Morning opening: EU meets to consider its response as countries consider feasibility of evacuation plans
A so-called “security college” of the European Commission is set to meet today as the EU considers its options given the escalating situation in the Middle East.
The bloc’s foreign ministers spoke in an online emergency meeting last night. The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, warned later regarding the possibility of further tension in the area. He also stressed the importance of keeping vital waterways open, such as the Strait of Hormuz.
But many countries are also planning to evacuate some of their citizens from the region. Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to be stranded either in transit or on holiday in the wider affected area.
I will closely monitor their plans. As we can see, some countries are working in teams to evacuate their citizens from the area.
Life doesn’t stop all over Europe so I’ll bring you all the major updates from across the continent, includingEmmanuel Macron’s much-anticipated speech on nuclear deterrence this afternoon.
For our main coverage of the Middle East, you can follow this blog:
About 27 million tons of Saharan dust delivers about 22,000 tons of phosphorus to the Amazon annually. Image: NASA
In 2015, scientists reported evidence that vast plumes of dust from the Sahara Desert help replenish phosphorus in the Amazon rainforest, linking the world’s largest desert to its largest rainforest in what researchers described as one of the planet’s most important natural nutrient transfers. the conclusions were detailed in the papers. Led by atmospheric scientist Hongbin Yu of the University of Maryland’s Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC), who is working with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. results published in a geophysical research paper and in a related study on remote sensing of the environment.
10,000-mile-long atmospheric river
Scientists have known for decades that large plumes of Saharan dust travel thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean, creating giant grey clouds visible from space before settling over South America. In April 2015, NASA described this connection as a “10,000-mile-long intermittent atmospheric river of dust” connecting Africa and the Amazon basin. Using data from NASA’s Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation Satellite With CALIPSO, launched in 2006, Yu and colleagues first quantified how much dust completes the trans-Atlantic journey. According to the team, an average of 182 million tonnes of dust comes out of the Sahara every year. Of that, 27.7 million tonnes, about 15 per cent, are deposited annually in the Amazon basin. Another analysis reported the region to be 28.8 million tonnes. NASA compared the total to approximately 689,290 semi-truckloads of dust coming out of the desert and 104,908 semi-trucks full of dust dumped into the Amazon each year.
The lidar instrument aboard the Calypso satellite sends pulses of light that bounce off particles in the atmosphere and back to the satellite. It separates dust from other particles on the basis of optical properties. Credit: Scientific Visualization Studio, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
CALIPSO, which stands for “Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation,” uses a laser to look at the atmosphere and check how dust and other tiny particles are spread out vertically, allowing it to track the movement of the Sahara-Amazon plume in three dimensions from 200
Phosphorus: a missing nutrient
The Amazon rainforest is famous for its biodiversity, but it is also characterised by nutrient-poor soils. About 90 per cent of Amazon soil is deficient in phosphorus, a nutrient essential for plant growth. Heavy rainfall and river systems leach thousands of tonnes of nutrients, including phosphorus and nitrogen, out of the basin each year. Across the Atlantic, the Sahara has significant phosphorus reserves, particularly in the Bodele Depression in Chad, an ancient lake rich in the remains of long-dead microorganisms. Frequent dust storms from this region lift phosphorus-containing particles into the atmosphere. In a 2015 geophysical research paper, Yu and colleagues provided the first satellite-based estimate of how much phosphorus is transported within that dust. After analysing CALIPSO data with dust samples collected from research stations in Chad, Barbados and Miami, the team concluded that about 22,000 tonnes of phosphorus reach the Amazon annually from the Sahara.
An aerial view of fishing boats of the Caju Una community fishing in Porto Stream, Marajó Island, Pará state, Brazil, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Perez)
This figure closely matches the estimated amount of phosphorus lost each year from the rainforest through hydrological processes. “It’s a small world, and we’re all connected,” Yu said at the time. The researchers wrote in the paper, “This suggests that African dust may have a significant impact on maintaining the health of the Amazon rainforest over the long term. Without phosphorus input from African dust, hydrological losses would greatly reduce soil phosphorus reserves on time scales of decades or centuries and affect the health and productivity of the Amazon rainforest.” However, he cautioned that uncertainties remain, noting that they still do not know “the amount of dust needed to provide enough phosphorus to maintain the productivity of the Amazon rainforest.”
