U.S. President Donald Trump had a call Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the war in Iran and other issues, which according to the Kremlin was a “frank and businesslike” conversation that lasted about an hour.
1. Heavy U.S. and Israeli bombardment of Iran has been going on for more than a week, while Iran has launched more attacks on Israel and Gulf countries. Israel is striking Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, while the militant
group fires rockets into Israel.
2. Iranian state TV announced early Monday that Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei was named supreme leader, in defiance of threats by Trump. Khamenei is seen as even more hard-line than his father, the supreme leader killed on the first day of the war. He will now be in charge of Iran’s armed forces and any decision about Tehran’s nuclear program.
3. U.S. stocks closed higher following a remarkable reversal as oil prices fell from nearly $120 per barrel below $90.
4. A 26-year-old Army staff sergeant from Kentucky was identified as the seventh U.S. service member killed during the Iran war, after being wounded on a base in Saudi Arabia on March 1. The first six deaths were Army reservists killed the same day at a Kuwaiti port.
5. New footage has raised the likelihood that the U.S. military struck an Iranian elementary school where a blast killed at least 165 people, mostly children.
Here is the latest:
Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov described the conversation as “frank and businesslike” and said it lasted about one hour.
He said the Russian president “voiced a few ideas aimed at a quick political and diplomatic settlement” of the conflict following his conversations with Gulf leaders and Iran’s president.
Trump offered his assessment of the developing situation, Ushakov said, “in the context of the ongoing U.S.-Israeli operation.” The two leaders had a “specific and useful” exchange of views, and they touched on Venezuela “in the context of the situation in the global oil market,” he said.
Iran’s capital has no citywide system of shelters or sirens to warn residents of incoming U.S. and Israeli strikes, leaving many to take cover in interior rooms and tape up windows to protect against shattered glass, a 41-year-old resident said. He said the city’s subway hasn’t become widely used as a shelter.
Because of Iran’s ongoing internet shutdown, many people there rely on satellite TV, state media and word of mouth for news about the war, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of security fears.
Mohammad Raad, the leader of Hezbollah’s bloc in the Lebanese parliament, also slammed the government for criticizing the militant group’s rocket attacks on Israel.
He made the remarks in a televised statement as top government officials urged the international community for a diplomatic resolution that maintains Lebanon’s commitment to disarming Hezbollah.
“Lebanon today is not choosing between war and peace, as some claim,” Raad said, “but between war and submission to the humiliating conditions that the enemy wants to impose on our government.”
“We will fight the enemy with our teeth and nails until we expel them from our land, in fulfillment of our religious duty,” he said.
The head of the International Maritime Organization says they were killed in “recent” attacks on merchant vessels. Arsenio Dominguez spoke earlier Monday and said several other mariners had been injured, “some of them gravely.”
He did not say who was behind the attacks and urged shipping companies to use “maximum caution” in the region. He said all parties must respect the freedom of navigation.
The venue swap for the March 21 inaugural competition featuring numerous NFL players and coaches comes amid the Iran war and travel advisories.
It was slated to be held at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, but instead will relocate to BMO Stadium, which will be the site where flag football makes its Olympic debut at the 2028 LA Games.
The French president said he started discussing a French-led initiative that will involve European and non-European nations helping to escort oil and gas tankers with the aim of gradually reopening the Strait of Hormuz off Iran “as soon as possible after the most intense phase of the conflict is over.”
Macron said he talked with some other European nations and India about the proposal, during a visit to Cyprus.
“We are preparing this mission with our partners,” he said. The mission’s purpose would be “strictly peaceful and defensive”, he said and would come only when most strikes stop. “It is essential to our economies and to the global economy” to ensure freedom of navigation and maritime security in the region, he said.
The leader of Yemen’s Houthi rebels congratulated Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei on being selected as the new supreme leader in Iran, calling it a “significant achievement in these exceptional circumstances.”
In a statement, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi says the group is supporting Iran “against aggression and tyranny” without saying whether the group would join the war.
Iran has long backed Houthis, considered the strongest within Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” that includes Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and Hamas. The Houthis follow a branch of Shiite Islam that is almost exclusively found in Yemen.
Just a few days ago, Father Pierre al-Rai had appeared in a widely circulated video saying that he would not leave the village, despite the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militants in the border area.
“I am ready to die in my home, because it is my home,” he said in the video, adding that “the only weapons we carry are peace, goodness and love.”
There was no Israeli statement on his death. The Israeli military has issued several broad evacuation warnings telling residents in the area south of the Litani River to leave, as it is carrying out heavy bombardment that it says targets Hezbollah sites.
Residents of Qlayaa protested to demand the Lebanese army increase its presence around the town and prevent armed groups from entering the area, the National News Agency reported.
John Healey said Typhoon jets successfully took out two drones, one over Jordan and the second heading to Bahrain. He did not give more details.
He also confirmed that the first U.S. bomber aircraft landed at an airbase in England on Friday, after the U.K. gave the U.S. permission to use British bases for specific defensive operations.
Healey added Monday the destroyer HMS Dragon would set sail for the eastern Mediterranean “in the next couple of days,” where it would join U.S. air defense vessels.
The two-week school closure would affect about 40 million students in a country of roughly 250 million.
In response to soaring global oil prices, Pakistan is also telling half its state employees to work from home and switching colleges and universities to remote classes.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also announced a 50% cut in free fuel allocation for government vehicles for the next two months. Government offices, excluding banks, will operate four days a week.
In the CCTV released by Or Yehuda municipality, a man is seen walking next to a road as a huge explosion occurs. The man is then seen falling down, while another person rushes to help him seconds after. The municipality of Or Yehuda said Monday the man was seriously injured.
Dramatic security camera video shows a man walking next to a road as a huge explosion occurs. He then falls, apparently injured, while another person rushes to help him.
