Iran’s powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard answers to the supreme leader, and the younger Khamenei will have the central say in war strategy.
U.S. President Donald Trump told ABC News earlier Sunday he wants a say in who comes to power once the war is over; a new leader “is not going to last long” without his approval, he said.
Here is the latest:
Saudi Arabia says two dead in Kharj attack are Bangladeshi nationals
Saudi authorities said the two people killed in an attack Sunday in a central city were from Bangladesh.
The Civil Defense said in a statement that 11 other Bangladeshi people were injured along with an Indian national.
An earlier statement from the Saudi agency incorrectly stated the dead included an Indian national.
The attack occurred in Kharj on Sunday when a military projectile fell on the residential building of a maintenance and cleaning firm, it said.
Sirens sound in Bahrain
Bahrain said sirens are sounding Monday morning in the country ahead of an attack, urging people to head to safe locations.
Four more drones attacking vast Saudi oil field destroyed
Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said forces destroyed Monday morning four more drones that were attacking the vast Shaybah oil field.
Bahrain says 32 people including children injured in Iranian drone attack
An Iranian drone attack hit a residential area in Bahrain and wounded 32 Bahraini civilians, including children as young as two years old, authorities said.
The attacks occurred in Sitra Island close to energy infrastructure, the National Communication Center said.
Four of the wounded are in critical condition, including two boys aged 7 and 8 who suffered serious leg injuries and were undergoing surgeries, it said.
US State Department issues order for non-emergency staff and families to leave Saudi Arabia
The expected order was formally issued on the same day the U.S. military announced an American service member has died of injuries sustained during an Iranian attack on the kingdom.
The service member died on Saturday from injuries sustained during a March 1 Iranian attack on the kingdom.
The kingdom’s Civil Defense also confirmed Sunday that a military projectile that fell onto a residential area killed two foreign-born residents and wounded 12 others in Al-Kharj governorate.
The Civil Defense spokesperson said in a statement that the two killed were of Indian and Bangladeshi nationality, and all wounded are Bangladeshi residents.
They are the first casualties to be reported by Saudi Arabia since the war began on Feb. 28.
Drone intercepted near US-linked base in Baghdad
Iraqi air defenses shot down a drone early Monday as it approached Victoria Base, a U.S.-operated military compound inside Baghdad International Airport, a security source told the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
There were no reported injuries or damage.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.
Pro-Iranian Iraqi militias, such as Saraya Awliya al-Dam, have previously targeted the base.
By Qassem Abdul-Zahra
Saudi Arabia sharpens warnings to Iran
Saudi Arabia sharpened its warnings to Iran early Monday, telling Tehran it would be the “biggest loser” if it continues to attack Arab states.
The Saudi statement came after a new drone attack apparently targeted its massive Shaybah oil field.
The kingdom dismissed comments by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday that Iran had halted its attacks on Gulf Arab states.
“The kingdom affirms that the Iranian side has not implemented this statement in practice, neither during the Iranian president’s speech nor afterward,” Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“Iran has continued its aggression based on flimsy pretexts devoid of any factual basis.”
It added the Iranian attacks mean “further escalation which will have grave impact on the relations, currently and in the future.”
Israel’s military warns of Iranian missile launch
Israel’s military warned of an Iranian missile launch early Monday morning.
It also said it targeted Hezbollah in airstrikes on Beirut and began airstrikes targeting central Iran early Monday.
Qatar arrests more than 300 people over ‘misleading information’
Qatar said more than 300 people from different nationalities have been arrested over allegations of inciting public concern amid the war in the Middle East.
The Interior Ministry said they were detained for “filming, circulating, and publishing misleading information.”
Asian shares sink on high oil prices
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index has plunged more than 6% after oil prices soared to over $100 a barrel due to disruptions from the war in the Middle East.
The Nikkei tumbled 6.2% to 52,166.92 shortly after trading began early Monday.
South Korea’s Kospi sank 6.3% and shares in Australia and New Zealand more than 3%.
Crude prices are at their highest level in more than three and a half years as the war ensnares major oil-producing countries and hinders exports from the Persian Gulf.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude was at $109.46 a barrel, and U.S. benchmark crude traded at $107.37 a barrel.
