Mojtaba Khamenei chosen as Iran's next supreme leader, Iranian state media reports

He is the son of assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

ByDavid Brennan, Jon Haworth, Kevin Shalvey, Leah Sarnoff, Meredith Deliso, Nadine El-Bawab, and Bill Hutchinson
Last Updated: March 9, 2026, 5:55 AM EDT

President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israel strikes attack targeting military and government sites, officials said.

Iranian state television confirmed that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was among those killed by airstrikes in Tehran on the first day of strikes. His successor is yet to be named.

Iran is responding to the operation with missile and drone attacks targeting Israel, regional U.S. bases and multiple Gulf nations. Israel is also intensifying its long-running strike campaign against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.

(Read previous Iran live updates here.)

Watch special coverage on Nightline, "War with Iran," each night on ABC and streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.

Key Headlines

Here's how the news is developing.
Mar 05, 2026, 3:42 PM EST

Trump to ABC: 'They are decimated'

President Donald Trump told ABC News on Thursday that 58% of Iran’s missile launchers have been taken out.

Iran is “decimated for a 10-year period before they could build it back,” the president said.

A plume of smoke rises after a strike on the Iranian capital of Tehran, March 5, 2026.
Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images

As for the timeline of strikes in Iran, Trump said, "Well, there are many people who say it's already over. It's not over to me. It's over when I want it to be."

When it comes to the next leader of Iran, Trump said, "We don't want them to put anybody in there unless it is approved by us."

"We don't want some [U.S.] president in 10 years get stuck with this problem and not know what to do with it,” he said.

-ABC News’ Jonathan Karl

Mar 05, 2026, 2:23 PM EST

IDF asks hundreds of thousands to evacuate in Lebanon

The Israel Defense Forces issued evacuation orders on Thursday for hundreds of thousands of people in Lebanon.

Over 83,000 people are registered as displaced persons in shelters, equivalent to 18,033 families, according to Minister of Social Affairs Hanin Al-Sayed.

A man stands near a damaged building after Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs on Wednesday, following renewed hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, Lebanon, March 5, 2026.
Ahmad Al Kerdi/Reuters

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

Mar 05, 2026, 2:23 PM EST

US suspends operations at embassy in Kuwait

The State Department announced that it has suspended all operations at the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait.

This is the first suspension of operations at a U.S. embassy since the conflict began.

The embassy itself was closed earlier in the week and struck by what was initially assessed to be an Iranian drone on Monday.

The embassy previously said it would provide "information on how American citizens in Kuwait may obtain an emergency passport for travel.”

-ABC News’ Shannon Kingston

Mar 05, 2026, 2:09 PM EST

1st flight from UAE lands in US

Emirates Flight 203, the first direct, commercial flight from the United Arab Emirates to the U.S. since the conflict with Iran began, landed safely in New York City on Thursday morning.

It’s not clear what, if any, role the U.S. government had in facilitating the flight.

Emirates previously announced that it had suspended its regularly scheduled flights through March 7, and the airline has since carried out a number of repatriation flights. The State Department announced Thursday night that a charter flight had left the Middle East and was on its way back to the U.S.

-ABC News’ Clara McMichael

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