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Trump Removes Sanctions on Russia to Help Oil Flow Amid Iran Conflict – The New York Times
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Trump administration underestimated Iran war’s impact on Strait of Hormuz – CNN
The Pentagon and National Security Council significantly underestimated Iran’s willingness to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to US military strikes while planning the ongoing operation, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
President Donald Trump’s national security team failed to fully account for the potential consequences of what some officials have described as a worst-case scenario now facing the administration, the sources said.
While key officials from the Departments of Energy and Treasury were present for some of the official planning meetings about the operation before it started, sources said, the agency analysis and forecasts that would be integral elements of the decision-making process in past administrations were secondary considerations.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Energy Secretary Chris Wright have been key players throughout the planning and execution stages of the conflict, the sources acknowledged. But Trump’s preference of leaning on a tight circle of close advisers in his national security decision making had the effect of sidelining interagency debate over the potential economic fallout if Iran were to respond to US-Israeli strikes by closing the strait.
And now it may be weeks before the administration’s efforts to alleviate the intensifying economic fallout take hold, officials said Thursday, including high-risk naval escorts of oil tankers through the strait that the Pentagon believes are currently too dangerous to conduct. The president, meanwhile, has continued to downplay the tumult in energy markets.
The reality in the strait has left diplomatic counterparts, former US economic and energy officials and industry executives who spoke with CNN in a state of confusion and disbelief.
“Planning around preventing this exact scenario — impossible as it has long seemed — has been a bedrock principle of US national security policy for decades,” a former US official who served in Republican and Democratic administrations said. “I’m dumbfounded.”
Shipping industry executives have made regular requests to the US Navy for military escorts, all of which have been rebuffed. In regular briefings for industry participants in the region, US military officials have repeatedly made clear they have not received orders to begin any escort operation and the risks to US assets remained extremely high, according to two executives with knowledge of the matter.
Bessent told Sky News’ Wilfred Frost on Thursday that those escorts would begin “as soon as it is militarily possible.”
“That was always in our planning, that there’s a chance that US Navy, or perhaps an international coalition, will be escorting oil tankers through,” he said.
But the path to this point, sources said, appears to mark the complex convergence of geopolitical assumptions, energy market forecasts and cross-cutting strategic priorities.
Top Trump officials acknowledged to lawmakers during recent classified briefings that they did not plan for the possibility of Iran closing the strait in response to strikes, according to three sources familiar with the closed-door session.
The reason, multiple sources said, was administration officials believed closing the strait would hurt Iran more than the US — a view that was bolstered by Iran’s empty threats to act in the strait after US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities last summer.
The White House touted the administration’s planning in a statement on Thursday.
“Through a detailed planning process, the entire administration is and was prepared for any potential action taken by the terrorist Iranian regime,” spokeswoman Anna Kelly said, while touting the US military’s success.
“President Trump has been clear that any disruptions to energy are temporary and will result in a massive benefit to our country and the global economy in the long-term,” she added.
CNN has reached out to the Pentagon for comment.
Multiple current and former US officials told CNN that plans for any military action against Iran would account for the possibility of Iran closing the waterway. The US military has long maintained and updated plans to address Iranian military action in the critical corridor.
But at a moment where global oil and LNG supplies were plentiful, US oil production sat at record highs and Trump officials were basking in a pliant Venezuelan government and the potential for rapid expansion of new production from a former foe, the global scale of the downside risks was not viewed as a major consideration.
Even in weighing the potential for disruption in the strait, the administration has been for more focused on their view of the overwhelmingly positive — if still aspirational — view of how markets would respond to eliminating the threat of Iranian disruptions entirely.
“To win in life, you’ve got to suffer short-term pain for the long-term gain, and that’s what we’re in the middle of doing right now,” Wright said in a Wednesday interview on NewsNation. “I think the American people will be thrilled with a peaceful world on the other side and more secure supplies of energy for decades to come.”
On Thursday, in his first public comments since being elevated, new Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said the strait would remain closed as a “tool of pressure,” according to a statement read on his behalf on Iranian state TV.
That leaves the US with few options.
Energy executives have conveyed to administration officials they want an early end to the war, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions. For now, they are wary of putting their assets and people at risk by running tankers through the strait and do not foresee that changing until the kinetic nature of the war slows dramatically, sources said.
Military officials have been holding daily calls and briefings with energy industry representatives for the last several days, according to sources familiar.
But from nearly the start of the conflict, US officials have told energy company representatives it was not safe enough for the Navy to conduct the escorts in the war’s early days.
A US military official told CNN that Iranian drones and missiles, followed by mines, are the chief threat facing vessels trying to cross the strait. In wargaming a possible conflict with Iran in recent years, one of the biggest risks to the US military was ships being packed tightly into the waterways in the strait, Bab-el-Mandeb and Red Sea, vulnerable to attack by Iranian missiles and drones, another source said.
Nate Swanson, a former career State Department official focused on Iran, noted that there had been military escorts of oil tankers through the strait in the 1980s, but Iran’s use of drones this time around makes it a very different situation.
Military officials have also indicated to energy industry representatives they can’t spare Navy vessels anyway, since they’re already engaged in offensive operations elsewhere. As of Wednesday, there was no precise timeline on when escorts would be available.
Wright said Thursday the Navy is unable to escort commercial vessels through the strait, though he suggested that capability could be in place later this month.
“It’ll happen relatively soon, but it can’t happen now. We’re simply not ready,” he said on CNBC. “All of our military assets right now are focused on destroying Iran’s offensive capabilities and the manufacturing industry that supplies their offensive capabilities,” he added.
Pressed on whether it’d be possible by the end of the month, he said, “I think that is quite likely the case.”
It wasn’t clear how aware Trump was of the limitations on naval escorts when he first raised the idea in a post on Truth Social on March 3. He has downplayed the risk to tankers trying to transit the strait, even though Iran has begun attacking ships in the waterway.
And while many Republicans are eager for him to refocus on domestic issues ahead of the midterms — and acknowledge Americans’ cost-of-living struggles — he struck a different tone on Thursday, suggesting there could be a benefit to higher oil prices.
“The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” he wrote on Truth Social, without explaining who he meant by “we.”
He added that his military aims against Iran were more consequential than shifts in global energy costs.
“Of far greater interest and importance to me, as President, is stoping an evil Empire, Iran, from having Nuclear Weapons, and destroying the Middle East and, indeed, the World,” Trump wrote.
Administration officials tasked with helping alleviate the energy crisis are eager for tankers to be escorted as quickly as possible, but for now, they’re more or less on the same page about managing the crisis in phases, according to a US official and other people familiar with the matter.
Bessent announced Thursday that the Treasury Department is temporarily lifting sanctions on Russian oil stranded at sea.
And earlier in the day, the White House said it is considering easing restrictions under the Jones Act, the century-old maritime law that requires goods transported between US ports to be carried on American ships, as part of an effort that might slow the rise in gas prices.