Extreme Variability and Sahel Link
The researchers also found that the amount of dust transported across the Atlantic fluctuates rapidly from year to year. Between 2007 and 2011, there was an 86 per cent difference between the largest dust plume recorded in 2007 and the smallest dust plume in 2011. Yu and colleagues identified a possible link between precipitation and dust transport in the Sahel, a semi-arid region south of the Sahara. When rainfall increased in the Sahel, the amount of dust transported across the Atlantic was reduced.
Dust and sand blown from the Sahara Desert covered parts of Europe, turning the sky and snow orange.
The exact mechanism remains uncertain. Yu suggested that increased rainfall could promote vegetation growth in the Sahel, thereby reducing exposed soil available for wind erosion. Alternatively, the rainfall pattern may be related to wind systems that lift dust into the upper atmosphere, which acts as a transportation corridor toward the Americas. “We know that dust is very important in many complex ways,” Yu said. “Dust affects climate and at the same time, climate change will affect dust as well.” He added, “As researchers, we ask ourselves two basic questions: ‘How much dust is transported? And how does climate change affect the amount of dust traveling across the Atlantic?'”
ScienceCast: Desert dust nourishes Amazon forests
a global earth system connection
Each individual dust particle measures only a fraction of the width of a human hair, yet collectively they create one of the largest intercontinental material transfers on Earth. The work of Yu and colleagues highlighted the extent to which distant ecosystems remain interconnected through atmospheric processes. By measuring the total amount of dust and its phosphorus content, studies from 2015 showed that the Sahara helps keep the Amazon rainforest’s nutrients balanced over time, even as scientists look into how changes in climate might impact this important exchange across the Atlantic.
A shooting at a bar in Texas has claimed the lives of at least three people, including the alleged gunman.
The FBI is investigating whether the shooting was an act of terrorism.
Authorities say 14 others were injured after the incident in Central Austin. The FBI is investigating whether the shooting was an act of terrorism due to “indicators” found on the gunman and his vehicle.
Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis told reporters early Sunday that her force received a report of a “male shooting” just before 2 a.m. at Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden on West Sixth Street, a popular nightlife destination in the city’s entertainment district filled with bars and music clubs.
image: Photo: AP
image: Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis. Photo: AP
Ms. Davis said the suspect, who was driving an SUV, drove past the bar several times before putting on the vehicle’s indicators, opening his window, and “shooting up.” [through the open window] With a pistol, striking patrons in the bar’s courtyard and in front of the bar.”
When police arrived at the scene, they found a man with a gun and three officers “returned fire, killing the suspect” at an intersection.
Ms. Davis said they were lucky because there were a number of officers nearby at the time, and as the bars were closing, they were “able to get here quickly.”
Robert Luckritz, the chief of Emergency Medical Services, reported that they found three people dead at the scene and transported the injured to hospitals. The condition of three of the injured is critical.
image: Photo: AP
Mr. Luckritz said he received “a call” at 1.39 a.m., and within 57 seconds, the first paramedics and officers were on the scene actively treating patients.
Senator Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on Sunday that there is “no easy answer” to who will lead Iran. Death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a large-scale US-Israeli military operation a day before.
“I don’t think anyone can give you a simple answer to that,” Cotton said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan”. “There’s probably a lot of friction going on inside Iran right now; they have a very consultative, deliberative process to replace the supreme leader. That’s why he didn’t want to have a clear succession plan.”
The US and Israel launched a major military operation inside Iran on Saturday, which continued on Sunday. Iranian state media said at least 200 people were killed in the country, while Iran retaliated with attacks on Israel and allies in the Middle East, killing at least six people in Israel and one in Abu Dhabi and wounding dozens of others.
