Mojtaba Khamenei chosen as Iran's next supreme leader, Iranian state media reports
He is the son of assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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
- Iran’s near-total internet blackout continues, tracker says
- Israel warns of strikes in Beirut's southern suburbs
- Israel says its working to intercept Iranian missiles
- Iranian missiles, drones targeting UAE, ministry says
- US orders evacuation of non-emergency government employees from Saudi Arabia
- More missile and drone attacks reported in the region
Leavitt says sending in ground troops to Iran remains an option for Trump
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Sunday that the Iran war would, for now, remain an air campaign, adding that President Donald Trump has not removed sending in ground troops from his table of options.
"It has been, and it will continue to be,” Leavitt said Sunday morning on Fox about the current U.S. military operations, which have largely been an air campaign.
“And President Trump wisely does not remove options off the table," Leavitt said. "I know a lot of politicians like to do that quickly, but the president, as commander-in-chief, wants to continue to assess the success of this military operation. It's not part of the current plan right now, but the president, again, wisely keeps his options on the table."
Leavitt was also asked about how the conflict in the Middle East is impacting the economy, and how that might influence the hotly-contested midterm elections in November.
Leavitt said Trump can "walk and chew gum at the same time" by handling conflicts abroad and tackling domestic issues related to the economy.
-ABC News' Isabella Murray
Trump says next supreme leader 'is not going to last long' without his OK
As the Iranians get closer to naming their next supreme leader, President Donald Trump said Sunday the new leader "is not going to last long" if the Iranians don't get his approval first.
"He’s going to have to get approval from us," Trump told ABC News' chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce. "If he doesn’t get approval from us, he’s not going to last long. We want to make sure that we don’t have to go back every 10 years, when you don’t have a president like me that’s not going to do it."
The president added, "I don’t want people to have to go back in five years and have to do the same thing again, or worse, let them have a nuclear weapon," he said.
-ABC News' Mary Bruce and Justin Fishel
Death toll nears 400 in Lebanon, country's health ministry says
Nearly 400 people have been killed in Lebanon since the start of the U.S.-Israel military operation against Iran and its proxies in the region, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said on Sunday.
Of the 394 people who have been killed in Lebanon since Feb. 28, 83 were children and 42 women, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said.
-ABC News Ghazi Balkiz
Explosion damages US embassy in Norway
The Norwegian police said an explosion at the U.S. Embassy in Oslo early Sunday morning damaged the building, but no injuries were reported.
The incident occurred around 1 a.m. "at one of the entrances" to the embassy, the Norwegian police said in a statement.
The cause of the explosion remained under investigation.
"The police take such incidents in public spaces very seriously, and are investigating the case with large resources and high priority," the police said. "Investigations have been carried out at the scene and with both dogs, drones and helicopters looking for one or more potential perpetrators."
-ABC News' Victoria Beaule