“In the interest of national defense, the White House is considering waiving the Jones Act for a limited period of time to ensure vital energy products and agricultural necessities are flowing freely to U.S. ports,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN in a statement. “This action has not been finalized.”
There are a wide range of other moves that the administration could take — likely in the form of an executive order — in an effort to ease the rising prices at the pumps.
One step being considered is waiving production requirements for gasoline producers during the warm months to reduce air pollution, the sources said. (The evaporation of gasoline into the air is greater in the summer, which is why there are strict requirements then to prevent high greenhouse gas emissions.)
An executive order to reduce regulatory burdens on US gasoline producers could help to somewhat lower costs, even in the weeks after the crisis ends, sources said.
Yet the effects of such a move are unlikely to stunt the price increases in a major way, experts said.
“I think that it would be a very small potential offset compared to the factor that’s driving gasoline prices higher, which is concerns for the physical supply of refined products around the world, and also crude oil,” said Clayton Seigle, an energy expert at CSIS.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Natasha Bertrand and Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.
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Trump says Democrats must cheat to win. What do his supporters think? – NPR
President Trump speaks to reporters during a news conference at Trump National Doral Miami on March 9 in Doral, Fla. Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images hide caption
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Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images
HARRISBURG, Pa. — This week and in last month’s State of the Union address, President Trump accused Democrats of planning to cheat in upcoming elections.
“They want to cheat,” said Trump during the State of the Union, providing no evidence. “Their policy is so bad that the only way they can get elected is to cheat, and we’re going to stop it.”
NPR spent several days traveling across a pair of swing congressional districts in Pennsylvania — the 10th and the 7th — to find out what people think of the president’s claim ahead of the midterms.
Nearly every Republican disagreed with the president. They said Democrats could win fair and square and dismissed the idea of mass voter fraud.
“I don’t think that that’s how elections are won today,” said Richard Cline, a 69-year-old preacher who was buying chocolate at a farmer’s market across the river from Harrisburg. “It’s too hard to really pull something off that would be considered fraud.”
Richard Cline, a 69-year-old Republican, thinks there is cheating in voting, but not enough for any party to pull off election fraud. Frank Langfitt/NPR hide caption
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Frank Langfitt/NPR
Patrick Basom, 53, an insurance salesman who is running for the York County Republican Committee, is also skeptical of Trump’s allegations against the Democrats.
“We don’t expect them to cheat,” said Basom. “I think there’s been enough people that have seen what has happened over the last decade to make sure that it doesn’t happen.”
Basom was referring to the president’s false assertion that Democratic voter fraud robbed him of the 2020 election, which most Republicans found persuasive at the time. After Trump lost, an NPR/PBS News/Marist poll found that more than 70% of Republicans did not trust that the results were accurate.
But that was more than five years ago — eons in American politics. After Trump won in 2024, nearly 9 in 10 Republicans said the election was well run. While trust does fluctuate, Marist College pollster Lee Miringoff said there is bipartisan confidence in the system today.
“If you ask people whether they think ballots will be counted accurately, Democrats or Republicans … 2 out of every 3 say, ‘Yeah!’ ” Miringoff said.
Another recent survey by the Center for Transparent and Trusted Elections at the University of California at San Diego found that most Republicans no longer rely exclusively on Trump’s word when it comes to evaluating the fairness and integrity of elections. The survey found that while 30% turn to Trump, the rest rely on other sources, including local and state election officials, local TV news and family members.
“The president is not the only voice in the room — or in the party — when it comes to trusting elections right now,” said Thad Kousser, the center’s co-director.
Norine Haertsch, whom NPR spoke to outside Harrisburg, said family influenced her view of election integrity. She said her daughter-in-law used to believe that Democrats stole the 2020 election but changed her mind after she went to work at York County’s Office of Elections and Voter Registration.
“There’s no way they can cheat,” Haertsch said her daughter-in-law told her.
“I just trust in the government,” Haertsch added.
Democrats who spoke to NPR said they thought Trump was accusing them of cheating to justify intervening in elections if it appears Republicans are poised to lose congressional seats in the midterms, as incumbent parties often do.
“I think it’s a lie and a pretext for election interference coming up in 2026 in November,” said Thomas Fink, 79, who serves as vice president of the Camp Hill Borough Council.
Thomas Fink, a 79-year-old Democrat and local office-holder, thinks the president’s claim that Democrats can only win if they cheat is a pretext for Republicans to interfere with the midterms. Frank Langfitt/NPR hide caption
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Frank Langfitt/NPR
The White House responded by saying the president wants Americans to have full confidence in election administration, including photo ID for voting as well as accurate and up-to-date voter rolls free of noncitizens.
“The media should not uncritically amplify these Blue Anon conspiracies,” said White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson, using a play on the right-wing conspiracy theory QAnon.
Some Republicans told NPR they have no doubt there is cheating in elections. Valerie Schock, who has served as a poll worker in Carlisle, Pa., says she’s seen voters who could neither speak nor write English. She suspects they weren’t citizens but acknowledges she can’t prove it.
That is why, she says, she supports the president’s push to require proof of citizenship — such as a birth certificate or passport — to register to vote. The legislation is called the SAVE America Act.
“Everybody who wants the SAVE Act wants legitimate voting,” said Schock, 61, who spoke with NPR at a bowling alley outside Carlisle. “Anybody against the SAVE Act wants the option of cheating.”
A series of studies has found that people who aren’t U.S. citizens almost never vote. Critics worry the SAVE America Act would disenfranchise many millions of Americans who don’t have easy access to such documents.
Schock doesn’t agree with everything the president has proposed, such as his call to nationalize elections and have Republicans take over administration of voting in at least 15 places.
“That’s not constitutional,” Schock said. “The fact is the Constitution does say that each state makes its own rules.”
Even if the president alleges fraud in November, it may not resonate with Republicans the way it once did. Harrison Smetana, president of the Lehigh University College Republicans, said election integrity and Trump’s claims that the 2020 race was stolen are not something he and his fellow members really discuss at the school in Bethlehem, Pa.
Harrison Smetana, 19, is president of the Lehigh University College Republicans. He says President Trump’s continued fraud claims about the 2020 election don’t resonate with him or his fellow members. Frank Langfitt/NPR hide caption
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Frank Langfitt/NPR
“It seems like it’s something that was, what, six years ago now?” said Smetana, 19, referring to Trump’s original election fraud claim.
“It’s sort of just something that he says,” said Smetana, who declined to say how he voted in 2024 citing American’s right to a secret ballot. “No one really cares.”
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How Trump’s Iran exposure could hand Putin a lottery win – CNN
If Vladimir Putin’s quarter-century of expansionist rule has taught the West anything, it’s that the Russian president shouldn’t be taken at his word.
That hasn’t stopped top US officials from perpetually buying the Russian strongman’s lines. President Donald Trump’s biggest misconception is that Putin wants peace in Ukraine, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Now, Trump’s team risks falling victim to its own credulity again.