President Trump said Saturday that 86-year-old Khamenei, who had ruled Iran as supreme leader since 1989 and was only the second person to hold the role, was among those killed. The Israel Defence Forces said at a news conference on Saturday that seven Iranian officers and commanders were killed, including Khamenei adviser Ali Shamkhani.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in January that “I don’t think anyone can give you a simple answer to what happens next in Iran if the supreme leader and the regime fall, other than the hope that they have someone within their system who has the ability to work toward an equitable transition.”
Cotton said Sunday that Rubio was “right.”
Asked about Rubio’s comments, Cotton said Sunday that Rubio is “right”, but also said he expected there to be a situation like Venezuela, where Delsey Rodriguez was sworn in as president shortly after the U.S. captured then-President Nicolas Maduro.
Cotton said the US would continue to attack Iran’s “military capabilities, and we will continue to attack the senior leadership, the Ayatollahs.”
But when pressed by Brennan to identify who the new leadership would be, Cotton responded by saying it should come from “the opposition,” which he defined as “the 90 million Iranians who have suffered under the brutal Islamic Republic’s revolutionary regime for the past 47 years.”
Cotton insisted there would be no “large-scale ground forces” inside Iran, despite Mr Trump saying on Saturday there could be American casualties as part of the military operation.
“The president has no plans for any kind of massive ground force inside Iran,” Cotton told Brennan.
Cotton underlined that “one risk” of an “extended air and naval operation” is that “a plane could be shot down, and the President would never leave a pilot behind. So there is no doubt that we have combat search and rescue assets in the area ready to go in and extract any downed pilots.”
Since stepping down from royal duties and moving to the US in 2020,
the couple have taken several trips that have been compared to royal trips and tours, as they are similar in nature. As well as their short visit to Jordan, the pair also made an on-screen appearance at the NAACP Image Awards in Los Angeles on Thursday, an appearance which also reflected on the work of the working royals.
In a poll conducted by the Daily Express, which ran between 9.30 a.m. on February 26 and 3.30 p.m. on March 1, fans were asked whether they would like to see Meghan and Harry do more trips, like “royal tours.”
Only 212 out of 8,396 people voted [3 per cent] that they would like to see the couple on more “royal tours”.
A staggering 8,163 people [97 percent] Polled who they would not like to see the pair on “royal tours”, with an additional 21 people [zero percent] Sharing that they weren’t sure how they felt about more “royal visits”.
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One fan commented in the comments section: “They’re not royal so they can’t do royal trips.”
SmartTraveller tells Australians not to travel to most countries in the Middle East
SmartTraveler has updated its list of countries not to travel to in the Middle East as conflict escalates in the region.
Countries include:
Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
The website says Australians should reconsider travelling to Jordan, Oman, and Saudi Arabia.
In a statement this morning, the Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, said Australians should expect travel disruption.
We understand that these circumstances will be a challenging time for many people, especially those who have family in the area or are planning a visit.
The Albany Government’s priority is the safety and security of Australians. We will continue to support Australians as they navigate the disruption ahead, providing regular travel advice updates and consular assistance where we can, mindful that there are limits to what any government can do in a fast-moving and uncertain environment.
Wong warned that travellers outside the Middle East should also expect some disruptions.
The statement said Australians should:
Ensure to closely monitor events and local media.
Contact their travel agent or airlines directly to confirm their plans.
Review their travel insurance to understand what is covered in the event of cancellation.
Follow SmartReveler for the latest advice and subscribe for updates.
As mentioned earlier, State Health Minister Ryan Park announced overnight that NSW Health was conducting a rapid review of “serious hospital maintenance issues.”.
The ongoing review so far has identified 112 “non-routine” issues, Park said. Their statement acknowledged cases of mosquitoes, crickets, beetles, and a possum, as well as mould, asbestos, and leaky roofs at several hospitals—and added other issues to the list, including flies, birds, cockroaches, pigeons, bird survival, and more possums.