Both were 18% above their Friday closing prices.
Attacks in Gulf countries
Qatar’s Defense Ministry reported a missile attack on the country early Monday.
In Saudi Arabia, the Defense Ministry said forces early Monday destroyed two drones that were targeting its vast Shaybah oil field.
Meanwhile, fire broke out at an oil facility in the United Arab Emirates early Monday following an attack in Fujairah, one of the UAE’s seven emirates, authorities said.
The fire in the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone was extinguished, they said.
Woman injured after Iranian missiles launched toward Israel
One woman was injured by flying debris in Rishon LeZion city in central Israel and is in moderate condition, the country’s emergency service, Magen David Adom, said early Monday, following the launch of Iranian missiles toward Israel.
The service added that it provided the woman with medical treatment at the scene. A video circulating on social media showed a car with shattered glass and debris scattered across the road.
Trump says oil prices will ‘drop rapidly’ once Iran conflict ends
U.S. President Donald Trump offered assurance to consumers as oil prices eclipsed $100 per barrel for the first time in more than three and a half years Sunday, with the Iran war hindering production and shipping in the Middle East.
“Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay for U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace,” Trump said in a social media post. “ONLY FOOLS WOULD THINK DIFFERENTLY.”
Iran‑aligned Iraqi Shiite militia hails new Iran leader
The Kataib Hezbollah militia praised the appointment of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran's supreme leader, calling him “a figure possessing the leadership qualifications and competence necessary to shoulder the responsibilities of this great trust in these critical times.”
In a statement, the group said the choice “is further proof of the vigilance of the Assembly of Experts and their deep foresight regarding the existential challenges facing the nation in confronting global arrogance,” adding that he is “the best successor for the best predecessor.”
Israeli helicopter landing reported in eastern Lebanon
An Israeli landing by helicopter on the eastern ridge near the Lebanese-Syrian border was reported early Monday, with heavy fighting ensuing, according to the state-run National News Agency.
In a statement, Hezbollah said that Israeli helicopters were observed approaching from Syria, with some landing troops in the Sarghaya plain. The group said its fighters engaged the helicopters and ground forces, and the clashes were ongoing.
No statement from Israel was immediately available regarding the reported landing and clashes.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard pledges allegiance to the new Supreme Leader in a statement
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard announced its allegiance to the new Supreme Leader in a statement early Monday.
“The Guard as a powerful soldier and arm of the Supreme Leader is ready to follow the orders of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei while supporting the selection by the assembly,” said the Guard in a statement broadcast by state media outlets.
The Guard is in charge of missiles operation in the war against the U.S. and Israel.
Trump has called new Iranian supreme leader 'a lightweight'
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s supreme leader, but Trump has previously stated he has a dim view of Mojtaba Khamenei.
Trump has derided the 56-year-old who has never been elected or appointed to a government position, as “a lightweight.”
“We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” Trump said in an interview with Axios last week.
“I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy in Venezuela,” Trump said, referring to the acting president in the South American country. Delcy Rodríguez took power in January after a U.S. military operation captured Nicolás Maduro and whisked him to the U.S. to face federal drug conspiracy charges.
Trump earlier on Sunday repeated that he expects to have a say in picking Iran’s next leader, warning that a new leader “is not going to last long” if the person doesn’t have his approval.
Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Iran’s late supreme leader, has been named his successor
Iranian state TV early Monday said Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the country’s late supreme leader, has been named his successor.
He had long been considered a contender, even before an Israeli strike killed his father at the start of the war, and despite never being elected or appointed to a government position.
Iran’s powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard answers to the supreme leader, and now the younger Khamenei will have the central say in war strategy.
Saudi Arabia intercepts at least 3 drones and a missile
The Kingdom’s Defense Ministry said Sunday night it had intercepted a missile headed toward Prince Sultan Air Base, and two drones in northern Riyadh city
In an earlier post on X, it said it intercepted a drone over the Empty Quarter desert while heading toward the Shaybah oil field.
A separate post had the same details for the latter drone, but it was unclear if that was a different event.
