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

The House voted Thursday to reopen the Department of Homeland Security -- as Republicans continue to call on Democrats to end the ongoing partial shutdown amid ongoing hostilities in Iran and a heightened threat level in the United States.

By a vote of 221-209, the measure prevailed in the lower chamber. Four Democrats -- Reps. Henry Cuellar, Jared Golden, Donald Davis and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez -- voted with the united GOP majority.

The measure heads back to the Senate, where 60 votes are needed to overcome Democratic opposition to the funding, which lapsed on Feb. 14.

"Despite bipartisan majorities in both chambers, Senate Democrats continue to hold this funding hostage," House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole stated after Thursday's vote. "Shielding the homeland should never be treated as a political bargaining chip."

-ABC News' John Parkinson

The State Department advised U.S. government personnel not to travel to Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan region in a new security alert issued Thursday.

The alert comes after Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry said earlier Thursday that drones struck the city of Nakhchivan, just north of the country's border with Iran. One drone hit the city's airport, the ministry said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson continued to argue that the U.S. is not at war with Iran, following the failed war powers resolution vote in the House on Thursday.

"We are not at war. We have no intention of being at war," he told reporters. "The Department of War has made it very clear -- this is a limited operation. It's an operation that is limited in its scope and duration."

Johnson's comments come a day after President Donald Trump said: "I have to go back and look at the war. You know, I have a lot of things happening.”

The House speaker said he is "grateful" that the resolution failed.

"It would have been a very dangerous gambit to take the commander-in-chief's ability away to complete this mission. Would have been a very serious misstep by Congress," Johnson said.

-ABC News' Lauren Peller

President Donald Trump called upon the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, military and police to "lay down their arms" against the U.S. and Israel as the conflict in Iran surges on -- telling these military forces to "take back your country" from the regime.

The president offered these officers immunity, saying they’d face "absolutely guaranteed death" if they declined.

“And I'm once again calling on all members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the military and the police to lay down their arms. They're only going to be killed. And now is the time to stand up for the Iranian people and help take back your country," Trump said during an event on Thursday at the White House.

"You're going to have a chance, after all these years, to take back your country. Accept immunity, we'll give you immunity," he continued.

"So you'll be perfectly safe with total immunity, or you'll face absolutely guaranteed death. And I don't want to see that. They don't want to see it either," he added.

-ABC News' Isabella Murray