In a highly critical statement on Sunday, Sarah Michelle, the shadow health minister, expressed her fear that these issues were just the beginning.
Patients go to the hospital for treatment and care so that they are not put in further danger due to toxic mould or conditions caused by bird droppings and dead pigeons in ceiling cavities and air conditioning units.
America and Israel will have to explain the legal ‘basis’ for the strikes: Wong
Foreign Minister Penny Wong says Australia has no involvement in the attack on Iran, and the nuclear program cannot continue to be at risk.
Sticking to his interview with ABC News Breakfast, Wong says he has not spoken to his American counterpart, Marco Rubio. And “hopefully not,” because Australia plays a peripheral role in the region, she says.
She avoids the legality of the attacks, saying Israel and the US must clarify:
One difference between Iraq then and now is that we are not participating in these attacks. This is the first point I would make. Second, I said that its legal basis is to convince the United States and Israel.
We clearly oppose the intelligence that both the United States and Israel are citing in their decisions. Therefore, it is their job to explain its legal basis. We support action taken to ensure that Iran does not possess a nuclear weapon.
Wong was asked if we would see regime change after the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. She says that regardless of the US president, it should be up to the Iranian people. donald trump Want regime change:
The future of Iran is in the hands of the Iranian people. History teaches us that external forces cannot permanently impose regime change.
Regarding Ayatollah Khamenei, as you said, no one will mourn his death. This is the leader who is responsible for brutally killing his people.
115,000 Australians in the Middle East region
As Australians are warned not to travel to the Middle East, Penny Wong says there are about 115,000 Australians in the region, and about 11,000 regularly travel to and from Australia on Etihad, Emirates, and Qatar Airways.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast this morning, Wong says Australians will get home quickest if the government can help people get on commercial flights instead of repatriating.
The government is currently unable to help in situations where flights are cancelled, disrupted, and their locations are closed.
First we have to see whether commercial flights will resume. Given the number of people in the area, facilitating commercial flights will help them reach home the quickest. Right now, the issue is not who is flying; the issue is that nobody is flying.
SmartTraveller tells Australians not to travel to most countries in the Middle East
SmartTraveler has updated its list of countries not to travel to in the Middle East as conflict escalates in the region.
Countries include:
Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
The website says Australians should reconsider travelling to Jordan, Oman, and Saudi Arabia.
In a statement this morning, the Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, said Australians should expect travel disruption.
We understand that these circumstances will be a challenging time for many people, especially those who have family in the area or are planning a visit.
The Albany Government’s priority is the safety and security of Australians. We will continue to support Australians as they navigate the disruption ahead, providing regular travel advice updates and consular assistance where we can, mindful that there are limits to what any government can do in a fast-moving and uncertain environment.
Wong warned that travellers outside the Middle East should also expect some disruptions.
The statement said Australians should:
Ensure to closely monitor events and local media.
Contact their travel agent or airlines directly to confirm their plans.
Review their travel insurance to understand what is covered in the event of cancellation.
Follow SmartReveler for the latest advice and subscribe for updates.
Good morning, Krishna Dhanji. I am here with you for a very busy day ahead.
There will be considerable domestic reaction to the emerging situation in Iran and the Middle East with the External Affairs Minister. Penny Wong issued a statement this morning warning Australians about travel disruptions. Wong and the Defense Minister, Richard Marles: We’ll bring you the government’s media discussion interviews as they come.
As mentioned earlier, the House of Representatives is going to look quite different today, Angus Taylor. Angus Taylor will be seated in the opposition leader’s chair for the first time after his removal. Susan Le. His new-look front bench will also sit with him.
I’ve got my coffee; I hope you’ve got yours. Let’s get straight to it.
House prices flatline in Sydney and Melbourne
Cosiness: The latest home value index shows homes in Sydney and Melbourne have stabilised, with even midsized capitals recording bumper monthly gains. Perth continues to be the country’s best performer, with prices rising 27.1% over the past year.