The ministry also shared footage it said showed Saudi air defenses intercepting and destroying “a number of drones” launched at it in recent days
7th American killed in Iran operations, military confirms
The U.S. military announced an American service member has died of injuries sustained during an Iranian attack on troops stationed in Saudi Arabia.
The seventh American service member killed in the Iran war was an Army soldier, a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed to The Associated Press.
The service member died on Saturday from injuries sustained during a March 1 Iranian attack on the kingdom
The American death toll since the start of combat operations now stands at seven. Six Army reservists were also killed in the March 1 attack on Kuwait.
All seven casualties from the war in Iran were Army soldiers. The first six deaths were Army reservists killed in a March 1 attack on a command center in a Kuwaiti port.
By Konstantin Toropin
Israel says it destroyed headquarters of the Revolutionary Guard air force
The military said in a statement that the headquarters struck in Tehran operated “the ballistic missile command, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) array, and other air force units.” The army’s spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, said the headquarters were “destroyed.”
Israel has pounded Iran with widespread airstrikes for days, hitting more than 140 targets on Sunday alone, according to Defrin. (edited)
Israel’s army chief tells Israeli public to prepare for war to take ‘a long time’
Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir spoke at an assessment held with the Home Front Command chief and other military officials, in comments provided by the army.
“Israel has already been in a state of prolonged emergency for two years,” Zamir said. “What we mainly need right now is perseverance and patience. It will take a long time yet, you need to be prepared for that, and however long it takes, it will take.”
Israel confirms it struck hotel in central Beirut, says 5 Iran-linked commanders killed
The military said the overnight strike by its navy killed five top commanders in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps while they were “hiding in a civilian hotel.”
It said they served in the Guard’s Quds Force’s Lebanon and Palestine corps and were involved in funding, arming and providing intelligence to Hezbollah and Hamas.
The Quds Force works heavily with Iran’s allied militant groups in the region.
Last week the Israeli military said it killed the acting commander of the Quds Force’s Lebanon Corps in an airstrike in Tehran.
Macron urges Iran to halt strikes in phone call with the country’s president
French President Emmanuel Macron said he had talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday and urged him to stop the strikes.
“I stressed the need for Iran to immediately cease its strikes against countries in the region,” Macron said on X.
He also called on Iran to guarantee freedom of navigation by “putting an end to the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz.”
Macron also mentioned the case of Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, two French nationals who were released from an Iranian prison in November and transferred to the French Embassy in Tehran, after more than three years in detention on spying charges. He called for their return to France as an “absolute priority.”
Macron also stressed deep concern regarding the development of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic program and said a diplomatic solution is necessary.
Both leaders agreed to remain in contact, according to Macron’s post on X.
Macron is the first Western leader to talk to Iran’s president since the beginning of the war.
Macron speaks with Iranian president
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke on the phone Sunday with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. He also had separate talks with President Donald Trump, Macron’s office said.
No other details provided.
Lebanon says over a half-million people have been displaced in the week of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah
Lebanon says over a half-million people have been displaced in the week of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
The actual number is likely higher. Lebanon’s count of 517,000 refers to those who registered on the government’s online portal. The cash-strapped government has struggled to accommodate the large number of people who have fled their homes in large parts of southern and eastern Lebanon.
Israel over the past week has called on residents in dozens of villages across southern Lebanon and the entirety of Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate as the fighting intensifies.
Six Palestinians have been killed this week in interactions with Israeli settlers
Palestinian mourners marched down the main street of the West Bank village of Khirbet Abu Falah Sunday, hoisting high the coffins of three men killed in an interaction with settlers.
Earlier in the day, Israeli settlers had attacked Palestinians near the village, which is east of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied territory, the military said. Two Palestinians were killed by gunfire and a third died from suffocation, likely due to tear gas, the military said.
The deaths bring the total number of settler-related killings of Palestinians in the West Bank to six this week, and seven in the roughly nine weeks since the start of 2026.
That’s a major spike. In all of 2025, the UN human rights office reported nine Palestinians killed by settlers.
Sri Lanka plans to issue free visas for evacuated Iranian sailors
Sri Lanka will issue a monthlong visa for the Iranian sailors evacuated outside its waters after a U.S submarine attack sunk another ship in the same area, killing more than 80 sailors.
