Gen. Randy George, the U.S. Army's top uniformed officer, was asked to step down Thursday by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Pentagon officials have not given a reason for the departure, which comes during the Iran war and is the latest of more than a dozen firings of top generals and admirals.
Iran is firing more missiles at Israel and Gulf Arab states, with a spokesperson for its military insisting Thursday that Tehran maintains hidden stockpiles
of arms, munitions and production facilities.
In Lebanon, where Israel has launched a ground invasion against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, Israeli strikes have killed 27 people in a single day, Lebanon's Health Ministry said.
Stocks recovered most of their losses from earlier in the day, though oil prices remained elevated after Trump failed to offer a clear timetable for ending the conflict in his address. U.S. crude oil was up 8.4% at $108.82 per barrel, pulling back from over $110.
In his address Wednesday night, U.S. President Donald Trump said U.S. forces will keep hitting Iran “very hard” in the next two or three weeks and bring the country “back to the Stone Ages,” even as he touted the success of U.S. operations and argued that all of Washington’s objectives have so far been met or exceeded.
Here is the latest:
Thursday’s comments by Kazem Gharibabadi, an Iranian diplomat, quoted by the state-run IRNA news agency, described the proposal as “intended to facilitate and ensure safe passage and provide better services to ships passing through this route.”
Iran’s attacks on shipping in the region, as well as reportedly demanding as much as $2 million for passage through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, have created a stranglehold on the route.
It is unclear what the proposal would mean. Oman did not immediately acknowledge it. The strait runs through Iranian and Omani territorial waters but is considered an international waterway that should freely allow ships to pass.
“Naturally, when we face an act of aggression, navigation encounters serious problems, and this is the result of the aggressive act,” Gharibabadi said. “We are currently at war and cannot expect pre-war rules to govern wartime conditions.”
The largest American aircraft carrier in service sailed out of Split and “remains poised for full mission tasking in support of national objectives in any area of operation,” the Navy’s 6th Fleet announced.
It was unclear where it was going. It went to Croatia after a stop in Souda Bay, Greece, for repairs after a fire in its laundry room. It underwent further repairs in Croatia and saw its sailors take liberty while at port.
The Ford left Norfolk, Virginia, on June 24, 2025, making its deployment one of the longest in Navy history.
If it heads to the Middle East, it would have to pass through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. Yemen’s Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, have entered the war and begun firing on Israel, meaning the Ford could face fire from them.
The USS Abraham Lincoln remains in the Arabian Sea. The U.S. military’s Central Command said Friday that it “continues to conduct flight operations, both day and night.”
The USS George H. W. Bush aircraft carrier departed Norfolk on Wednesday to head to the Mideast.
The state-run news agency Tass quoted Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev as saying Moscow was preparing for “the final wave of evacuations” from Bushehr, which would include more than 200 people. The company plans to leave a small number of “volunteers” behind to run the reactor.
Likhachev said Russia would request a ceasefire from the Americans and the Israelis to allow the evacuation. Russia and Iran say there have been multiple incidents of fire on the plant, but the International Atomic Energy Agency say there has been no damage to the reactor or radiological release from the site.
Bushehr took decades to build and finally open, with its power plant connecting to the Iranian grid in 2011 with Russian assistance. It runs a pressurized-water reactor that generates up to 1,000 megawatts of electricity. That can power hundreds of thousands of homes and other businesses and industries. But it contributes only 1% to 2% of Iran’s power.
A first face-to-face meeting with FIFA President Gianni Infantino since the U.S. and Israel started a war against Iran on Feb. 28 made genuine progress in soccer diplomacy at the end of a fraught month.
The Iranian soccer federation’s upbeat readout of the meeting in Turkey made no mention of moving World Cup games to Mexico — a subject Infantino has repeatedly shut down for the past two weeks.
Infantino also offered tangible help for the squad to prepare for the World Cup in the next two months. Most Iran players are with clubs in the national league that has shut down during the war.
Iran’s World Cup hosts in Arizona said this week that they were pressing on with training camp upgrades plus local and federal security plans — echoing the “stick to the schedule” mantra FIFA has used.
