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U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran continue into 2nd day, as the region faces turmoil

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Special Series Middle East conflict Conflict in the Middle East has been escalating. These stories provide context for current developments and the history that led up to them.
− By Jane Arraf , Chandelis Duster A plume of smoke rises following reported explosions in Tehran on March 1, 2026.
+ By Jane Arraf , Chandelis Duster A plume of smoke rises following reported explosions in Tehran on Sunday.
− Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images hide caption AMMAN, Jordan and WASHINGTON, D.C.
+ Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images hide caption AMMAN, Jordan and WASHINGTON — Three U.S.
− — Three U.S.
+ service members were killed and at least five seriously wounded in the war against Iran, U.S.
− service members have been killed and at least five seriously wounded, according to the U.S.
+ Central Command (CENTCOM) said Sunday — the first American casualties since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Saturday. A U.S.
− Central Command.
+ official not authorized to speak publicly told NPR that the troops who were killed were ground-based forces stationed in Kuwait. The U.S. military said several other service members were returning to duty after sustaining what it called "minor shrapnel injuries and concussions." As the U.S. military detailed the scope of its operation, 'Epic Fury,' Central Command said Sunday it had struck an Iranian Jamaran-class corvette, a small warship, and that the ship was sinking at a pier at an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman.
− "Several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions — and are in the process of being returned to duty.
+ In a separate post, the military said U.S.
− Major combat operations continue and our response effort is ongoing," the military said in a statement Sunday morning.
+ B-2 stealth bombers, armed with 2,000-lb bombs, struck Iran's ballistic missile facilities on Saturday night. Over 1,000 targets have been struck, according to CENTCOM.
− The military also refuted Iran's claims that it had struck USS Abraham Lincoln with ballistic missiles. "The Lincoln was not hit.
+ President Trump, meanwhile, said U.S.
− The missiles launched didn't even come close," it said in a post on social media on Sunday.
+ forces had sunk nine Iranian naval ships and "largely destroyed" Iran's naval headquarters.
− "The Lincoln continues to launch aircraft in support of CENTCOM's relentless campaign to defend the American people by eliminating threats from the Iranian regime." Iranians and others across the Middle East awoke Sunday to a region in turmoil following the killing of Iran's supreme leader in U.S.
+ U.S.
− and Israeli air strikes.
+ Central Command would not confirm the claim.
− Middle East conflict Trump warns Iran not to retaliate after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is killed The Iranian government, now without the country's spiritual leader but with a military command structure still seemingly intact, continued strikes on Israel and on U.S.
+ Still, Trump warned more attacks were coming.
− targets in Gulf states, Iraq and Jordan.
+ "We are going after the rest — They will soon be floating at the bottom of the sea, also!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.
− Israel's military said it began a new wave of attacks in Iran.
+ Middle East conflict Here's how world leaders are reacting to the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran The latest military updates came as the war's scope widened across the region.
− Explosions were heard in the Iranian capital Sunday morning.
+ Israel launched a fresh wave of attacks in Iran Sunday, with explosions heard in the Iranian capital.
− Israel's military said it is striking targets belonging to "the Iranian terror regime" located "in the heart of Tehran." The Israeli air force said it conducted large-scale strikes to establish air superiority and "pave the path to Tehran." Iranian state media Saturday confirmed the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, in air strikes targeting his office in Tehran.
+ Israel's military said it is striking targets belonging to "the Iranian terror regime" located "in the heart of Tehran." The Israeli Air Force said it conducted large-scale strikes to establish air superiority and "pave the path to Tehran." Iranian state media Saturday confirmed that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, was killed in air strikes targeting his office in Tehran.
An Iran state broadcaster delivered the news in tears. Khamenei assumed the position of spiritual leader after the death in 1989 of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini — leader of Iran's Islamic revolution.
− Iran said it had established a three-person temporary leadership council to govern the country under Islamic law before a panel of Shia clerics chooses a new spiritual leader.
+ On Sunday, Israel's military said it carried out a "precise, large-scale operation" targeting Khamenei at what it described as a central leadership compound in the heart of Tehran.
− On Sunday mourners packed Tehran's Enghelab Square and public spaces in other cities to mark what they consider Khamenei's martyrdom.
+ Iran said it had established a three-person temporary leadership council to govern the country under Islamic law before a panel of Shia clerics chooses a new supreme leader.
− Middle East Here's how world leaders are reacting to the US-Israel strikes on Iran In the southwestern city of Yasuj, videos posted to social media showed a large crowd chanting 'the lion of God has been killed'. NPR could not independently verify the videos.
+ Trump said new potential leadership in Iran has also indicated they want to talk, and he plans to talk to them eventually, a senior White House official told NPR, without specifying any timeline.
− Iran said the attack also killed Khamenei's daughter, grandchild, daughter-in-law and son-in-law.
+ Iran Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told NPR's All Things Considered on Sunday that 158 students were killed at an elementary school in Minab, in southern Iran.
− It said Armed Forces Chief of Staff Abdolrahim Mousavi and Major General Shahid Rezaian, a senior intelligence chief, also died in airstrikes.
+ "Some of them are still under the rubble. Today, they hit hospitals in the center of Tehran," Baghaei told NPR.
− There was no apparent sign of renewed protests that rocked Iran starting in December. Iranian security forces are believed to have killed thousands of demonstrators at the time, after anger over Iran's financial crisis turned into anti-regime protests.
+ Iran blames Israel for the strike.
− U.S.
+ The Israeli military told reporters it is not aware of its forces operating in the area of the school strike Saturday.
− treasury secretary Scott Bessent said the United States had engineered that financial crisis.
