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.
Trump says there’s ‘practically nothing left to target’ in Iran
President Donald Trump told Axios in a phone interview Wednesday that there is “practically nothing left to target” in Iran and that he’ll end the war “any time I want,” according to a report.
The president said Iran “will not get off that easy” after targeting several countries in the Middle East.
"They were after the rest of the Middle East. They are paying for 47 years of death and destruction they caused. This is payback. They will not get off that easy," the president reportedly said.
Trump also repeated that the war is going well.
“The war is going great. We are way ahead of the timetable. We have done more damage than we thought possible, even in the original six-week period," he told Axios.
-ABC News' Fritz Farrow
Mar 11, 2026, 9:06 AM EDT
US-Israeli operation to continue 'as long as necessary,' Israeli minister says
The joint operation against Iran being carried out by the Israel and United States will continue for "as long as necessary," Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday.
"This operation will continue Without any time limit, as long as necessary, until we achieve all the objectives and win the campaign," Katz said at a meeting with military leaders in Tel Aviv.
Smoke rises from a building following a reported strike, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran in this screen grab obtained from social media video released March 11, 2026.
Social Media/via Reuters
"We will continue to act and crush the regime and also the strategic objectives of this regime in Tehran and throughout Iran day after day, target after target," Katz said. "We will continue to do this also to enable the Iranian people to rise up and act and overthrow this regime. Ultimately, it depends on them."
Katz described what's left of the Iranian leadership as "cowards" that "flee like mice into the tunnels."
-ABC News' Jordana Miller
Mar 11, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT
Iran claims 2 strikes on ships in Strait of Hormuz
The Islamic Republic Guard Corps navy conducted strikes on two vessels in Strait of Hormuz since morning Wednesday, the IRGC public relations said in a statement.
The statement says that the ships "Express Room," and "Mayuree Naree" were targeted by fire from Iranian combatants "after ignoring alerts and warnings from the IRGC Navy."
Smoke rises from the Thai bulk carrier 'Mayuree Naree' near the Strait of Hormuz after an attack, March 11, 2026.
Royal Thai Navy/AFP via Getty Images
IRGC naval commander Adm. Alireza Tangsiri also said in a post in Persian on social media that "every vessel intending to pass must obtain permission from Iran."
-ABC News' Somayeh Malekian and Maryam Moqaddam
Mar 11, 2026, 8:48 AM EDT
3 crew members missing after Thai carrier struck in Strait of Hormuz
A Thai carrier was one of at least three ships struck by "unknown" projectiles in separate incidents as they traveled through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, according to Thailand, Oman and the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations, a monitoring agency.
One ship was struck about 25 nautical miles northwest of Ra's al Khaymah in the United Arab Emirates, another was about 50 nautical miles northwest of Dubai, also in the UAE, and a third was about 11 nautical miles north of Oman, the UKMTO said on social media.
The Thailand-flagged cargo ship Mayuree Naree engulfed in black smoke in the Strait of Hormuz, March 11, 2026.
Royal Thai Navy/via Reuters
Oman’s Maritime Security Center said that the ship struck nearest Oman was the "Mayuree Naree," a bulk carrier sailing under the Thai flag. Photos released by the Royal Thai Navy showed the carrier engulfed in heavy smoke.
"The attack ignited a fire within the main engine room," the Oman News Agency, an official state media, said in an update. "In response, a vessel from the Royal Navy of Oman successfully evacuated 20 crew members, all of Thai nationality, who sustained injuries of varying severity."
This handout photo taken on March 11, 2026, and released by the Royal Thai Navy shows smoke rising from the Thai bulk carrier "Mayuree Naree" near the Strait of Hormuz after an attack. A Thai bulk carrier travelling in the crucial Strait of Hormuz was attacked March 11, with 20 crew members rescued so far, the Thai navy said.
ROYAL THAI NAVY/AFP via Getty Images
The carrier's route was altered significantly at about 7:30 a.m. local time, when the ship slowed and veered off course about 11 nautical miles from Kumzar Port in Oman, according to Marine Traffic, a site that tracks vessels.
An "explosion occurred at the stern of the ship, resulting in a fire in the engine room," the Thai Marine Department said in an update. "The captain decided to abandon ship and evacuate the crew to lifeboats."
Twenty-three crew members had been onboard the ship when it departed the UAE, the department said, adding that a search-and-rescue operation was underway for three missing crew members, who were believed to have been in the engine room at the time of the strike.