The Iranian delegation is due in Tucson no later than June 10.
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Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s top spokesperson, said Gen. Randy George “will be retiring from his position as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army effective immediately.”
The ouster is the latest of more than a dozen firings of top generals and admirals by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. As with many of those, Pentagon officials are not offering a reason for George’s departure, which comes nearly five weeks into U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran and with no clear timeline from the president on when the war may end.
George has held the post of Army chief of staff, which typically runs for four years, since August 2023, under the Biden administration.
He is a graduate of West Point Military Academy and an infantry officer who served in the first Gulf War as well as Iraq and Afghanistan. He was former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s top military aide from 2021 to 2022.
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The war is making life more difficult for small business owners across the country, who are grappling with shipping complications, higher costs and consumers tightening their grip on their wallets.
A shoe designer is struggling to import its shoes from Vietnam; a pistachio grower has millions of dollars worth of pistachio exports sitting in the water; a home landscaper in Kansas City is stockpiling fertilizer as prices skyrocket; and a Chicago electronics store owner is facing pain at the pump.
Small business owners say the severe supply chain disruptions during the pandemic were worse — but they fear that if the war stretches on for months, it might start to come close.
“The costs are rising, the routes are changing, and capacity is tightening. It’s all happening at the same time, and that’s a perfect storm for small businesses,” said Brandon Fried, executive director of the Airforwarders Association, a trade group for U.S companies that move cargo through the supply chain on all modes of transport.
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The strikes also wounded 95 people who had gathering under the bridge and along the riverbank to celebrate “Nature Day,” Iran’s state media said, citing authorities in Alborz province.
Trump referenced the strike on the B1 bridge, which he called Iran’s biggest, in a social media post saying “much more to follow.” Iranian officials condemned the destruction of civilian infrastructure. The bridge was still under construction.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has asked the Army’s top uniformed officer, Gen. Randy George, to step down, the Pentagon said Thursday, as the United States wages a war against Iran.
A Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, confirmed that George has been asked to take early retirement from the post of Army chief of staff, which he has held since August 2023.
The ouster of George is just the latest of more than a dozen firings of top generals and admirals by Hegseth since he first took office last year.
CBS News was first to report the ouster.
— Konstantin Toropin.
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The U.N. Security Council has scheduled a vote at 11 a.m. EDT Friday on a Bahrain-sponsored resolution authorizing use of defensive means — but not offensive — to secure international navigation in the Strait of Hormuz which has been mostly blocked by Iran.
The final draft to be voted on, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, makes significantly waters down earlier proposals.
Previous drafts would have authorized countries “to use all necessary means” — U.N. language including possible military action — to secure passage and deter attempts to interfere with international navigation.
The final draft authorizes countries “to use all defensive means necessary and commensurate with the circumstances in the Strait of Hormuz and adjacent waters” to secure passage and deter attempts to interfere with international navigation “for a period of at least six months.”
Russia and China had strongly opposed the previous drafts authorizing possible offensive action.
Stocks overcame early losses to finish Thursday’s trading with slim gains and close out their first winning week since the start of the Iran war.
Oil prices remained elevated, however, at $111.54 for a barrel of U.S. crude, having soared following Trump’s national address late Wednesday, where he vowed the U.S. will continue to attack Iran and failed to offer a clear timetable for ending the conflict.
“For markets, a prolonged conflict increases the risk of sustained pressures on inflation, global growth, interest rates, and equity valuations,” wrote Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist for LPL Financial, in a note to investors.
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Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Thursday evening that striking civilian infrastructure “only conveys the defeat and moral collapse of an enemy in disarray.”
Araghci’s comments came after Trump shared footage on social media of a section of a bridge collapsing in Iran, threatening more attacks. Araghci’s post on X contained a photo of what appeared to be the same bridge.
“Every bridge and building will be built back stronger. What will never recover: damage to America’s standing,” he wrote.
The daughter of a leading Iranian human rights lawyer is confirming her mother was detained by Iranian intelligence agents in Tehran overnight.
Attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh is renowned for defending activists, opposition politicians and women prosecuted for removing their headscarves. She has been imprisoned multiple times. Her activist husband, Reza Khandan, is behind bars in Tehran’s infamous Evin prison.
Their daughter Mehraveh Khandan spoke with The Associated Press from Amsterdam. She said her mother has a heart condition, and she’s worried both because U.S.-Israeli attacks may hit detention facilities and because “our regime became even more brutal after this war started.”
Iranian authorities have intensified their crackdown on dissent. Hundreds of people have reportedly been arrested, often for communicating with foreign media. Days before her arrest, Sotoudeh told an interviewer with a Persian media outlet that the Islamic Republic’s policies “have exposed us to death.”
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels said this was a joint operation with Iran and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, said in a prerecorded statement that the group’s intervention in the war is “a gradual one,” and they will “deal with future developments according to the enemy’s escalation or de-escalation.”
Earlier Thursday, the Israeli military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen.
The Houthis had remained on the war’s sidelines until Saturday, when they claimed a missile attack against Israel.
There are growing concerns that the Houthis could start attacking shipping in the Red Sea, as they did during the war in Gaza, or oil facilities in the Persian Gulf, as they did previously during Yemen’s civil war.
This latest Trump venture, Powerus, has its sights on $1.1 billion set aside by the Pentagon to build up a U.S. manufacturing base for armed drones to fill a hole left when the Trump administration banned such imports from China.
The Florida-based company denied any conflicts when it announced the Trump brothers’ deal. Asked about potential Powerus conflicts of interest specifically, Eric Trump sent the AP a statement last month saying, “I am incredibly proud to invest in companies I believe in. Drones are clearly the wave of the future.”
The company recently raised $60 million from investors and hopes to tap additional financing by doing a “reverse merger” with a Trump company listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange that owns a few golf courses. Such a merger allows a private business to quickly go public, shortening the process of filing paperwork and meeting various requirements of a regular initial public offering.
A drone maker backed by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. is trying to sell to countries that now depend on the U.S. military led by their father, positioning them to benefit from the war he began.
Powerus co-founder Brett Velicovich told The Associated Press that the company is making sales pitches that include drone demonstrations in several Gulf countries to show how its defensive drone interceptors could help them ward off Iranian attacks.
“These countries are under enormous pressure to buy from the sons of the president so he will do what they want,” said Richard Painter, a former chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush. “This is going to be the first family of a president to make a lot of money off war — a war he didn’t get the consent of Congress for.”
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The Pakistani government called Thursday’s increase unavoidable as global oil costs climb because of the Iran war. The government raised prices by 137 rupees (49 cents) per liter, after already increasing prices by roughly 20% last month.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the conflict has hit Pakistan’s economy hard and that he is trying to bring Washington and Tehran to the negotiating table.
The complaint filed Thursday with France’s war crimes unit in Paris involves an Israeli strike on a Beirut apartment building in November 2024, well before the current war. The International Federation for Human Rights says it killed seven civilians, including the parents of a French-Lebanese artist, Ali Cherri.
The human rights group said the strike hit just hours before a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect, and that bombing a civilian building could constitute a war crime under French criminal law and international humanitarian law. Amnesty International said its own investigation found no evidence of a military objective in or near the building, and that civilians received no effective advance warning.
Israel ’s Foreign Ministry referred questions to Israel’s military, which did not immediately respond Thursday, but has said it follows international legal norms and strikes only legitimate military targets.
Iraq relies on oil revenues for roughly 90% of its budget, and most of it is exported through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed since the Iran war began with U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Tehran. The war also has led to a sharp reduction in the volume of imported goods reaching southern Iraq’s ports, and halted traffic at Iraq’s border with Iran.
Unlike other countries in the Middle East touched by the war, Iraq hosts both entrenched Iran-aligned forces and significant U.S. interests, exposing it to attacks from both sides.
Iran has offered assurances that Iraqi crude can safely transit the Strait of Hormuz, said Bassem Abdul Karim, the head of Iraq’s Basra Oil Company.
