President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Saturday, with daytime strikes in the joint U.S.-Israel attack targeting military and government sites, officials said.
On Sunday, Iranian state television confirmed that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was among those killed by airstrikes in Tehran on Saturday.
Iran is responding to the U.S.-Israeli operation with missile and drone attacks targeting Israel, regional U.S. bases and Gulf nations. American diplomatic facilities have also been attacked.
In Lebanon, Israel is intensifying its long-running strike campaign against the Iranian-aligned Hezbollah militia.
Watch special coverage on Nightline, "War with Iran," each night on ABC and streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.
Ambassador Huckabee says options for Americans leaving Israel are 'very limited'
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee advised Americans in Israel that there are “VERY LIMITED” options for leaving the country.
"As of now, the best is utilizing Israel's Ministry of Tourism shuttle bus to Taba, Egypt and getting flights from there or going on to Cairo for flights back to the US,” he said in a post on X.
Huckabee advised against exiting via Jordan, which has been the State Department’s primary ground option during past conflicts.
-ABC News' Shannon Kingston
Mar 03, 2026, 3:25 AM EST
Non-emergency US personnel in 6 countries ordered to depart
The U.S. embassies in Jordan, Bahrain, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait have ordered non-emergency personnel and family members to leave those countries citing "the onset of hostilities" between the U.S. and Iran.
Smoke rises from a reported Iranian strike in the area where the U.S. Embassy is located in Kuwait City on March 2, 2026.
-/AFP via Getty Images
Previously, Bahrain was on an authorized departure for this nonessential staff and their relatives. This is the first order of this kind handed down in Jordan during the conflict.
The State Department cited the "ongoing threat of drone and missile attacks from Iran and significant disruptions to commercial flights" in its departure orders.
-ABC News' Shannon Kingston
Mar 03, 2026, 12:22 AM EST
Trump touts US munition stockpile
President Donald Trump took to social media late Monday night to tout U.S. munitions stockpiles.
"The United States Munitions Stockpiles have, at the medium and upper medium grade, never been higher or better - As was stated to me today, we have a virtually unlimited supply of these weapons," Trump wrote.
He said that the U.S. will "easily prevail" in this war and that the country is prepared for the operation to go on for "whatever it takes." Trump wrote that "Wars can be fought 'forever,' and very successfully, using just these supplies."
However, Trump did acknowledge that the stockpile of some of the highest-grade munitions is "not where we want it to be," blaming that on U.S. support for Ukraine.
"The United States is stocked, and ready to WIN, BIG!!!" Trump said at the end of the post.
-ABC News' Meghan Mistry
Mar 03, 2026, 12:13 AM EST
Iranian foreign minister says 'US has entered a war of choice on behalf of Israel'
In a statement directed at Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, "Mr. Rubio admitted what we all knew: U.S. has entered a war of choice on behalf of Israel. There was never any so-called Iranian 'threat.'"
Araghchi's comments came after Rubio on Monday gave a new explanation from the Trump administration about why the U.S. decided to launch military action against Iran now -- saying the threat from Iran was "imminent" because it knew it would retaliate against the U.S. if attacked, including by Israel.
He spoke to reporters before briefing the Gang of 8 congressional leaders on Capitol Hill.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the media on the day of a briefing for Congressional leaders on the situation in Iran, on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 2, 2026.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
"It was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone -- the United States or Israel or anyone -- they were going to respond, and respond against the United States. The orders had been delegated down to the field commanders," Rubio said. "It was automatic."
"If we stood and waited for that attack to come first, before we hit them, we would suffer much higher casualties," Rubio went on. "We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn't preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties."