Housing values increased 2.3% in February alone, bringing the average home up by more than $22,500. Brisbane and Adelaide are also performing better, with growth of 1.6% and 1.3%, respectively.
In contrast, Sydney and Melbourne saw zero growth in average homes over the month, a quarter of the slight decline.
Director of Research at Quotality, Tim Lawless, described the “two-speed situation” as extraordinary, saying that the property markets of major and medium-sized capitals had been diverging for years. He said low supply and high demand are leading to huge profits in other capitals.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to Guardian Australia’s politics live blog.
The federal parliament is sitting. Anthony Albanese completed 30 years in politics: Angus Taylor. This weekend marks his first week in Canberra as the opposition leader. The coalition is expected to press Labour for the return of women and children held in a camp in Syria, as well as changes to capital gains taxes on investment properties.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Penny Wong has warned Australians to expect “severe travel disruption” in the coming days due to the ongoing conflict in Iran, including changes to routes to Europe at short notice. In a statement this morning, his office said, “Many Australians in the Middle East are unable to travel due to airspace closures, including major transit hubs.”
As New South Wales prepares for budget estimates, the state’s Health Minister, Ryan Park, has ordered a rapid review of “serious” hospital maintenance issues, including cockroaches, possums, and bird lice, as well as mould, roof leaks, and asbestos.
Tehran, Iran – Major airstrikes by the United States and Israel on Tehran and other cities continue as the Iranian establishment considers its future while launching projectiles across the region.
The capital was rocked several times Sunday after a series of attacks in several neighbourhoods, with the Israeli military saying military centres were also the targets. Iranian officials have largely avoided discussing missile impacts, and Internet connectivity remained almost completely blocked for a second day.
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After Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and top commanders were killed in Tehran at the start of the war on Saturday, the Islamic Republic’s remaining top officials are insisting that the democratic establishment has a clear path forward based on its internal mechanisms.
According to laws enacted after the country’s 1979 Islamic revolution, a clerical body called the Assembly of Experts is tasked with selecting the next supreme leader.
Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian said that a new leadership council “has begun its work”
following Khamenei’s death. Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s Foreign Minister, informed Al Jazeera that the process should conclude in a few days.
A three-member council will rule until that time.
As council members, judiciary chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ezei and President Pezeshkian have vowed continuity. In a video address earlier Sunday, Pezeshkian called on pro-regime supporters to gather in mosques and on major city streets despite the war.
The third member was announced on Sunday as Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, a clerical member of the powerful constitutional watchdog known as the Guardian Council. The Expediency Council, an arbitration body, was tasked with selecting jurisprudence experts for the new council.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which was founded after the 1979 revolution and has since become a major military and economic power, is also expected to play a key role.
Mohammad Pakpour, who was appointed commander-in-chief of the IRGC less than a year ago after his predecessor was assassinated during the 12-day war with Israel, was killed on Saturday. Among those killed were Iran’s armed forces chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi, Defence Council chief Ali Shamkhani and police intelligence chief Gholam-Reza Rezaian.
The IRGC vowed revenge and launched “the heaviest offensive campaign in the history of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic against the occupied lands”. [a reference to Israel] And bases of American terrorists ”.
Army chief Amir Hatami also promised to continue defending the country, as the military claimed its warplanes bombed US targets across the region without providing footage.
Police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan said his forces are ready to fight for “public security” as the US and Israel have openly called on Iranians to protest in the streets with the goal of overthrowing the regime in the near future.
Another key figure in the Islamic republic’s power structure, security chief Ali Larijani, supported a constitutional process to decide the future leadership while reaching out to the country as it grapples with incoming Iranian missiles and drones.
In a post in Arabic on Twitter, he said Tehran does not want to attack its neighbours but considers US bases in those countries “US territory”. He also issued a separate all-caps post in English, saying, “Today we will attack them with a force they have never experienced before.”
