Trump calls Strait of Hormuz 'something that we don't need'
Trump told reporters that he is talking to countries about policing the Strait.
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.)
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Key Headlines
- IRGC declares it continues efforts to 'pursue and kill' Netanyahu
- CENTCOM calls Iranian claims US targeted Gulf countries a 'lie'
- War with Iran ‘will certainly’ end in next few weeks: Secretary Wright
- Pentagon identifies 6 Air Force airmen killed in KC-135 refueling aircraft crash
- Trump repeats calls for other countries to help with Strait of Hormuz
Tehran will break Israel's 'vicious cycle of war,' speaker of Iran's parliament says
Tehran is not seeking a ceasefire and "the aggressor must be punished," Speaker of Iran's parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tuesday.
Ghalibaf said that the Islamic Republic will break Israel's "vicious cycle of war, negotiations, ceasefire, then war again," in a post on X.
IDF says it 'dismantled' infrastructure tied to Iranian security forces in Ilam
Israel claims it "dismantled" several targets in western province of Ilam Province, saying they were linked to Iranian security forces and involved in the brutal crackdown of protesters earlier this year, as the IDF said in a statement Tuesday.
Infrastructure for Iran's Internal Security Forces, Basij forces and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was destroyed in Ilam province, the IDF said, adding that they were locations where forces "carried out many terror attacks and brutally repressed internal protests during demonstrations that took place across Iran in the December–January period."
However, Iranian news outlets have reported attacks on “residential buildings” and also some attacks on IRGC-related facilities in Ilam Province over the past few days.
Trump based his assessment of an imminent Iranian attack on intelligence, Leavitt says
President Donald Trump based his assessment of an imminent Iranian attack on the U.S. on intelligence he had received, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday.
"Iran chose this path" and Trump "was not going to sit back" and allow this to happen, Leavitt said.
Iran war 'resounding success,' Leavitt says
The U.S. military is achieving its objectives faster than anticipated, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday.
"More than 5,000 enemy targets have been struck so far. Iran's ballistic missile attacks are down more than 90%, and their drone attacks are down by approximately 85% since the start of Operation Epic Fury," Leavitt said.
When asked for a timeline for the end of the military operation, Leavitt said this would be left up to President Donald Trump and would only happen when there is an "unconditional surrender" of the Iranian regime.
Leavitt said the "surrender" announcement won't necessarily come from the regime, but when the U.S. government determines Iran no longer poses a "credible threat" to the U.S.