THE NEW YORK TIMES: Iran and allied militias, including Hezbollah, attacked Israel and U.S. targets in retaliation for Ayatollah Khamenei’s death, and Israel struck in Lebanon. Top American officials suggested an extended campaign.
U.S. military officials said on Monday that their operation against Iran was in its early stages, with more forces headed to the Middle East, as widening attacks claimed more lives, rattled global markets and risked spiraling into a full-blown regional war.
Israeli fighter jets streaked through the skies over the Iranian capital, Tehran. Iran fired explosive drones across the Persian Gulf. Iran-backed Hezbollah militants launched rockets from Lebanon into Israel, prompting Israel to bombard the militia’s strongholds outside Beirut. U.S. warplanes continued to batter Iran. And three U.S. jets were shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses in what the U.S. military called an “apparent friendly fire incident,” with the crew members brought to safety.
At a Pentagon news conference, Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not give a time frame for how long the operation against Iran would go on. President Trump told The New York Times on Sunday that the United States and Israel could keep striking Iran for “four to five weeks.”
The president has offered conflicting visions of how the war could end and who should take over in Iran after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s autocratic supreme leader, was killed in a U.S.-Israeli attack on Saturday. Critics say the Trump administration has no clear endgame and casualties are already mounting, including four U.S. soldiers whose deaths the Pentagon has announced since Sunday. “We expect to take additional losses,” General Caine said. Live Updates » | Aaron Boxerman, Christina Goldbaum and Eric Schmitt | Monday, March 2, 2026