Just as Moscow is helping to target drones threatening US troops in the Iran war, according to a CNN report, the administration may ease more of the sanctions that power Putin’s Ukraine killing machine. The hope would be to lessen Trump’s political jam over oil prices.
It would be an extraordinary twist if Putin emerged as the first winner of the deepening Middle East crisis because Trump rocked global energy markets by launching his own war.
Putin gloated over the oil shock at a Kremlin meeting two days ago, according to Pulitzer Prize-winning oil expert Daniel Yergin. “Vladimir Putin has won the lottery here. He’s the biggest winner so far because the price of oil is way up to fund his war. And the sanctions are being taken off,” Yergin, vice chair of S&P Global, told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Wednesday.
In the latest US-Russia melodrama of the Trump era, a top Russian official huddled with Trump’s team in Florida on Wednesday. Special envoy Kirill Dmitriev met special envoy Steve Witkoff; the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner; and White House senior adviser Josh Gruenbaum. “The teams discussed a variety of topics and agreed to stay in touch,” Witkoff said in a readout that touched on none of the suddenly burning US-Russia issues.
But before the meeting, Witkoff downplayed reports that the Russians were providing Iran with intelligence about the movements of US troops, ships and aircraft. He said on CNBC on Tuesday that Moscow had denied such behavior during Trump’s call with Putin the day before. “So, you know, we can take them at their word. But they did say that,” he said.
On CBS’ “60 Minutes” Sunday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth downplayed risks to US troops from Russian activity, insisting, “No one is putting us in danger.”
But the plot thickened Wednesday when CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh exclusively reported that Russia was helping Iran with drone tactics learned in Ukraine to hit US and Gulf targets. This is the most overt and concerning such cooperation yet between the anti-US axis allies, a Western intelligence official said.
Also on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has sent his drone experts to help US forces counter Iranian Shahed drones, said that Russians were helping the Islamic Republic not just with unmanned aerial vehicles, but also with missiles and air defenses.
Zelensky’s offer is the latest sign of how bitter drone duels between Ukraine and Russia have reshaped the character of warfare. This dynamic has now jumped to a new theater as budget-price weapons threaten the world’s most sophisticated military.
Disclosures about Russia’s drone targeting also underscore the complex game Putin plays to exploit global crises even as he cultivates his relationship with Trump to advance his goals in Ukraine.
Trump hopes the Iran war will soon end as a fearsome US and Israeli barrage against the Islamic Republic is complicated by a crisis of the locked-down Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil transportation corridor.
A consequent spike in oil prices is threatening Trump’s already-fragile position, and has prompted his administration to look for ways to respond.
Washington had been successfully coercing India to lessen its dependence on Russian oil to help pressure Moscow into ending the war in Ukraine. But last week it granted a 30-day waiver to allow New Delhi’s refiners to buy oil from Russia’s ghost fleet. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox Business on Friday, “We may unsanction further Russian oil.”
His comment drew a call from Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee for an investigation and testimony from Bessent, first reported by Punchbowl News.
An unexpected oil bonanza is only one of the ways Putin can benefit from the war in Iran. The United States and its European allies may divert resources and arms away from supporting Kyiv’s war effort. And while Trump’s team met Putin’s envoy, European allies are still reeling from the president’s fury over their reluctance to join the assault on Iran. This is all grist for Putin’s long-term strategy of fracturing cohesion among NATO states.
These benefits may partly offset blows to Russian foreign policy if the Iranian regime is weakened or eventually topples. Russia lost another ally this year with the US special forces raid that toppled Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January.
Putin has strong rationales for helping Iran:
- It allows him to enact vengeance after the US helped Ukraine’s war effort by providing intelligence, even if the cooperation has narrowed under the current Trump administration.
- If he helps Iran prolong the war, the US will have less bandwidth to push him on Ukraine peace talks.
- An extended disruption to Gulf oil transportation routes could keep oil prices high — and replenish the Russian war effort against Ukraine.
- And if US and allied forces become overstretched in the Middle East, new strategic openings may appear for Russia elsewhere.
Russian help is valuable for Tehran, meanwhile, far beyond the propaganda value of assistance that implies it’s not confronting the fury of the US and Israel alone.
Russia’s murderous raids on Kyiv and other cities have enabled its specialists to refine formations and tactics, often using dozens of drones simultaneously. Such expertise could help Tehran confront US and Gulf air defenses. Moscow also has satellites used for precise targeting.
Still, Putin has a fine line to walk. His core interest is winning the war in Ukraine, in part by prolonging peace talks to allow his ground forces to grind out new territorial gains. He can’t afford a direct clash over Iran with the United States, or a military confrontation.
The Kremlin has not commented on the latest reports that it is helping Tehran directly with its drone program, which are a further embarrassment for the Trump administration.
The president’s empathy with the Russian strongman has helped define both his administrations. Trump once said that he and Putin were victims of a “witch hunt” over intelligence community assessments that Moscow meddled in the 2016 election. Witkoff, the face of the administration’s so-far thwarted attempts to bring peace to Ukraine, has followed his boss’s lead. He often emerges from meetings with Putin sounding like the Russian leader. “I don’t regard Putin as a bad guy,” he said last year of a man who launched an invasion that has killed thousands of Ukrainians.
Then there was a transcript of a phone call reviewed and transcribed by Bloomberg last year that showed Witkoff coaching a top Russian official on how to talk to Trump.
A 28-point peace plan Witkoff drew up last year could have been written by Moscow and took weeks of finessing by Secretary of State Marco Rubio before it could serve as the basis for talks.
Republicans are often forced to dance on the head of a political pin over Trump’s relationship with Putin.
Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday that the global energy situation amid the Iran war was “very delicate.” He added: “I think the lifting (of) the oil sanctions on India, buying Russian oil, I think that’s doing something good for America right now.”
But he went on: “Of course, I have no use for Russia either … I think just as quickly as we took those sanctions away, we can put them back on.”
That may take a while, especially given expectations that turbulence in energy markets could endure for weeks even if the Strait of Hormuz reopens soon. Stunning imagery Wednesday of two tankers burning in the Gulf following suspected Iranian attacks raise the possibility meanwhile of a deepening crisis.
Unless Trump manages to extricate the United States soon, he may share something else with Putin: having started a war that miscalculated an adversary’s capacity to fight back and that drags on longer than he expected.
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US to release 172M barrels of oil as Newsom blames Trump for gas prices – Fox News
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Exclusive | President Trump’s Head-Spinning Pivot on an Emergency Oil Release – WSJ
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Live Updates: Trump vows to end war soon as Iran hits ships, threatens banks, and toll on U.S. forces emerges – CBS News
Brent crude rises back up over $100 a barrel
Oil prices surged more than 9% to break back above $100 a barrel after fresh Iranian strikes on supplies and infrastructure in the Middle East overshadowed a release of stockpiles by the U.S. and the International Energy Agency.
