Dubai | US President Donald Trump had a call on Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the war in Iran and other issues, which according to the Kremlin was a "frank and businesslike" conversation that lasted about an hour.
1. Heavy US and Israeli bombardment of Iran has been going on for more than a week, while Iran has launched more attacks on Israel and Gulf countries. Israel is striking Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, while the militant group fires rockets into Israel.
2. Iranian state TV announced early on Monday that Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei was named supreme leader, in defiance of threats by Trump. Khamenei is seen as even more hard-line than his father, the supreme leader killed on the first day of the war. He will now be in charge of Iran's armed forces and any decision about Tehran's nuclear programme.
3. US stocks closed higher following a remarkable reversal as oil prices fell from nearly USD 120 per barrel below USD 90.
4. A 26-year-old Army staff sergeant from Kentucky was identified as the seventh US service member killed during the Iran war, after being wounded on a base in Saudi Arabia on March 1. The first six deaths were Army reservists killed the same day at a Kuwaiti port.
5. New footage has raised the likelihood that the US military struck an Iranian elementary school where a blast killed at least 165 people, mostly children.
Here is the latest:
Trump says war is 'very complete' but it's also the 'beginning of a new country' The president was asked about his comments earlier on Monday in which he told a reporter that the war was "very complete", while the Pentagon on Monday said on social media: "We have Only Just Begun to Fight." Trump was asked whether it was the end or the beginning and said, "It's the beginning of building a new country," a comment that seemed to suggest the US might be engaged in the building of a new Iran.
Trump says US is undertaking Iran operation for the other countries in the world Though the president has long professed an "America First" policy prioritising the US, Trump suggested at his news conference that the war was for the benefit of other nations, especially those dependent on oil that's shipped through the Strait of Hormuz.
"I mean, we're doing this for the other parts of the world, including countries like China," Trump said.
Trump says Iran had a new site for developing nuclear weapons protected by granite Trump told reporters at a news conference that the war with Iran began because that country was starting work on a new site for developing material for nuclear weapons.
Trump said the new site was meant to replace facilities bombed last year by the US.
"But they were starting work at another site, a different site, different kind of a site -- and that was protected by granite," Trump said.
The president added that Iran wanted to use the "exponentially-growing ballistic-missile threat to make it virtually impossible to prevent them from obtaining a nuclear weapon", claiming that Iran would have otherwise been able to take over the Middle East.
Multiple strikes shake Tehran
Citizens in Iran's capital heard more than 20 heavy explosions as many rushed to safer places.
The strikes around midnight were the heaviest air raids on Tehran since beginning of the war.
The sound of bombers and warplanes flying overhead was constant for about half an hour. Witnesses reported explosions in western areas of the city. Electricity was cut off in some neighbourhoods.
Similar explosions in other Iranian cities were reported on social media.
Iranian media did not report on damage and casualties from the strikes.
After volatile swings in oil prices, Trump claims to be bringing down prices The US president told House Republicans that he's beaten inflation, even as swings in the oil market have gasoline costs rising in America after the start of the war with Iran.
Trump said that Democrats before his second term caused affordability to be a problem, "but we're really bringing down prices".
Gas prices have risen 20 per cent in the past month to a national average of USD 3.48 a gallon, according to AAA.
Trump didn't bother to address that, saying of prices that, "We're even bringing them down further. They'll be way down." State Department orders drawdown at more Mideast diplomatic missions The move comes as the State Department is under increasing but historically familiar criticism for not doing enough to prepare embassies, consulates and American citizens living abroad for conflict.
The department on Monday ordered the departure of nonessential staff and families from Saudi Arabia and the consulate in Adana, Turkey, in response to escalating Iranian retaliation to US-Israeli attacks.
That means 10 US embassies and consulates in the region have reduced staffing, although only two have fully suspended operations. The reductions are the largest since the Iraq War began in 2003.
Trump says that the US would have been attacked by Iran within a week The president dismissed criticism from some Democratic officials that there was no reason for the US and Israel to strike Iran.
"Well, I'll give you the best reason of all. Within a week they were going to attack us, 100 per cent. They were ready," Trump said.
He did not offer any information to support that statement but said Iran had "all these missiles, far more than anyone thought".