The IRGC’s top commander and former security chief Ali Akbar Ahmadian, who served as Khamenei’s appointed representative on the Supreme Defence Council, vowed that the body would continue its work despite the killing of its top members, including Shamkhani. The council was formed to strengthen defence strategies following last June’s war with Israel, when Iran suffered heavy damage from Israeli and US bombing of its nuclear and military sites.
Hassan Khomeini, grandson of founding Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, also praised the 86-year-old Khamenei after his assassination, calling him “a hero of the Iranian people and Muslims around the world.”
Khomeini, a relatively moderate cleric, is among those whom Western media have said are likely to become the next supreme leader. Khomeini has not addressed the issue but stressed on Sunday that protecting “the sacred establishment of the Islamic Republic” is of paramount importance.
Former President Hassan Rouhani, who last week denied being part of a power grab at the height of January’s nationwide protests, said he supports the transitional council, the armed forces and the government in an effort to preserve the establishment.
Former President Mohammad Khatami condemned Khamenei’s assassination, calling it an attempt to harm Iran’s “independence and unity”. He also reiterated his previous call for reforms to frustrate the “enemies” of the religious establishment.
Controversial populist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was Iran’s president from 2005 to 2013, was killed along with several bodyguards after being targeted by Israel, some local media reports said. The state-linked Iranian Labour News Agency on Sunday, citing a knowledgeable source, denied that he was dead but did not elaborate.
Several videos from the scene of Saturday’s attacks on 72 Square in the Narmak neighbourhood of eastern Tehran showed the area where Ahmadinejad resided being targeted. A school in the same area was damaged and at least two children were killed, according to local officials, who said separately that another school strike in the city of Minab in southern Iran killed more than 150 people, many of them children.
As US and Israeli officials promise to continue attacking Iran for days or weeks, using hundreds of warplanes to target state officials, it remains to be seen where the balance of power lies inside Iran.
For now, Iranian officials are united in mourning Khamenei, who held on to power without challenge for 36 years.
The government has declared seven days of public holidays and 40 days of mourning and held large gatherings in Khamenei’s memory, including on Sunday night.
The body of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian dictator who ruled the country since 1989, was found amid the debris of his demolished compound following Israeli and US air strikes.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei died in the attacks (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Air strikes destroyed his Tehran compound, killing Iran’s dreaded Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 30 bomb blasts.
Joint US-Israeli strikes would wipe out the Iranian regime’s top brass and spread chaos throughout the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that there were “many indications” of Khamenei’s assassination before any official confirmation.
The bombing destroyed several buildings in the compound where the Supreme Leader and other key regime representatives were housed. Reports indicate that the debris revealed Khamenei, who has ruled Iran with an iron fist since 1989.
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Explosions reported across Tehran (Image: AP)
Read more: Khamenei’s death update: Iran’s leader has been assassinated and the country enters 40 days of mourning. Read more: Dubai Airport Live: Scary scenes after ‘attack’; people running to save their lives
Khamenei’s daughter, grandson, daughter and son-in-law were also killed in the bombing. State media confirmed the deaths earlier today and it is understood they lived together in the compound.
The first wave of Operation Epic Fury targeted sites associated with the Iranian regime’s security apparatus and focused on locations they claimed posed a direct threat to the US and its allies. The targets were buildings associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard as well as Iranian air and naval sites.
The purpose of the operation was to “decapitate” the country’s leadership. According to the US administration, there were no American casualties during the first phase of the operation.
Khamenei ruled Iran since 1989 (Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)
It was one of several cities targeted, they also included Bushehr, Qom, Karaj, Kermanshah and Isfahan. Netanyahu, who has long campaigned for military intervention against Iran and for decades warned of the imminent nuclear threat from the country, said in a statement, “Challenging days lie ahead for us.
“Every military action involves risk. But the risk of inaction is enormous, because if we remain inactive, we will face a nuclear Iran, an Iran with thousands of ballistic missiles, and an Iran that will work to destroy us and will be immune to our countermeasures.