Earlier Wednesday, U.S. Energy Secretary Christopher Wright announced the U.S. would release 172 million barrels of oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve, while the International Energy Agency — which has 32 member nations, including the U.S. — announced it would release 400 million barrels from its own reserves.
Brent crude, the primary benchmark for oil trade internationally, jumped 9.3% to $100.50, while West Texas Intermediate, the primary benchmark for oil in the U.S., was up 8.8% to $94.92.
CBS/AFP
Fetterman says war with Iran has been “effective,” is moving toward an “appropriate outcome”
Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania said Wednesday he believes the U.S.-Israel war with Iran has been “effective” and is moving toward an “appropriate outcome.”
“I think, overall, what’s accomplished is remarkable,” Fetterman told CBS News chief White House correspondent Major Garrett in an interview Wednesday.
Pressed on whether the war was going “well,” Fetterman responded, “Yes, absolutely. I mean, I’m not sure it’s the right word I would choose for war, but I do think it’s very effective. And then I do think it’s moving towards the kinds of appropriate outcome.”
Embassy in Iran that works with U.S. citizens temporarily closes
Switzerland has temporarily closed its embassy in Iran, shuttering the diplomatic post that U.S. citizens in the country typically use.
The Swiss government said in a statement it closed its embassy “in view of the war in the Middle East and the increasing security risk,” and its remaining staff members left the country on Wednesday. Staff are expected to return “as soon as the situation allows.”
The U.S. has not had an embassy in Iran since 1979, when dozens of American diplomats were taken hostage in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. For decades, the Swiss embassy has served as the U.S.’s protecting power, meaning that it offers consular services to Americans in the country.
Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said it will “continue to maintain an open line of communication between the United States and Iran.”
The U.S. State Department is encouraging Americans not to travel to Iran, and says any U.S. citizens there should shelter in place.
The U.S. Embassy in Switzerland said: “The U.S. government respects the Swiss government’s decision to temporarily close its embassy in Iran. We are deeply grateful for the dedication of the Swiss Embassy and Swiss Protecting Power staff, whose vital work remains essential to protecting U.S. interests and supporting our citizens.”
First week of Iran war cost U.S. about $11.3 billion, Pentagon tells lawmakers
Military officials told members of Congress in a briefing this week that the U.S.’s war with Iran cost around $11.3 billion in roughly its first week, according to sources familiar with the meeting.
That figure is a low-end estimate and does not include the build-up costs of moving assets into place ahead of the operation’s start on Feb. 28.
The estimate was first reported by The New York Times.
Sen. Chris Coons, the top Democrat on the Senate subcommittee that handles defense appropriations, told reporters Wednesday: “I expect that the total operating number is significantly above that.”
He said it would be a “fair guess” that the war’s daily cost exceeds $1.5 billion, though it varies day-to-day depending on military operations. The cost of replacing the munitions that have been used in the war is probably “already well beyond $10 billion,” he said.
The Delaware senator said he expects the Pentagon to ask lawmakers to pass a supplemental funding package for the Iran war. He did not specify how much money he expects the administration to request.
“Before I would even begin considering something like that, they owe us an accounting of how much has been expended,” said Coons. “We did have some lengthy exchanges about that yesterday. I am not satisfied with the information I’ve got so far.”
Trump administration releasing 172 million barrels of oil from strategic reserve
President Trump ordered the release of 172 million barrels of oil from the United States’ Strategic Petroleum Reserve on Wednesday, after oil prices rocketed to their highest levels in years amid the U.S.’s war with Iran.
The releases will start next week and take about 120 days, Energy Secretary Christopher Wright said Wednesday in a statement. The move is part of a coordinated release by the International Energy Agency, whose 32 member countries — mostly U.S. allies — announced earlier Wednesday they would let 400 million barrels of oil flow out of their emergency reserves.
Officials downplay risk of Iranian drone attacks off California after FBI memo
An FBI memo warning that Iran may try to launch drones at California in a seaborne “surprise attack” raised concern Wednesday — but law enforcement officials and homeland security experts have cautioned that it may not point to an immediate threat.
Multiple U.S. and California law enforcement and intelligence officials tell CBS News there is no known, specific threat underpinning the memo, which was issued a week ago and distributed to local law enforcement by the FBI’s Los Angeles office.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on X: “While we are not aware of any imminent threats at this time, we remain prepared for any emergency in our state.”
The memo, which was obtained by CBS News on Wednesday, stems from an apparent tip that surfaced prior to the Iranian conflict.
IDF launches strikes in Tehran
The IDF said Wednesday it had “launched a wave of extensive strikes against targets in Tehran.” Israel’s military did not immediately provide further details on the strikes.
UAE says “Iran must immediately cease its attacks” following adoption of U.N. resolution
The United Arab Emirates mission to the U.N. said Wednesday that the UAE “strongly welcomes” the adoption of a resolution passed by the U.N. Security Council calling for Iran to halt its attacks on Gulf states.
“The overwhelming support – reflected in the highest number of co-sponsorships in the Security Council’s history – sends a clear message from the international community to Iran,” the UAE mission said. “The Security Council is clear: Iran must immediately cease its attacks against our countries.”
The resolution was adopted earlier Wednesday in a 13-0 vote, with China and Russia abstaining.
UAE says Iran fired 6 ballistic missiles, 7 cruise missiles today
The United Arab Emirates Defense Ministry said Wednesday that Iran had fired six ballistic missiles and seven cruise missiles, along with 39 drones, toward the country today. It did not provide specifics on how many got through its air defenses or what, if any, damage may have occurred.
Qatar intercepted 8 of 9 ballistic missiles fired from Iran today, Defense Ministry says
Qatar’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday that Iran had fired nine ballistic missiles and several drones toward the country. It said all of the drones and eight of the missiles were intercepted today, with the one that got through landing in an uninhabited area.
Trump says “we’ve won” in Iran
Speaking to supporters in Kentucky, the president said the U.S. has “won” in Iran, and the war was “over” in the first hour. The president also asked the crowd if they thought “Operation Epic Fury” was a great name.
“Is that a great name?” he asked. “Well, it’s only good if you win, you know? You can only do — and we’ve won. Let me tell you, we’ve won. You know, you never like to say too early you’ve won. We won, we won. In the first hour, it was over.”
The president joked that he was “full-on asleep” when officials were suggesting names, until they suggested “Operation Epic Fury.”
Trump says U.S. may tap into Strategic Petroleum Reserve to bring oil prices down
In an interview with WKRC-TV in Cincinnati, President Trump was asked if he has a threshold for tapping into the United States’ Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The emergency stockpile is maintained by the Department of Energy.
“Well we’ll do that, and then we’ll fill it up,” Mr. Trump responded. “I filled it up once and I’ll fill it up again. But right now, we’ll reduce it a little bit, and that brings the prices down. We have to get rid of the evil.”
U.S. stock market remains calm, even as oil prices rise
The U.S. stock market remained calm Wednesday, even as the price of oil got back to rising.