Public Security Minister Anada Wijepala told the media on Sunday that the government will issue “a free visa” for the Iranian sailors, adding that “it will take sometime for them(sailors) to leave this country.”
On Saturday, 204 sailors were transferred to a Sri Lankan naval base from their ship “IRIS Bushehr” which was taken under Sri Lankan custody.
The ship had sought help from Sri Lanka reporting an engine failure. The appeal followed the sinking of the Iranian warship “IRIS Dena by the U.S. torpedo attack, off Sri Lanka’s coast on Wednesday. The Sri Lankan navy rescued 32 sailors and recovered 87 bodies.
The strike marked one of the rare instances since World War II in which a submarine sank a surface warship.
Tensions on Israel’s northern border as military beefs up presence to counter Hezbollah
Israelis along the northern border with Lebanon Sunday watched and worried as the area grew increasingly militarized during yet another round of fighting with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
Military jeeps and trucks with tanks on them could be seen on roads close to the border.
“I believe that our army today will bring order regarding Hezbollah and eliminate them permanently so we can live here in peace,” said Morris Yakuti, a poultry farmer from the area.
Others weren’t so sure.
“Since I have enough experience in this area all my life, I think it’s just another circle of war and it will not end this war, so it will happen again and again,” said Harella Matalon Aizenshtadt.
Israel’s renewed offensive began last week after Hezbollah launched rockets toward northern Israel during the war’s opening days.
The subsequent strikes have been the most intense since a November 2024 ceasefire.
The first day of the Iran war was the deadliest, an independent monitoring group says
Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, the U.S-based group known as ACLED, said over 43% of the fatalities were documented that day, Feb. 28, in 10 countries. ACLED has documented over 1,000 incidents in the first week of the war across 16 countries.
The deadliest single strike during the first week was on Feb. 28 on a girl’s school near a Revolutionary Guards base in Minab in southern Iran, that killed 168 civilians.
That was followed by another strike on a playground in Shiraz, in central Iran, on March 5, that killed 20 people. Another strike on a residential area in Lamerd, in Fars province, killed 19 on the first day of the war, ACLED said.
Although ACLED recorded fewer strikes on civilian sites in Iran, they caused more causalities, it said. Over 57% of civilian casualties in Iran resulted from 3.4% of the recorded strikes by the US and Israel.
Sirens spread to central Israel in successive barrages from Iran
Moments after residents of southern Israel were warned of incoming ballistic missiles from Iran, sirens sent millions more Israelis in the Tel Aviv metro area and parts of the West Bank into shelters as the army said it had detected another missile attack.
Analyst says separatism will strengthen Iranian government
However disdainful of their government in Tehran, most Iranians are wary of Trump’s courting of Iranian Kurdish groups, said Alex Vatanka, a fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C.
Iranians see the U.S. president’s calls to the Kurds and posts on social media as signals that Trump desires not the liberation but rather than the fragmentation of Iran.
“What Iranians are by and large hearing is not regime change in Tehran, not this glorious move to a secular democracy and so forth, but basically the dismantling of Iran,” Vatanka said. Talk of separatism, from the Kurds and other minority groups like Baluchis, Ahwazi Arabs and Azeris “is going to undermine that bigger effort aimed at the regime and it will demoralize the opposition.”
Vatanka said that territorial losses in Iranian Kurdish areas or perhaps three Iranian islands claimed by the United Arab Emirates would rally Iranians around the flag if not the authorities against foreign interference.
Saudi Arabia reports its first deaths in the war with 2 killed
The Kingdom’s Civil Defense said Sunday evening that a military projectile that fell onto a residential area killed two foreign-born residents and wounded 12 others in Al-Kharj governorate.
The Civil Defense spokesperson said in a statement that the two killed were of Indian and Bangladeshi nationality, and all wounded are Bangladeshi residents.
These are the first casualties to be reported by Saudi Arabia since the war began a week ago.
Analyst says defections final key signal to instability in Iran
Three key signals might signal fatal cracks in the Iranian government, said Farzan Sabet, researcher at the Geneva Graduate Institute.
Popular uprisings, foreign intervention, and defections from the political and military elites are key signals of big changes in Iranian history, he said. Foreign intervention is clear in the smoke and flames across Tehran from Israeli and U.S. airstrikes, he said, and the latest protest movement in 2026.