“As people who desire life, we have no choice but to join this campaign. However, this time, we are doing it with the enormous combined power of the State of Israel and the United States.”
The attacks targeted key targets linked to the Iranian regime. (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Iran retaliated after the barrage on Saturday morning by attacking nearby countries that are linked to or near US bases. Iranian drones and missiles have reportedly hit countries such as Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Israel.
Iranian shells appeared to hit luxury buildings and shopping areas in Dubai, a city that is home to hundreds of thousands of Britons. Bahrain also witnessed a drone attacking a residential tower.
In early 2025, as a measles outbreak begins in West Texas, Katherine Wells knows she needs money.
Although the outbreak was centred in Gaines County, a community an hour away, Wells, who heads Lubbock’s public health department, needed more staff to respond to the multiple exposures at local pediatricians’ offices, urgent care centres, restaurants and daycares.
“We really relied on employees who weren’t hourly, because I could make them work 80 hours if I had to, which is horrible,” Wells said. In emergency planning meetings with the Texas Department of State Health Services, she asked for nearly $100,000 to hire temporary workers to help her exhausted staff.
“I was like, can I have money so that if I need a few hours of work from a retired school nurse that we’ve worked with before, I can pay them?” Wells said.
To prevent measles outbreaks from spiralling out of control, public health workers must spring into action, contacting everyone who may have been exposed to the virus as quickly as possible, determining their vaccination status or health risk, and then trying to convince them to get vaccinated or quarantine at home for three weeks.
Wells assigned at least half of its staff to work on the outbreak response in addition to their other daily duties.
What is the real cost of a measles outbreak?
Wells could not estimate how much it cost the Lubbock Health Department to contain the virus before the outbreak, which began in a mostly unvaccinated Mennonite community in late January last year and ended months later.
An NBC News/Stanford University investigation found that since 2019, more than two-thirds of counties and jurisdictions have reported significant declines in vaccination rates. In the state that tracks MMR rates, more than half of the counties—67%—are below the level needed to prevent measles outbreaks.
A shocking new report calculates the price tag for the US if rates continue to fall.
If measles vaccination rates continue to decline by just 1% annually for the next five years, the cost to the US could reach $1.5 billion per year, according to a new report. Yale School of Public Health.
Armed with existing county-level vaccination coverage data, Yale researchers used mathematical models to calculate the projected increase in measles cases, hospitalisations, and their associated medical and social costs.
Based on their estimates, $41.1 million would be needed each year to cover patients’ basic medical needs, including health insurance, and $947 million would be required for public health response efforts such as surveillance and contact tracing. The report found that lost productivity in the workforce could reach $510.4 million each year.
Dr Dave Chokshi, president of the Common Health Coalition, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public health group that partnered with Yale on the project, said measles outbreaks span all parts of the “health ecosystem”.
Chokshi, who was previously the health commissioner of New York City, said, “It is important for us to confront the humanitarian consequences of the measles outbreak.” “But we also wanted to make clear that this also has economic consequences, including lost work for employees, public health departments that are overburdened to respond, and health care systems straining to shoulder the burden of emergency response.”
Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000. Since then, sporadic outbreaks have generally stopped quickly. But declining vaccination rates have increased the risk of a large-scale outbreak and now threaten the country’s measles elimination status.
In late January 2025, as President Donald Trump was taking his second oath of office, measles cases began to spread in West Texas. Under his presidency, following the guidance of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the administration has not strongly endorsed vaccines as a way to end such outbreaks.
Instead, messaging on childhood vaccination focuses on “personal choice” rather than a public health necessity.
In the first two months of 2026, there are More than 1,000 confirmed cases of measles Nearly half of the total of 2,281 in 2025. 94 per cent of those infected were not vaccinated.
According to a recent analysis from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the initial financial loss to a community from a measles outbreak is approximately $244,480. Brian Patenaude, study author and associate professor of health economics, said local and state public health departments can expect this money to pay for resources like vaccine clinics and staffing until the outbreak is over.