The S&P 500 edged down 0.1% for a second day of modest moves following what had been a wild stretch caused by the war with Iran. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 289 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.1%.
Since the start of the war, sharp moves for oil prices have triggered swings up and down for financial markets worldwide, sometimes by the hour.
Oil prices briefly spiked to their highest levels since 2022 this week because of the possibility that production in the Middle East could be blocked for a long time, which in turn raised worries about a surge of debilitating inflation for the global economy.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 4.8% to settle at $91.98. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude gained 4.6% to $87.25.
U.N. Security Council demands Iran halt attacks on Gulf states
The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution Wednesday calling for Iran to immediately halt its attacks on Gulf states, saying they breach international law and pose a “serious threat to international peace and security.”
The resolution, passed by 13 votes with two abstentions, “demands the immediate cessation of all attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran against Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan.”
It also “condemns any actions or threats by the Islamic Republic of Iran aimed at closing, obstructing, or otherwise interfering with international navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.”
Trump says Iran operation is both an excursion and a war
A reporter asked President Trump about his descriptions of the operation in Iran as a “short-term excursion” and, separately, a war. The reporter asked which is it — a brief excursion or a war?
“Well, it’s both,” the president said during a trip to Ohio. “It’s both. It’s an excursion that will keep us out of a war, and the war is going to be, I mean, for them, it’s a war. For us, it’s turned out to be easier than we thought.”
Trump says U.S. has hit 28 Iranian minelaying ships
President Trump said U.S. forces have hit 28 Iranian minelaying ships as of Wednesday.
“They started talking about mines, so we hit 28 mine ships as of this moment,” the president told reporters while touring a pharmaceutical company in Cincinnati.
U.S. officials had told CBS News that Iran may have been preparing to use naval mines in the key Strait of Hormuz off the Iranian coast.
Pentagon confirms identity of 6th service member killed in Kuwait
The Defense Department has confirmed the identity of the sixth Army reservist killed in an Iranian drone attack in Kuwait on March 1.
A medical examiner identified the reservist as Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, the Pentagon said in a statement Wednesday.
Marzan, 54, was initially believed to have died in the strike, but the Pentagon said the medical examiner would identify the remains.
Marzan was from Sacramento, California.
U.S. military warns Iranian civilians to avoid ports used by Iran’s forces
U.S. Central Command said Iran’s use of civilian ports for military purposes makes the ports legitimate targets under international law and warned civilians to avoid any port facility where Iranian naval forces are operating.
“The Iranian regime is using civilian ports along the Strait of Hormuz to conduct military operations that threaten international shipping,” Central Command said Wednesday. “This dangerous action risks the lives of innocent people. Civilian ports used for military purposes lose protected status and become legitimate military targets under international law.”
“Iranian dockworkers, administrative personnel, and commercial vessel crews should avoid Iranian naval vessels and military equipment,” Central Command said. “Iranian naval forces have positioned military vessels and equipment within civilian ports serving commercial maritime traffic.”
State Department to scale down charter flights, ground options out of Middle East
The State Department said Wednesday that its charter flights and ground transport operations will scale down as the number of available seats is significantly greater than the demand from U.S. citizens in the region.
Assistant Secretary Dylan Johnson said in a statement that the department invited nearly 9,000 Americans and their families in the United Arab Emirates to travel on U.S. government charter flights Wednesday.
“Despite those efforts, those flights departed the UAE with available seats due to a lack of demand,” Johnson said.
“Most Americans who requested assistance have declined assistance when offered, opting either to remain in country or book commercial flight options,” Johnson added.
The department says it has completed more than three dozen charter flights and evacuated thousands of Americans from the region.
Trump: “I don’t know about” reporting that investigators believe U.S. was likely behind school bombing
President Trump on Wednesday was asked about Reuters, CBS News and New York Times reporting that a preliminary military investigation into the bombing of an elementary school in Iran found the U.S. was likely responsible.
Initially, the president suggested to reporters that Iran might be behind it. When he was asked on Monday why he made that assertion when no one else in his administration did, Mr. Trump said, “I don’t know enough about it.”
On Wednesday, when he was asked about the latest reporting suggesting the U.S. may be at fault, the president said, “I don’t know about it.”
Iran’s sports minister says country can’t participate in World Cup
Iran’s sports minister said it is not possible for the country to take part in the World Cup tournament in the United States “due to the wicked acts they have done against Iran.”
“They have imposed two wars on us over just eight or nine months and have killed and martyred thousands of our people – definitely it’s not possible for us to take part in the World Cup,” Sports Minister Ahmad Donyamali told state TV, The Associated Press reported.
President Trump had told FIFA representatives on Tuesday that Iran was welcome to play in the tournament, officials told CBS News. The war came up in conversation with the soccer association’s president, Gianni Infantino, and White House FIFA task force executive director Andrew Giuliani in the Oval Office, according to sources familiar with the conversation.
Infantino had posted on social media: “We all need an event like the FIFA World Cup to bring people together now more than ever.”
Trump: U.S. needs to do “more of the same” in Iran to complete operation
A reporter asked President Trump on the White House South Lawn Wednesday what more needs to happen militarily for the operation in Iran to end.
“More of the same,” the president responded. “And we’ll see how that all comes out. Right now, they’ve lost their navy, they’ve lost their air force, they have no anti-aircraft apparatus at all. They have no radar. Their leaders are gone. And we could do a lot worse.”
Ex-maritime captain: Tankers that use Strait of Hormuz “more damage-tolerant than many assume”
A former captain of a merchant vessel says large tankers that transit the Strait of Hormuz are “robust, highly engineered structures” that are “far more damage-tolerant than many assume.”
“They do not necessarily sink from a single hit,” said Seyedvahid Vakili, who is a research fellow at the University of Southampton. But he noted that they are not designed for combat.
“A direct strike can still cause fire, flooding, machinery failure, pollution, crew casualties, and prolonged disruption,” he said in a statement. “The issue is not simply whether a ship sinks, but whether it remains safe, operable, and commercially viable after an attack.”
The Strait of Hormuz is a key artery in the global oil trade, and any disruption of it will affect global energy markets and trade flows because of the “lack of equivalent alternatives,” Vakili said.
Shipping companies use the narrow waterway because “alternative routes are limited, and in many cases would add significant time, cost, and logistical complexity,” Vakili said.
During the current conflict, “whether naval escorts are expanded is ultimately a security question, but from a shipping perspective, escorted transit is usually intended to reduce risk rather than eliminate it,” he said.
U.S. has struck more than 5,500 targets inside Iran, Central Command says
The U.S. has hit more than 5,500 targets inside Iran, including over 60 ships, “using a variety of precision weapon systems,” Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, said Wednesday in a video update on the war with Iran.
“Strikes waves” took place nearly every hour Tuesday, hitting Iran from different locations and directions, he said, adding that the U.S. destroyed the last of Iran’s four Soleimani-class warships.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had said that Tuesday would be the “most intense day” of strikes against Iran since the war began on Feb. 28.
