Trump calls Strait of Hormuz 'something that we don't need'

Trump told reporters that he is talking to countries about policing the Strait.

Last Updated: March 15, 2026, 9:09 PM 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 in Tehran on the first day of strikes. His son Mojtaba Khamenei was chosen on Sunday to succeed him.

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.

Mar 10, 2026, 9:16 AM EDT

9 drone strikes reported in UAE

Nine Iranian drones were able to make it through air defenses in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, the UAE Ministry of Defense said in a post on X.

Twenty-six drones and eight ballistic missiles were intercepted on Tuesday, according to the ministry.

Mar 10, 2026, 8:31 AM EDT

Iran not 'more formidable' than US expected, Caine says

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Tuesday that while Iran was "adapting" during the conflict, Tehran's military was not “more formidable” than the U.S. had expected.

PHOTO: Pete Hegseth,Dan Caine
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listens to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, during a press briefing at the Pentagon, Monday, March 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Mark Schiefelbein/AP

"I mean, I think they're fighting and I respect that, but I don't think they're more formidable than what we thought," he said.

Mar 10, 2026, 8:19 AM EDT

Iran campaign not 'endless nation building,' Hegseth says

The U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran are not part of an "endless nation-building" effort, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday.

"This is not 2003. This is not endless nation building under those types of quagmires we saw under Bush or Obama," Hegseth said during a Pentagon press briefing. "It's not even close. Our generation of soldier will not let that happen again."

A man walks next to a poster of Iran's late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 10, 2026.
Majid Asgaripour/West Asia News Agency via Reuters

Hegseth added that President Donald Trump would not allow such open-ended conflict, saying he "very clearly ran against those kinds of never-ending nebulously scoped missions. Those days are dead."

Mar 10, 2026, 8:10 AM EDT

Tuesday to mark 'most intense' US strikes in Iran, Hegseth says

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday that U.S. strikes on Tehran would continue to amplify, meaning Tuesday’s aerial strikes would mark "the most intense" of the 10-day conflict.

Rescuers work in the rubble of residential buildings after air strikes, in the Resalat neighborhood, in Tehran, Iran, in this screengrab obtained from a handout video released March 9, 2026.
Iranian Red Crescent Society via Reuters

"Iran stands alone and they are badly losing on day 10 of Operation Epic Fury," Hegseth said. "We are winning with an overwhelming and unrelenting focus on our objectives, which are the same as the day I gave my first briefing here on Operation Epic Fury."

Related Topics

Sponsored Content by Taboola