On Monday, Israel said another man was killed by Iranian missile fire in the same area, raising the country’s death toll to 11. This marked the first death from missiles in Israel in a week.
A foreign policy adviser to the office of the supreme leader told CNN on Monday that Iran is prepared for a long war with the United States, ruling out that diplomacy could end the conflict that started over a week ago.
“I don’t see any room for diplomacy anymore,” said Kamal Kharazi in an interview from Tehran. “There’s no room unless the economic pressure would be built up to the extent that other countries would intervene to guarantee (the) termination of aggression of Americans and Israelis against Iran”.
President Vladimir Putin on Monday said Russia has “repeatedly warned that attempts to destabilize the situation in the Middle East will inevitably jeopardize” the global energy market, raising prices and limiting supplies.
The Russian leader emphasized that Moscow is a “reliable energy supplier” and will continue to supply oil and gas to “countries that themselves are reliable partners,” like those in the Asia-Pacific region or Slovakia and Hungary in Eastern Europe. Moreover, Russia is “increasing supplies” to its reliable partners, Putin said.
He reiterated that Russia was pondering diverting gas supplies from the European Union, where a full ban on Russian gas from 2027 was agreed, to other markets, but added that if “European buyers” change their mind, Moscow was ready to work with them.
The former North Carolina governor praised U.S. service members for diminishing the Iranian government while still criticizing the war itself. Yet Cooper sidestepped questions on what he’d do about it in Washington.
When asked how the Senate could limit the war and whether he’d vote for the war powers resolution that failed, Cooper said generally that Congress should “take back constitutional authority, particularly on declaration of war.” He twice expressed concern that Iran could become “a forever war.”
“I fear that there is no exit strategy for this war, and we’ve been told so many reasons why we got into it,” he said, adding that rising oil prices add to already burdensome costs for consumers.
Then he pivoted the question to his campaign to “make stuff cost less.”
“When I get to the Senate,” he said, “I’m going to be focused on costs.”
Turkey requested an “explanation” over the firing of the ballistic missile during the meeting and conveyed its “reaction and concerns,” a Turkish official said.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations.
— By Suzan Fraser
Trump will provide an update on Iran and answer questions from reporters.
He is expected to begin the news conference at approximately 5:30 p.m. EDT. That’s after the markets close and as concerns have risen about high oil and gasoline prices because of the war.
More than 200 kilograms (440 pounds) of enriched uranium were stored in barrels at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site, says Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
It was enriched up to 60% purity — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
“The widespread assumption is that the material is still there,” Grossi said, speaking to reporters in Paris. The IAEA and others that watch the facility through satellite imagery and other means “haven’t seen movement indicating that the material could have been transferred.”
He cautioned that until the IAEA has been able to inspect the facility, “we will not be able to tell you 100 percent.” But he added: “That material was in barrels, in barrels that were sealed by the IAEA. So it remains to be seen whether they are still there, but the widespread assumption is that they are still there.”
Throngs of people poured into Enghelab, or Revolution, square in Tehran to pledge their backing for the choice of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s former supreme leader, after his father Ali Khamenei was killed in the opening salvoes of the war on Feb. 28.
Demonstrators waved flags of the Islamic Republic and chanted slogans like “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” 10 days into a devastating war that has engulfed the wider Middle East.
Many shook their fists and held photos of the father and son aloft under blue skies.
“Today we are here to pledge to Grand Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei that we will sacrifice our blood to the leadership,” said demonstrator Assad Assadi. “We also want to tell the criminal America not to interfere in the affairs of Iran and the region.”
Trump announced the news conference in a social media post in which the Republican president laid out his schedule for Monday.
He said it would begin at approximately 5:30 p.m. EDT — after the markets close and with concerns rising about high oil and gasoline prices because of the war. Trump did not say if the news conference would be about a particular topic. The White House had no immediate comment.
Trump was spending Monday at his Miami-area golf club and having “many important meetings and phone calls” while there, according to the post. He said he’s attending a 4 p.m. fundraiser for House Speaker Mike Johnson and will hold the news conference before he returns to the White House.
House Republicans are also meeting there on Monday for a legislative retreat.
Trump arrived in the Miami area on Friday for a summit at the club on Saturday with Latin American and Caribbean leaders.
However, any damage to the Isfahan site appears to be minor, said Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog.
He didn’t say when the site was struck or by which countries’ forces. Satellite images of Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility have also shown damage to buildings and additional damage across the facility’s complex.
“Since the beginning of this campaign, we’ve seen some impacts in Natanz — a couple — and one in Isfahan. Not a very major one, I should say,” Grossi said, speaking to reporters in Paris.
“What we saw was an impact close to one axis, to one of the tunnels there and this is all we saw,” he said.
France will deploy eight warships, including the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and two helicopter carriers, to the Eastern Mediterranean and wider Middle East to bolster security around the European Union’s eastern frontier, President Emmanuel Macron said Monday.
Speaking in Cyprus days after a drone struck the British base on the island — the first attack of the war on European soil — Macron also said France is working on an initiative to escort oil and gas tankers through the Strait of Hormuz once the conflict’s most intense phase eases.
Israel’s ambassador to the U.N. said Iran’s new supreme leader “is more of the same — same ideology, same radical ideas” as his late father.
“Anyone who will promote those radical ideas against us, we will target them,” Danny Danon told reporters. “We will find them.”
Danon was asked whether Israel supports Trump’s statement that the U.S. president should have a say in choosing Iran’s next leader.
“There is no daylight between the U.S. and Israel,” he said, then added, “I think it’s for the people of Iran to choose their next leadership.”
“We will have to create the conditions for them, and that’s what we are doing now,” the ambassador said. “But eventually they will have to stand up, rise up and choose their own leadership.”