Cooper said U.S. forces were “leveraging a variety of advanced AI tools” that help them sift through vast amounts of data in seconds and make decisions faster than the enemy can react.
“Humans will always make final decisions on what to shoot and what not to shoot and when to shoot, but advanced AI tools can turn processes that used to take hours, and sometimes even days, into seconds,” he said.
His comments on AI come after a memo showed the Defense Department officially notified senior leadership figures throughout the U.S. military that they must remove Anthropic’s artificial intelligence products from their systems within 180 days. The memo was dated March 6, a day after the Pentagon formally designated Anthropic a supply chain risk. Anthropic is currently the only AI company whose models are deployed on the Pentagon’s classified systems.
Global banks adjust staffing in Gulf after Iran threatens to target U.S.-linked financial institutions
Following a warning from the Iranian military on Wednesday that it would begin targeting banks linked with the U.S. and Israel, several Western financial institutions confirmed to CBS News that they were taking measures to protect staff in the region.
Contacted by CBS News about a report that Standard Chartered had evacuated employees from Dubai, a representative of the U.K.-based international bank said staff had been urged to work from home on Wednesday, in line with other institutions, but that there was otherwise no change in staffing.
The U.S. banking giant Citigroup told CBS News the few staff who had gone to its office in the Dubai International Financial Center on Wednesday were later told to go home by authorities, but most employees were already working remotely.
“The safety of our employees is our number one priority, and we are continuing to take measures to help keep our employees and their families safe. The vast majority of our people are already working from home and we are continuing to serve our clients without interruption, and we have robust contingency and resilience plans in place to ensure business continuity,” Citi said in a statement.
The French news agency AFP reported, meanwhile, that the British company PricewaterhouseCoopers, or PwC, had closed its offices in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait, at least for the rest of the week, as a “precaution,” citing a source with knowledge of the matter.
PwC did not immediately respond to CBS News’ request for comment on the story.
Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei wounded in strike that killed his dad, but “safe,” regime says
Iran’s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not spoken or been seen in public since his appointment over the weekend, was injured in the same U.S. or Israeli strike that killed his father and predecessor on the first day of the war, but he was “safe,” officials said Wednesday.
“I heard news that Mr. Mojtaba Khamenei had been injured. I have asked some friends who had connections,” Yousef Pezeshkian wrote in a post on his Telegram channel. “They told me that, thank God, he is safe and sound.”
Yousef Pezeshkian is Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s son, and a government adviser himself.
“He was also there and he was injured in that bombardment but I haven’t seen that reflected in the foreign news,” Iran’s ambassador to Cyprus, Alireza Salarian, told The Guardian newspaper Wednesday.
Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, visits Hezbollah’s office in Tehran, Iran, Oct. 1, 2024. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA/via Reuters The strike on the compound in central Tehran also killed other members of the Khamenei family, including Mojtaba’s wife and mother, according to Iranian authorities.
There had been mounting questions about Mojtaba Khamenei’s health, and even speculation online that he might have died along with his relatives.
State television had called him a “wounded veteran of the Ramadan war” without giving details, in reference to the conflict which broke out during the Muslim holy month.
CBS/AFP
Dozens of U.S. service members suffered serious injuries in March 1 Iranian strike on Kuwait, sources say
The Iranian drone attack in Kuwait that killed six U.S. service members in the early hours of the war with Iran was more severe than has previously been revealed, with dozens suffering injuries including brain trauma, shrapnel wounds and burns, multiple sources told CBS News. At least one may require the amputation of a limb.
Sources described a chaotic scene in the aftermath of the strike on a tactical operations center at the Shuaiba port outside Kuwait City on March 1. Smoke quickly filled the building, making it difficult to rescue those inside.
More than 30 U.S. service members remained hospitalized on Tuesday night with battle injuries from the Kuwait attack — one at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, 12 at Walter Reed Medical Center in suburban Washington, D.C., and about 25 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, sources said.
Of those, about 20 arrived on a C-17 military transport aircraft at Landstuhl on Tuesday with injuries the military designated as “urgent” and requiring evacuation, including traumatic brain injuries, memory loss and concussions, three of the sources said.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this post said that at least one of the Americans wounded in the March 1 attack in Kuwait “required the amputation of a limb,” but the individual has not yet undergone an amputation. The report has been updated.
International Energy Agency to release 400 million barrels of oil
The International Energy Agency said Wednesday that it will release 400 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves, the largest release in the multinational organization’s history.
The announcement comes as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed due to Iran’s threats and continued targeting of cargo vessels in the region. Roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply typically flows through the critical waterway.
“On the face of it, a large release of strategic reserves from the IEA would help to bring prices down,” Hamad Hussein, climate and commodities economist with investment adviser Capital Economics, said in a note to clients. “Indeed, oil prices fell back below $100 [per barrel] this week following discussions that the IEA was considering releasing oil reserves.”
Hussein noted, however, that oil prices remaining lower would depend on how the conflict evolves.
The Strait of Hormuz is a crucial passageway for oil shipments from Gulf states. Bedirhan Demirel/Anadolu/Getty Iran says it’s ready for “long-term war of attrition” as Trump says it will end soon, “any time I want it to”
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned Wednesday that the country was prepared for a long “war of attrition,” as the Trump administration continued suggesting the conflict gripping the Middle East would soon be over.
Israel and the U.S. “must consider the possibility that they will be engaged in a long-term war of attrition that will destroy the entire American economy and the world economy, and will cause all of its military capabilities to be eroded to the point of destruction,” Ali Fadavi, an adviser to the Iranian IRGC’s Commander-in-Chief, told state television on Wednesday.
President Trump, meanwhile, told Axios in a phone interview Wednesday that the war would end “soon,” because there was “practically nothing left to target” in Iran.
“Any time I want it to end, it will end,” Mr. Trump said during the five-minute phone interview with Axios’ Barak Ravid.
Senior Qatari diplomat says “for all intents and purposes, a regional war” has engulfed the Middle East
A senior Qatari official, who has worked for years in the Gulf state’s ministry of foreign affairs, told CBS News on Wednesday that the Middle East has, “for all intents and purposes,” been engulfed in a regional war that governments in the region warned about for years.
Dr. Majed Al-Ansari, an adviser to the Qatari prime minister and the official spokesperson for the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told CBS News that Gulf states had warned for years that, left unchecked, escalations that first hit Syria, and then Gaza and Lebanon, risked spiraling into something much bigger.
In Doha’s view, that dire prediction has now come true.
“We said very clearly that escalation left unchecked will result in a regional war,” he told CBS News. “What we have right now is, for all intents and purposes, a regional war.”
Iran, he said, has targeted seven Gulf countries since the U.S. and Israel launched their assault on the Islamic Republic on Feb. 28, pulling countries into a war they never wanted to be a part of.
Al-Ansari said Qataris’ reality has been shaken as missile alerts now light up people’s phones overnight and interceptors fly overhead.
