live Iran War Enters Its Second Week

A US government charter flight carrying American citizens departed the Middle East on March 4 as part of ongoing efforts to help Americans return home, according to a US State Department statement.

The agency did not provide any details regarding the number of passengers on the flight, the countries they were leaving, or the flight's departure and arrival times.

The State Department has opened a crisis intake form for Americans in the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.

Since February 28, when US and Israeli forces launched initial strikes on Iran, more than 17,500 Americans have returned safely to the United States from the Middle East -- including about 8,500 on March 3 alone -- while many others have departed the region for countries in Europe and Asia, the department said.

With reporting from Reuters

The 32 rescued Iranian sailors who survived a US submarine strike in ⁠the Indian ⁠Ocean were recovering ‌at a hospital in Sri Lanka, authorities said on March 5.

Officials at the hospital in the port city of Galle said the survivors were being treated for minor injuries and could be released later in the day.

Sri Lankan officials said 87 bodies had been recovered by military rescuers who had responded to a distress call from the IRIS Dena on March 4. Some 60 sailors remain unaccounted for and the search mission was continuing, officials added.

US defense chief Pete Hegseth confirmed that a US submarine sank ‌the Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka.

"An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo," Hegseth told a news briefing.

A Pentagon video purporting to depict the attack showed the warship being hit by a huge explosion, blowing apart the rear of the vessel and causing it to sink.

Fox News reported that a $4.2 million torpedo detonated under the Iranian warship in a nighttime submarine strike.

Fox identified the weapon as a Mark 48 Advanced Capability (ADCAP) torpedo and quoted a former US submarine commander as saying the action signaled to Tehran that "the gloves really are off."

The attack -- hundreds of kilometers away from the Persian Gulf -- dramatically widened the geographic scope of the war.

US and Israeli forces launched a massive air campaign against Iran on February 28, and Tehran has retaliated by firing missiles and drones at Israel and Gulf countries that host US military bases.

With reporting by Reuters and Fox News

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon announced the identify of an officer killed during the US war against Iran, the fifth of six US service members killed in action to be named.

The service member was identified as Major Jeffrey R. O'Brien, 45, of Iowa. He died on March 1 in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, during an unmanned aircraft system attack, a Pentagon statement said.

The soldier was assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command, Des Moines, Iowa.

Full details of the incident in which six US soldiers were killed have not been disclosed. The Pentagon said the incident is still being investigated.

US President Donald Trump on the first day of the US attack on Iran -- February 28 -- warned that casualties were possible.

"Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends," he said later after the first deaths were reported.

Qatari authorities on March 5 said the area around the US Embassy in the small Gulf nation has been evacuated for safety reasons as Iran continues to launch drones and missiles in retaliation for a joint US-Israeli air campaign against the country.

Qatar’s Interior Ministry said residents of nearby buildings were temporarily moved to safety as a precaution and that suitable accommodation had been provided for them.

Further details were not provided and it was not clear if authorities expected an imminent attack.

Qatar has been a regular recipient of Iranian missiles and drones since the February 28 launching of the US and Israeli air strikes on Iran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the air strikes were aimed only at "US interests in Qatar," although local authorities said projectiles have also hit civilian and residential areas.

Qatari Foreign Minister Muhammad bin Abdulrahman al-Thani "categorically rejected" that assertion and called for an immediate halt to Iran’s attacks.

Qatar's top diplomat said his country would confront any aggression and would assert its "right to self-defense."

Officials in Qatar said an Iranian ballistic missile hit the US military base at Al-Udeid near Doha on March 3 without causing casualties. The facility is the largest US base in the Middle East and houses some 10,000 American service members.

Iranian drones hit a power plant and energy facility in Qatar on March 2, leading one of the world's largest exporters of liquefied natural gas to stop production.

With reporting by Reuters and dpa

WASHINGTON — The US Senate voted 53–47 to block a bipartisan resolution seeking to curb President Donald Trump’s authority to continue military action against Iran without congressional approval.

The measure would have required Congress to authorize further strikes, but Republicans largely opposed it, arguing the president has commander-in-chief authority to direct ongoing operations.

Only Rand Paul of Kentucky broke with his party to support the resolution. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted against advancing it, while voicing concern about the scope of the conflict.

Collins said the administration had briefed Congress more thoroughly than it did before the overnight operation targeting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, yet stressed that lawmakers must remain fully informed.

Passing the resolution now, she said, “would send the wrong message to Iran and to our troops,” emphasizing the need for “unequivocal support” alongside continued consultation with Congress.