+ Capt. Tim Hawkins, a Central Command spokesperson, told NPR late Saturday, that the U.S. was aware of reports of civilian harm and said it was "looking into them." "The protection of civilians is of utmost importance, and we will continue to take all precautions available to minimize the risk of unintended harm. Unlike Iran, we have never — and will never — target civilians," Hawkins said.
− One Tehran resident said she and her friends, who have joined protests over years, shouted in joy from the rooftops when they heard Khamenei had been killed.
+ On Sunday, mourners packed Tehran's Enghelab Square and public spaces in other cities to mark what they consider Khamenei's martyrdom. In the southwestern city of Yasuj, videos posted to social media showed a large crowd chanting "the lion of God has been killed." NPR could not independently verify the footage.
− She said one of her friends in the city of Karaj near Tehran was later shot as he and other young people danced in the streets.
+ A Tehran resident, who asked to be identified only as Roxana for fear of regime retaliation, said some people who had taken part in past protests celebrated Khamenei's death — but she said a friend was later shot in his back and his leg by security forces as young people danced in the street.
− "The basiji came," she said, referring to paramilitary internal security forces.
+ Sources & Methods Iran's supreme leader is killed.
− "He was shot in his back and his leg." The woman, who asked to be identified only as Roxana in fear of regime retaliation, said her friend could not go to hospital in fear of arrest. In Lebanon, the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah announced a commemoration in Beirut's southern suburbs to mark the death.
+ What happens now?
− Hezbollah had warned it would not let Khamenei's death go unpunished, but has so far stayed on the sidelines.
+ She added that her friend could not go to hospital in fear of arrest.
+ Across the region, security tightened and air defenses went on alert.
In Iraq, where Iran-backed paramilitaries are part of official government security forces, the government blocked entrances to Baghdad's green zone to protect the U.S. and other embassies based there. They deployed riot police against a group of militia members trying to breach the barricades.
− Sources & Methods Iran's supreme leader is killed.
+ In Jordan, which hosts major U.S.
− What happens now? In Jordan, which discretely hosts major U.S. military bases, residents woke up to air raid sirens and the thud of missiles being intercepted.
+ military bases, residents reported air raid sirens and the thud of missiles being intercepted.
− The oil-rich Gulf, long seen as a safe haven for expatriates and the economic engine for countries that provide most of its skilled and un-skilled labor, faced perhaps the biggest shocks.
+ The oil-rich Gulf, long seen as a safe haven for expatriates and the economic engine for countries that provide most of its skilled and unskilled labor, faced perhaps the biggest shocks.
Iran on Saturday and Sunday targeted luxury hotels and high-rise apartments believed to house U.S. personnel. Instead of the usual flood of social influencer posts basking in the winter sunshine of Dubai and its neighboring emirates, videos of drones striking high-rise buildings dominated social media feeds. Some images showed smoke filling part of the concourse of Dubai's airport as staff fled the building. The attacks shut down several major airport hubs in the Middle East, including Dubai's international airport, one of the world's busiest. The airport and the emirate's famed Burj Al Arab hotel were damaged in Iranian attacks. Other projectiles also hit airports in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait. Iran Sunday threatened its biggest wave of attacks yet on Israel and U.S. military bases.
− It said that since the start of its retaliation for Saturday's strikes, its projectiles had hit 27 U.S. bases in the region, along with an Israeli base and the Israeli army's general command headquarters. There was no confirmation of these strikes from the U.S. or Israel.
+ It also reiterated threats to attack shipping and announced it was closing the Strait of Hormuz.
"There will be no mercy or forgiveness in taking revenge for the leader," the Iranian ministry of defense said in a statement.
− Iran had also made clear Saturday that it would also attack shipping vessels and other commercial interests, and announced it was closing the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for Gulf oil exports.
+ Esmail Baghaei, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, told NPR on Sunday that Iran will continue to fight "foreign aggression, foreign domination." "This is an unjust war imposed on our nation. And we have no other choice other than fighting against this injustice," Baghaei said.
+ Asked about the death of U.S. military personnel, Baghaei said: "We have no problem with the American people. And we believe that this is not their war. This is the U.S. administration's war of choice." In Israel Sunday, at least nine people were been killed and others wounded in an Iranian missile attack near Jerusalem, according to Israeli officials.
The OPEC group of oil producing countries was set to meet Sunday to decide on increasing production, hoping to avoid a severe rise in oil prices if supplies from the Gulf are restricted by the conflict.
− Middle East conflict How could the U.S.
+ Trump warned Iran against further retaliation, writing that if Iran escalated, the U.S.
− strikes in Iran affect the world's oil supply?
+ would respond with "a force that has never been seen before." Trump also told CNBC Sunday military operations in Iran were "ahead of schedule." Middle East conflict How could the U.S.
− President Trump in announcing the attacks Saturday had told Iranians they should take back their government after the strikes were finished.
+ war in Iran affect the world's oil supply?
− The killing of Khamenei and widening of Iranian targets pushed Iran's nuclear facilities — the U.S.
+ "We're doing our job not just for us but for the world.
− administration's original stated reason for attacking Iran — to the sidelines.
+ And everything is ahead of schedule," Trump said.
− President Trump on Sunday in a post on Truth Social warned Iran against further retaliation, writing "THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!" Trump also told the news outlet Axios in a brief phone interview: "I can go long and take over the whole thing, or end it in two or three days and tell the Iranians: 'See you again in a few years if you start rebuilding [nuclear and missile programs]." Carrie Kahn contributed to this report from Istanbul.
+ Daniel Estrin contributed to this report from Tel Aviv. Carrie Kahn contributed to this report from Istanbul.
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