“We know what elements are required in dealing with measles outbreaks and how many cases become severe and demand care because they have to be really well traced and documented,” Patenaude said.
The report, which was posted in October on medRxiv, a site that releases research before it undergoes peer review, has tracked measles outbreaks in 18 states since 2004 (not including 2025 cases in Texas, Utah, and Arizona).
Each additional case of measles incurs an average cost of $16,000 per case for contact tracing, medical expenses, and quarantine monitoring, in addition to the upfront costs. The Johns Hopkins report estimates that the cost of five cases of measles could reach $324,480, while an outbreak of 50 could cost $1 million.
In 2019, an outbreak of 72 measles cases occurred in Clark County, Washington. Health officials spent hours making sure people followed the quarantine.
“We’ve brought in personnel from the state, the CDC, and even other jurisdictions like Idaho to help with case investigation and contact tracing,” said Dr Alan Melnick, Clark County public health director. The team contacted the quarantined people daily. Ultimately, isolation resulted in 87% of subsequent measles cases, according to Melnick.
An assessment found that productivity losses from a relatively small outbreak in Clark County exceeded one million dollars.
The measles vaccine is free in America
Melnick stated that the public should be aware of the value of vaccines, as they not only save lives but also significantly reduce costs.
As a former California legislator, paediatrician Dr Richard Pan helped strengthen the state’s vaccine requirements after a measles outbreak linked to Disneyland in 2015. “People need to understand that these outbreaks come at a heavy cost,” he said. “By the way, American families are bearing that cost.”
South Carolina is struggling to contain the nation’s largest single outbreak in more than a generation. Spartanburg County has been on high alert since the fall, with at least 1,000 cases and possible exposures at fast food restaurants, stores, medical clinics, and government offices.
A Spartanburg, SC, mobile health unit. Patrick Martin/NBC News
The South Carolina Department of Public Health will not disclose how much the contact tracing, mobile vaccine clinics and increased staffing are costing.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has approved a request to redirect several million dollars previously allocated for the emergency, a department official said.
“Additionally, South Carolina requested and received $100k from the CDC available for vaccine-preventable disease reactions,” Louis Eubanks, deputy incident commander for the South Carolina Department of Public Health, said in a statement to NBC News. “South Carolina and CDC continue to discuss additional funding needs and resource support.”
A senior U.S. Department of Health and Human Services official said the CDC sent $8.5 million to seven areas of the country with measles outbreaks last year but declined to specify where or provide additional details.
“Funds were awarded based on state or local health agency requests and the availability of funds at CDC,” the person said.
As the South Carolina outbreak spreads into North Carolina, Dr David Wohl, a global health and infectious disease expert at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has sought to stem the surge beyond the 23 already confirmed cases.
“There are a lot of people in my healthcare system working on this,” Wohl said. “I can’t tell you how many calls, how many hours there are, how stressed people are.”
intangible, indirect costs
The potential economic burden of a measles outbreak can be easily calculated. It is impossible to measure the personal cost of keeping children unprotected from the world’s most contagious virus.
Hundreds of people infected with measles in the past year — more than 1 in 10, according to the CDC — have been hospitalised with dangerously high fevers, pneumonia, trouble breathing and dehydration.
Mothers and fathers have spent countless hazy hours at their child’s bedside. Most recovered. Some people survive the long-term consequences of encephalitis—an inflammation of the brain that can lead to seizures, blindness, deafness, and learning disabilities.
Measles may remain hidden in the body for up to a decade before reemerging by attacking the brain and nervous system. A condition called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis is almost always fatal.
Two little girls in Texas, ages 6 and 8, died from measles within weeks of diagnosis.
Chokshi said while the economic consequences of the measles outbreak are real, the human impact cannot be ignored. “Behind each number is a child battling a devastating disease, or a family facing an unexpected hospitalisation, and, in the worst circumstances, a death or long-term outcome from a preventable disease.”