“This is now a daily occurrence,” he said. “We are awakened at 4 a.m. by alerts on our phones.”
“I would have never expected for my daughters to live in a situation where missiles would be overhead almost constantly throughout the day,” al-Ansari said.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum says Gulf allies have “never been happier” for U.S. military presence
Appearing on Fox & Friends, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf have “never been happier” to have an American military presence in their countries.
“Well, I think our Gulf state allies have never been happier than they have now to have U.S. military presence in their country and to have a strong relationship, both economically and in terms of energy industry, with the United States,” he said. “They understand who supports them and who supports their growth and prosperity, and they’re starting to realize that the terror regime of Iran has to end.”
Burgum called the U.S.-Israeli operation in Iran a “short-term interruption traded for long-term transformation of peace and prosperity,” adding that “when that happens, energy prices are going to come down all over the world.”
Iranian IRGC claims strike on Thailand-flagged cargo ship damaged in Strait of Hormuz
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed responsibility for an attack earlier Wednesday on the Thailand-flagged bulk carrier Mayuree Naree off the coast of Oman, saying the vessel had ignored IRGC warnings and tried to transit the Strait of Hormuz.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, run by the British military, said earlier that the vessel was hit by a projectile about 10 nautical miles off Oman’s coast in the strait.
In a subsequent update, UKMTO said a fire on the vessel was out, there was no environmental impact, and a skeleton crew remained aboard the ship.
The Thailand-flagged cargo ship Mayuree Naree is seen engulfed in smoke in the Strait of Hormuz, March 11, 2026. ROYAL THAI NAVY/Handout/REUTERS The IRGC’s claim, relayed by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, also said a container ship called the Express Rome, sailing under the flag of Liberia, was hit. That ship appeared to be anchored off the coast of the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday, in the Persian Gulf, but there were no other reports of it being attacked.
Spain pulls ambassador from Israel as top diplomat calls in Europe to “defend the international order”
Spain has withdrawn its Ambassador to Israel, the Spanish government’s official news portal announced Tuesday, without any further explanation.
“At the proposal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, and after deliberation by the Council of Ministers at its meeting of 10 March 2026, I hereby order the dismissal of Ms. Ana María Sálomon Pérez as Ambassador of Spain to the State of Israel, thanking her for the services rendered,” the bulletin said.
The Reuters news agency, citing sources in Spain, said the ambassador would not be replaced, and the country would be represented in Israel by a lower-ranking charges d’affaires.
Spain’s government has been among the most vocal European critics of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran launched on Feb. 28. It denied the U.S. military use of bases in southern Spain for American operations against Iran, and speaking Tuesday, Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said it was up to Europe to “defend the international order, because the alternative to the international order, is chaos, no order.”
Trump told FIFA that Iran is welcome to play in World Cup in U.S., officials say
President Trump told FIFA representatives Tuesday that Iran is welcome to play in the World Cup tournament in the United States, officials told CBS News.
The war, now in its 12th day, came up in the conversation with the soccer association’s president, Gianni Infantino, and White House FIFA task force executive director Andrew Giuliani in the Oval Office on Tuesday evening, according to sources familiar with the conversation.
Infantino later posted on social media: “We all need an event like the FIFA World Cup to bring people together now more than ever.”
U.K. bans pro-Palestinian protest citing ties to Iranian regime
London’s Metropolitan Police banned an upcoming pro-Palestine protest, which it said was “uniquely contentious having originated in Iran and in London is organized by the Islamic Human Rights Commission, an organization supportive of the Iranian regime.”
It said it was the first time the police had used its powers to ban protests since 2012.
“The Met has safely policed hundreds of protests from across the political spectrum including 32 major pro-Palestinian protests and many more both pro and anti the Iranian regime. Where those protests present risks, they can normally be managed,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement. “But in our assessment this march raises unique risks and challenges. We must consider the likely high numbers of protestors and counter protestors coming together and the extreme tensions between different factions. We have taken into consideration the likely impact on protests of the volatile situation in the Middle East, with the Iranian regime attacking British allies and military bases overseas.”
The Met also said it had considered threats from the Iranian regime on U.K. soil.
“Previous Al Quds marches have resulted in arrests for supporting terrorist organisations and antisemitic hate crimes. However, the decision to ban it this year is purely based on a risk assessment of this specific protest and counter-protests – we do not police taste or decency or prefer one political view over another, but we will do everything we can to reduce violence and disorder.”
Iran state TV says “massive turnout” for funeral in Tehran for “fallen heroes”
Iran’s state-run media said a funeral was underway in central Tehran Wednesday for high-ranking military commanders and civilians killed in the war with the U.S. and Israel.
“The procession started at Enghelab Square, with a massive turnout of Tehran residents paying tribute to the fallen heroes,” state TV said.
It was the second funeral for multiple people, including senior military officers, held in Iran in as many days.
CBS News’ producer in Tehran was invited to attend a burial ceremony on Tuesday just south of the Iranian capital.
The Iranian government has not allowed media outlets to publicize anti-regime voices from inside Iran, and no one against the war or the regime would speak to CBS News on camera at the Tuesday burial ceremony, even with the promise of anonymity.
Bodies of Iranian soldiers killed in U.S. submarine attack to be returned to Iran
A Sri Lankan court has ordered the bodies of 84 Iranian soldiers killed in a U.S. submarine attack off the country’s southern coast to be returned to Iran, the AP and Reuters news agencies reported Wednesday.
The Iranian warship IRIS Dena was returning from a naval exercise organized by India last Wednesday when it was hit by a torpedo fired by a U.S. submarine.
The bodies of those killed were being held in the morgue of the Galle National Hospital.
Sri Lanka has issued visas for 208 crew members of a second Iranian vessel that experienced engine problems in the same area as the IRIS Dena, Reuters reported.
32 people survived the attack on the IRIS Dena, according to the news agency.
Italy’s leader, a Trump ally, suggests U.S. and Israel have broken international law with Iran war
Italy’s leader Giorgia Meloni suggested the U.S. and Israel had broken international law with the ongoing war against Iran, according to Italy’s national news agency ANSA.
“It is in this situation of crisis of the international system in which threats are becoming increasingly terrifying and unilateral interventions conducted outside the perimeter of international law are multiplying that we must also place the American and Israeli intervention against the Iranian regime,” Meloni told Italy’s senate on Wednesday, ANSA reported.
“We do not have a government here that is complicit in other people’s decisions, much less one that is isolated in Europe, or culpable for the economic consequences the crisis may have on citizens and businesses,” Meloni said.
Meloni added her “firm condemnation of the massacre of girls at the school in Minab, southern Iran,” according to the French news agency AFP, referring to a strike on the first day of the war that Iran has blamed on the U.S. or Israel, and which it said killed at least 168 children.
Iranian state media said 168 people were killed in a strike on a girl’s school in Minab, southern Iran, on Feb. 28, the first day of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. Damage is seen to the building in this photo from March 5, 2026. Stringer/Anadolu/Getty The Italian leader called for “responsibility for this tragedy” to be “swiftly ascertained.”
