald Trump’s campaign, which prioritised avoiding US involvement in foreign conflicts.
More details have emerged about four of the American service members who were killed in an unmanned aircraft system attack in the Shuaiba port in Kuwait on Sunday, the first known US fatalities since the US and Israel launched their military campaign against Iran on Saturday.
The US Department of Defence identified the US soldiers on Tuesday evening as: Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35; Sgt. First Class Nicole M. Amor, 39; Sgt. Declan J. Coady, 20; and Sgt. First Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42.
Donald Trump and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, spoke on Wednesday about US military operations in its conflict with Iran, a source close to Macron told Reuters.
Macron also raised in the call the issue of Lebanon, which has been drawn into the spillover of the crisis, the French source said, according to Reuters.