But we have yet to see defections that might precipitate change, Sabet said.
Israeli targeting of Iran’s domestic security infrastructure is likely aimed at demoralizing the police and giving opposition groups space to organize, he said.
“It potentially creates a structure where it makes both a kind of popular uprising potentially more likely and more likely to succeed in the future, but it also creates space for the opposition to have organized armed resistance in the core of the country,” Sabet said.
Starmer and Trump discuss military cooperation
British Prime Keir Starmer has spoken to U.S. President Donald Trump about the military cooperation between the two countries in the Middle East.
Trump has rebuked Starmer on several occasions since they last spoke over a week ago over the prime minister’s initial decision not to permit the U.S. military to use British bases in the initial attacks against Iran, describing him at one point as “not Winston Churchill.”
Starmer has now granted permission for “defensive” actions against Iranian missile sites from U.K. bases after Iran started attacking countries throughout the region.
Starmer’s office in No. 10 Downing Street said the pair discussed the military cooperation between the U.K. and U.S. through the use of bases “in support of the collective self-defense of partners in the region.”
Starmer also shared his “heartfelt condolences” following the deaths of six U.S. soldiers.
Israeli drone strike kills three in Gaza, hospital director says
The strike Sunday in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City killed the three Palestinians and wounded several others, said Mohamed Abu Selmiya, the director of Shifa Hospital, where the bodies were brought.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
Israeli attacks have continued across the strip since the start of the latest war in the Middle East.
More than 72,100 Palestinians have been killed in the war sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack into Israel, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Part of the Hamas-run government, its statistics are seen as generally reliable by the United Nations and independent experts.
Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the initial attack and took another 251 hostage. The ceasefire deal ended major military operations and led to the release of all remaining captives but left major questions about Gaza’s future unanswered.
Trump says members of Iranian regime ‘could qualify’ to take power
The president in an ABC News interview reiterated that he wants a say in who comes to power in Iran once the war is over, warning anew that the new leader “is not going to last long” if the person doesn’t have his approval.
Trump also expressed openness to someone with ties in the current regime.
“I would, in order to choose a good leader I would, yeah, I would,” Trump said. “There are numerous people that could qualify.”
He did not specify any Iranian figures who fit his criteria.
US defends allowing India buy Russian oil amid reports Moscow is aiding Iran
Trump has faced blowback in Washington after the Treasury Department announced it would allow India to buy Russian oil until April 4.
The move, which temporarily gives Russia a stream of revenue to fund its war against Ukraine that the U.S. only recently managed to cut off, -comes even as Moscow is reportedly sharing information with Iran that could help it target U.S. troops and assets in the Mideast.
But top Trump administration officials say the waiver is motivated by pragmatism.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Russian oil being sold to India had been expected to go to Chinese refineries but had been idling at sea.
“Instead of having it wait six weeks to unload there, let’s just pull that oil forward, have it land at Indian refineries and tamp this fear of shortage of oil, tamp the price spikes and the concerns we see in the marketplace,” Wright said in an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Ambassador Mike Waltz, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “it was kind of common sense” to let the oil on idling ships go to India.
Israeli ambassador envisions transitional Iranian government under US-Israeli ‘guidance’
Michael Leiter, Israeli’s ambassador to the United States, has laid out a vision for a post-theocracy Iran, with Jerusalem and Washington providing “guidance” for a pluralistic transitional government.
“What we’re hoping for is that we move into a period of a transitional government where the minorities come together, where the majority of the people come together, all the various opposition parties come together for a transitional government where they can lead the country for a year or so together with the guidance from the United States and Israel and other regional allies,” Leiter told CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday morning.
Leiter said Israel has cultivated relations with Iranian ethnic minorities, such as the Kurdish and Baluchi communities. But he said the country’s ethnic Persian majority would need to buy in as well.
“We want a united Iran,” he said. “What we’re encouraging them to do is to coalesce.”
Leiter hailed the Israeli-American alliance that launched the ongoing unilateral war, saying, “We’ve reached a level of collaboration that we’ve never seen between our two countries and between our two militaries.”