Murkowski said communication had improved compared with Venezuela -- “but that doesn’t say much” -- and acknowledged public anxiety over the lack of a defined endgame. “That’s what most Americans are thinking,” she said.

Democrats cast the vote as a constitutional test. Chuck Schumer of New York said lawmakers must decide whether to send “sons and daughters into harm’s way.” John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat to vote to block the measure.

Republican leaders defended the president. John Thune of South Dakota said Trump is acting to protect US forces, while Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called the resolution unconstitutional.

The vote leaves the White House with broad latitude to continue operations as debate over Congress’s war powers persists.

US President Donald Trump said Iranian officials who seek to assume top positions to replace Iran’s fallen leaders “end up dead” and he vowed that the United States and Israel will “continue forward” in the military campaign against the Middle East country.

"We're in a very strong position now, and their leadership is just rapidly going. Everybody that seems to want to be a leader, they end up dead," Trump told a meeting with technology sector leaders at the White House on March 4.

"We're doing well on the war front, to put it mildly. Somebody said on a scale of 10, where would you rate it? I said about a 15," Trump said, as the war entered its fifth day.

Trump said that Tehran's arsenal of ballistic missiles was being "wiped out rapidly."

The president said he would "continue forward" with the air campaign, being conducted jointly with Israel, that has killed Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and many other security, military, and political leaders.

The White House has received criticism from Democrats and some Republicans for launching the attack against Iran, with some questioning the legality of the decision to go to war.

On March 4, a majority of the Republican-controlled US Senate voted to block a bipartisan resolution seeking to stop the war and require any military actions against Iran to be authorized by Congress.

The US president again stated that a key reason for launching the attack, starting on February 28, was to eliminate Tehran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon.

"When crazy people have nuclear weapons, bad things happen," Trump said.

While Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and others in the West have accused Iran of attempting to build a nuclear weapon, Tehran has insisted that its program is for civilian purposes.

Washington and Tehran had been locked into a series of indirect negotiations, mediated by Oman, on the future of Iran’s nuclear program, However, Trump said he determined Tehran was not going to accept a deal and decided to launch the massive air campaign against Iran.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

JERUSALEM -- Crowds of civilians in costumes were literally dancing in the streets as they marked the Purim holiday here when air-raid sirens rang out. Immediately, people streamed toward the shelters -- some clutching babies, others drinks.

On this occasion, the shelter was a nearby underground parking lot where revelers continued the party, spinning around with arms linked and singing vigorously. One man was attached to an inflatable horse. A child was dressed as a chick, a parent as a penguin.

It was a jarring moment where a high-spirited party collided with war.

To read the full report by RFE/RL Senior International Correspondent Ray Furlong, click here.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the launch of an investigation after reports emerged of an air strike on a girls' school in the southern Iranian city of Minab on February 28 that Iranian media said killed more than 160 people.

"All I can say is that we're investigating that," he told reporters at a Pentagon news conference on March 4. "We, of course, never target civilian targets, but we’re taking a look and investigating that."

The girls' school was located near a base of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Hegseth did not provide further details about who may have been responsible for the attack or the type of ammunition used, only saying the Department of Defense was investigating the attack.

Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, Qatar's prime minister and foreign minister, has called on Iran to immediately stop attacks on Gulf countries, saying such attacks do not reflect Iran's goodwill toward its neighbors.

On March 4, the Qatari Foreign Ministry wrote in a post on X Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told al-Thani in a phone call that "Iran's missile attacks were aimed at American interests and did not target the Qatari government."

According to the report, al-Thani rejected the claim and said objective evidence shows that areas targeted by Iranian attacks included residential areas inside Qatari territory, critical infrastructure, and industrial areas where liquefied natural gas production facilities are located.

Energy market analysis firm Kpler announced on March 4 that tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has decreased by 90 percent since the start of the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

Spokespeople for the Iranian Armed Forces have said they have completely stopped traffic on the waterway.

“Unlike some other shipping sectors that have largely ground to a halt, some ships are still sailing east and west through the Strait of Hormuz, and some are sailing with their tracking systems off,” said Matt Wright, senior shipping analyst at Kepler, referring to the maritime traffic tracking system.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his UAE counterpart in a phone call that the security of shipping lanes must be protected.

According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Wang said the "red line" of protecting civilians in conflicts must not be violated and civilian targets, including energy-related facilities, must not be attacked.

Wang told his counterparts in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on March 4 that China would send a special envoy to the Middle East to mediate.

China sources most of its oil from the Middle East.