Israel has denied any connection to the strike on the school, while President Trump has blamed Tehran for the attack, but also said Washington is investigating.
The preliminary U.S. assessment suggests the United States was “likely” responsible for the deadly attack but did not intentionally target the school, with dated intelligence possibly to blame, a person briefed on the preliminary intelligence told CBS News on Monday.
Israeli military issues further evacuation orders for areas in southern Lebanon
The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for residents in six areas of southern Lebanon on Tuesday, claiming activities being carried out by the Iran-backed group Hezbollah were “forcing” the Israeli army “to take action against it.”
Residents have been ordered to move to locations north of the Litani River.
“Anyone present near Hezbollah elements, their facilities, and their combat means is endangering their lives,” an IDF spokesperson said. “Any home used by Hezbollah for military purposes will be subject to targeting.”
Destruction is seen in front of the building where at least four people were injured in an Israeli strike on a residential building in the Aisha Bakkar area of central Beirut, Lebanon, March 11, 2026. Adri Salido/Getty Greece to cap food and fuel prices to avoid spiraling war costs
Greece will cap profit margins on gasoline and a range of foodstuffs for three months, the prime minister said Wednesday, as the Middle East war raised fears of a price surge.
In a meeting with the country’s president, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the government was “vigilant” for further effects of the conflict and warned retailers against “profiteering.”
The state caps mean the targeted sectors, such as gas stations and supermarkets, can make only a certain margin on consumer retail sales. The aim is to prevent an artificial increase in margins when international prices rise.
Reza Pahlavi, opposition figure and son of Iran’s former shah, sends message to Iranians
Reza Pahlavi, an exiled Iranian opposition figure and the son of the former shah, whose name was chanted during some of the protests that swept across the country earlier this year, said Tuesday that Iran was “in a very sensitive stage of our final struggle,” in a statement shared on social media.
“I ask you to prepare your essential needs as soon as possible, and for the sake of your own security, leave the streets and stay in your homes,” Pahlavi said, addressing the Iranian people. “Continue the strike and do not show up for work. To demonstrate your unity, keep up the nighttime chants with full force.”
Pahlavi warned Iran’s military and security forces that it was their “last chance to separate yourselves from the repressive forces and join the people.”
Pahlavi told Iranians to “await my final call,” without providing any further information on any action he expected in the coming hours or days.
UAE says it is intercepting new “missile and drone attacks” from Iran
The United Arab Emirates said it was deflecting a new round of missiles and drones launched by Iran on Wednesday morning.
“The UAE’s air defenses are currently dealing with missile and drone attacks originating from Iran,” the country’s Ministry of Defense said in a social media post, explaining bangs heard in various parts of the country as “the result of air defense systems intercepting ballistic missiles and fighter jets intercepting drones and other aerial vehicles.”
The UAE has been pummeled by relentless drone and missile attacks by Iran since the war began on Feb. 28, and multiple sources told CBS News on Tuesday that the White House was aware of America’s Gulf allies running short on missile interceptors, forcing them to choose which objects to blow up and which not to.
The White House has discussed the matter, the sources told CBS News.
CBS News’ Margaret Brennan first reported on March 5 that Gulf states were running dangerously low on missile interceptors and had asked the U.S. to expedite new supplies. U.S. allies in the region were told that officials in Washington were creating a task force to get them new supplies, but the sources said it wasn’t happening as quickly as they needed.
Iran says it will target U.S. and Israeli-linked banks across Middle East, tells people to stay away
An Iranian military spokesperson said Wednesday that the country would begin targeting banks across the Middle East linked to the U.S. and Israel, following an alleged attack on an Iranian bank.
“Following their failed campaign, the terrorist U.S. army and cruel Zionist regime (Israel) have targeted one of the country’s banks,” Iranian state media quoted Ebrahim Zolfaqari, a spokesperson for the Islamic Republic’s central military command, as saying.
“With this illegitimate and uncommon action, the enemy is forcing our hand to target economic centres and banks linked to the U.S. and Zionist regime in the region.”
He warned people to stay at least a kilometer, or about half a mile, away from banks in the region.
Drones injure 4 people “in the vicinity of Dubai International Airport,” government says
Dubai’s government said Wednesday that four people suffered minor to moderate injuries when drones fell in or near the major airport in the United Arab Emirates.
“Authorities confirm that two drones fell in the vicinity of Dubai International Airport (DXB) a short while ago, resulting in minor injuries to two Ghanaian nationals and one Bangladeshi national, and moderate injuries to one Indian national. Air traffic is operating as normal,” the Dubai administration said on its official social media channels.
Dubai has been hit repeatedly by Iranian missile and drone strikes during the war, and the wider UAE has seen at least six people killed and more than 100 wounded in the attacks.
Cargo ship hit by projectile in Strait of Hormuz, fire put out but damage caused
A projectile hit a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz early Wednesday morning, causing damage and a fire on board, after President Trump warned Iran to stop hindering shipping traffic through the vital waterway.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, run by the British military, said the vessel, identified by CBS News Confirmed as the Thai-flagged bulk carrier Mayuree Naree, was hit Wednesday just north of Oman in the strait.
In a subsequent update, UKMTO said the fire was out, there was no environmental impact, and that a skeleton crew remained aboard the vessel.
The Thailand-flagged cargo ship Mayuree Naree is seen engulfed in smoke in the Strait of Hormuz, March 11, 2026. ROYAL THAI NAVY/Handout/REUTERS Container ship damaged in strike off UAE coast
British authorities said a container ship was hit off the United Arab Emirates coast early Wednesday morning, about 25 nautical miles northwest of the UAE port of Ra’s al Khaymah.
“The Master of a container vessel has reported that the vessel has sustained damage from a suspected but unknown projectile. Extent of the damage is currently unknown but under investigation by the crew. The Master additionally reports that all crew members are safe and accounted for,” UKMTO said.
CBS News Confirmed identified the vessel as the Japanese-flagged container ship ONE Majesty.
Container vessel hit by projectile west of Strait of Hormuz, off Dubai coast
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, run by the British military, said it had received a report from a cargo ship about 50 nautical miles northwest of Dubai, west of the Strait of Hormuz, that it had been hit by an unknown projectile.
“There is no report of any environmental impact. The crew are reported safe and well. Authorities are investigating,” the UKMTO said, without naming the vessel.
CBS News Confirmed identified the ship as the Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Star Gwyneth.
6 of 7 Iranian soccer players granted asylum in Australia staying in the country, officials say
Two more members of the Iranian national women’s soccer team were granted asylum in Australia before their teammates departed, but one of the women later changed her mind and decided to return to Iran, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told reporters on Wednesday.
He said the two were reunited with five players who were granted humanitarian visas a day earlier.
One of the women later changed her mind and will return to Iran, Burke said. The rest of the team left Sydney to return to Iran late on Tuesday.
CBS/AP