However, because Iraq lacks its own tanker fleet and depends on chartered vessels, shipments ultimately hinge on whether tanker owners are willing to accept the heightened risks. Most are not.
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An Iranian human rights activist has described attacks on her area of eastern Tehran.
“For two or three nights the sky was full of drones. I constantly saw them,” she said, speaking with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for her safety.
A dissident and former political prisoner, she said U.S.-Israeli strikes are doing growing harm. Trump’s threat to send Iran back to the Stone Age was “offensive” and recalled the brutal 13th century Mongol invasion of Iran, she added.
“The truth is: their problem isn’t with the Islamic Republic, it’s with Iran,” she added, pointing to what she said were recent strikes on steel plants, a pharmaceutical company and a landmark Tehran health institute.
She described seeing “completely” destroyed homes scattered across the capital, especially in a low-income neighborhood, Resalat. Iran’s Red Crescent has reported extensive damage to homes and civilian sites.
— Amir-Hussein Radjy in Cairo
“All necessary measures” is language used by the United Nations that includes military action.
At a U.N. Security Council meeting Thursday, the secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council said Iran’s retaliatory attacks on its neighbors had exceeded “all red lines.”
Jassim Albudaiwi also stressed that the six GCC nations must be included in any discussions or agreements with Iran on ensuring regional security.
Bahrain, the current U.N. Security Council president and a GCC member, has said it wants a vote Friday on a resolution calling on countries “to use all necessary means” to ensure international transit “in the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.”
It faces opposition from veto-wielding Russia and China.
The near-daily changes in U.S. gas prices have been dizzying for drivers. Experts say differences in price aren’t typically decided by any individual gas retailer, and most of them aren’t pocketing the extra pennies when prices rise.
U.S. gas prices are climbing fast, and drivers are paying the highest pump prices since 2022 as the Iran war shakes oil markets.
The national average jumped past $4 a gallon this week. The Energy Information Administration says about half the price covers crude oil, and about 20% goes to refiners.
The near-daily changes in U.S. gas prices are dizzying for drivers, who are left feeling frustrated and cash-strapped as the Iran war pushes up prices worldwide. In his speech on the Iran war, Trump asked Americans for patience.
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“All necessary measures” is language used by the United Nations that includes military action.
At a U.N. Security Council meeting Thursday, the secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council said Iran’s retaliatory attacks on its neighbors had exceeded “all red lines.” Jassim Albudaiwi also stressed that the six GCC nations must be included in any discussions or agreements with Iran on ensuring regional security.
Bahrain, the current U.N. Security Council president and a GCC member, has said it wants a vote Friday on a resolution calling on countries “to use all necessary means” to ensure international transit through the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
It faces opposition from veto-wielding Russia and China.
Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, said the president’s speech Wednesday night was “grounded in a reality that only exists in Donald Trump’s mind.”
“We are losing this war,” Murphy said. “We cannot destroy all their missiles or drones, nor their nuclear program. Iran projects more power in the region than they did before the war, especially if they now permanently control the Strait of Hormuz. We are spending billions we don’t have and losing American lives in a war that is destabilizing the world and making us look feckless.”
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Hossein Kermanpour, a spokesperson for Iran’s Health Ministry, said on X that the strikes on the Pasteur Institute of Iran were “a direct assault on international health security” and called on the World Health Organization and the International Committee of the Red Cross to respond.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei on X called it “heartbreaking, cruel, despicable, and utterly outrageous.” Both shared photos of destruction and rubble.
Israel’s military said it was not aware of the strikes, and U.S. Central Command did not respond to questions.
The institute is a large laboratory complex that opened more than a century ago and has a staff of more than 1,300 working on the development and manufacture of vaccines and biopharmaceuticals. The Paris-based Pasteur Network, a global health alliance spanning 32 centers worldwide, did not immediately respond to questions when contacted after business hours.
The Institute would not be the first medical facility hit during the war. Tehran's Gandhi Hospital was damaged by shrapnel and debris. Israel has previously claimed Iran struck the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot. And Lebanon's health ministry said Thursday that nine hospitals have been targeted by Israeli airstrikes so far.
