, March 4, 2026 (AFP)
Israel early Wednesday (March 4, 2026) launched new attacks on Iran as the U.S. military said it has hit nearly 2,000 targets inside the Islamic republic, which tried to impose a cost by expanding a missile and drone barrage across the region.
With global energy prices on the rise, U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. Navy was ready to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, the vital chokepoint into the Gulf that Iran has threatened to seal off.
Israel’s military said it launched a “broad wave of strikes” after midnight across Iran, which in the hours before had launched three separate missile barrages at Israel, causing mild injuries to a woman in Tel Aviv.
The U.S. military has hit nearly 2,000 targets since attacking Iran alongside Israel on Saturday (February 28, 2026), targeting ballistic missiles and “all the things that can shoot at us”, said Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command.
“These forces bring a massive amount of firepower, representing the largest buildup by the U.S. in the Middle East in a generation,” he said in a video message, describing the first day’s barrage as bigger than the so-called “shock and awe” against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in 2003.
The U.S. and Israeli attacks have killed 787 people in Iran, according to the Iranian Red Crescent, a toll that could not be independently confirmed by AFP.
Iran vowed to inflict a heavy price in retaliation. Drones struck adjacent the U.S. consulate in Dubai, starting a fire but inflicting no casualties, and against the U.S. military base at Al-Udeid in Qatar.
The attacks came a day after strikes on the U.S. embassies in Riyadh and Kuwait City and on a U.S. air base in Bahrain.
“We are saying to the enemy that if it decides to hit our main centres, we will hit all economic centres in the region,” Islamic Revolutionary Guard General Ebrahim Jabbari said.
Trump says no more talks
The United States and Israel launched the attack on Saturday (February 28, 2026) and quickly killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, two days after U.S. envoys had been speaking to Iran in Geneva on a nuclear accord.
Mr. Trump insisted that Iran wanted to resume talks but it was “too late”.
He also walked back a statement the day before from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said the U.S. attack’s timing was precipitated by Israel’s plans.
“If anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand,” Mr. Trump said as he met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House.
Mr. Trump boasted that “just about everything’s been knocked out” in Iran, including its navy, air force and air detection, and said the attacks had killed even leaders who could have taken over.
“Most of the people we had in mind are dead,” Mr. Trump said. “Now we have another group. They may be dead also, based on reports.”
According to Iranian media, U.S. and Israeli strikes targeted a building on Tuesday (March 3, 2026) in the holy city of Qom belonging to the committee that is to elect a new supreme leader. The Tasnim news agency reported that strikes had already targeted the body’s main headquarters in Tehran the day before.
Mr. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have urged Iranians to rise up but Mr. Trump said regime change was not the goal.
The assault came weeks after Iranian authorities clamped down on mass protests, killing thousands.
Trump insists he struck Iran on his own terms
Mr. Trump and his team scrambled on Tuesday (March 3, 2026) to reclaim the narrative on why he decided to attack Iran, after his top diplomat suggested the U.S. struck only after learning of an imminent Israeli strike. Secretary of State Marco Rubio alarmed Democrats— who say only Congress can declare war— as well as many of Mr. Trump’s MAGA supporters on Monday (March 1, 2026) when he said: “We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action.”
“We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Mr. Rubio told reporters.
Administration officials quickly backpedalled, insisting Mr. Trump authorized the strikes because Tehran was not seriously negotiating an accord on limiting its nuclear ambitions, and the United States needed to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities.
“The President made a decision. The decision he made was that Iran was not going to be allowed to hide… behind this ability to conduct an attack.”
Lebanon violence expands
The regional war also took a growing toll on Lebanon, where Hezbollah, the armed Shiite Muslim movement that long had Tehran as a benefactor, launched drones and rockets at Israel in retaliation for Khamenei’s slaying.
Hezbollah said it targeted the Israeli naval base in the northern city of Haifa and Israel said it struck Beirut’s heavily Shiite southern suburbs. Loud explosions were heard early Wednesday (March 4, 2026).
Israeli strikes have killed at least 52 people in Lebanon, according to the government, while the United Nations said that more than 30,000 people were displaced.
In a throwback to earlier wars, Israel said it was moving troops across the border to create a buffer zone inside Lebanon.
In Tehran, photos showed damage to Mehrabad airport, which handles mainly domestic flights.
The Israeli military also announced a strike on an underground facility on the eastern outskirts of Tehran where it alleged scientists were covertly working on a nuclear programme.
The United States ordered non-emergency personnel to leave embassies in much of the region. The Washington Post reported that the Iranian drone in Riyadh hit the station of the CIA.
The United States encouraged all Americans to leave the region if they can find commercial flights, even though air travel has been severely disrupted.
The State Department said that some 9,000 Americans have found a way home.
Qatar said it had downed missiles targeting Hamad International Airport in Doha. Oman reported several drones attacking the port of Duqm, and in the UAE falling debris from an intercepted drone caused a fire at an oil storage and trading zone, authorities said.
Ghost town
In Tehran, residents who have not fled remained shut away in their homes for fear of the U.S.-Israeli bombardment.
The Iranian capital is normally home to around 10 million people, but in recent days “there are so few people that you’d think no one ever lived here”, said Samireh, a 33-year-old nurse.
Authorities had previously urged people to leave the city, and police officers, armed security forces and armoured vehicles have been stationed at main junctions, carrying out random checks on vehicles.
In the more upmarket north of Tehran, the meowing of cats and chirping of birds replaced the usual din of traffic jams.
Iranian authorities said a strike on a school in the city of Minab on the first day of the war killed more than 150 people. AFP has been unable to access the location independently to verify the toll or circumstances.
The U.S. military began naming the first of six troops who have been killed. In Israel, nine people died Sunday (March 1, 2026) when a missile hit the town of Beit Shemesh.
At least eight people have died across the Gulf.
The United States and Israel have received lukewarm support, with Western nations limiting involvement to helping Gulf states and repatriating citizens.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who had backed the strikes, said Wednesday (March 4, 2026) in Sydney that it was time for “rapid de-escalation”.
