A senior White House official says that “new potential leadership” in Iran has suggested they are open to talks with the United States after U.S. and Israeli forces launched a major attack on Iran, killing its supreme leader and other high-ranking officials.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration deliberations, said President Donald Trump says he is “eventually” willing to talk, but for now, the military operation “continues unabated.”
The official did not say who the potential new Iranian leaders are or how they made their alleged willingness to talk known.
- Iran’s foreign minister says Islamic Republic spent 2 decades studying US military: Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Islamic Republic had spent “two decades” studying U.S. military operations in the region and have since “incorporated lessons accordingly.” “Bombings in our capital have no impact on our ability to conduct war,” Araghchi said on X. “Decentralized Mosaic Defense enables us to decide when—and how—war will end.”
- CIA tracked the movements of senior Iranian leaders for months: That’s according to a person familiar with the operation who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke Sunday on condition of anonymity. The intelligence was shared with Israeli officials, and the timing of this weekend’s strikes was adjusted in part because of that information, the person said.
- 3 US service members killed, 5 seriously wounded in Iran operation: The U.S. military did not provide further details. These are the first known American casualties from the conflict, and the U.S. military said several others suffered minor injuries and concussions.
Britain’s Starmer grants US request to use British bases to strike Iranian targets
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he granted a U.S. request to allow it to use British military bases to strike Iranian missile sites but said the U.K. will not join any offensive action in Iran.
“We all remember the mistakes of Iraq and we have learned those lessons,” Starmer said.He said Iran had struck airports and hotels where British citizens were and had created a dangerous situation for its 200,000 citizens in the region.
US allows non-essential diplomats to leave Bahrain and Qatar as Iran strikes, retaliation continue
The State Department is allowing non-essential U.S. diplomats and families of all government personnel to leave Bahrain and Qatar as U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and Iranian retaliation continue.
In updated travel advisories issued on Sunday, the department said it had moved to reduce its diplomatic footprint in Doha and Manama “due to security concerns.”
It added that private American citizens should “reconsider travel to Bahrain and Qatar due to the threat of armed conflict.”
Israeli military official: Conditions were ‘near-perfect’ for opening strike of the war
An Israeli military official says a variety of factors created near-perfect conditions for Israel and the U.S. to kill much of Iran’s leadership in the opening strike of the war.
The official says that months of planning and close coordination with the U.S., combined with real-time intelligence that the targets were gathered together, allowed the two allies to strike in the joint operation on Saturday morning.
The official says the airstrikes targeted three locations, all within 60 seconds of one another, killing Iran’s supreme leader and some 40 senior officials, including the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. He said that striking in broad daylight added an additional element of surprise.
The official said Israel and the U.S. agreed that striking the leadership was the best way to open the operation. Otherwise, he said they would quickly disperse and go into hiding once the attacks began. He spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the covert operation.
“We had a great opportunity, great intel, great execution,” he said.
Trump says of US service members killed that America will ‘avenge their deaths’
The president made the comments in a roughly six-minute video he posted on social media Sunday afternoon. He called the three service members “true American patriots who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, even as we continue the righteous mission for which they gave their lives.”
The president went on and added: “Sadly, there will likely be more, before it ends. That’s the way it is. Likely be more.”
Trump: ‘We have hit hundreds of targets in Iran’
In the video he posted Sunday, Trump called the operation in Iran “one of the most complex, most overwhelming military offensives the world has ever seen.”
“Combat operations continue at this time in full-force and they will continue until all of our objectives are achieved. We have very strong objectives,” Trump said.But he didn’t spell out exactly what those objectives would be.
The president said an Iranian regime with long-range missiles and nuclear weapons “would be a dire threat” to every American and that the Iranian leaders had “waged war against civilization itself.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK will not join in strikes on Iran
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the U.K. will not join in strikes on Iran but has agreed to let the U.S. use British bases for attacks on Iran’s missiles and their launch sites.
Starmer said Sunday that Iran was striking at British and its allies’ interests, and “the only way to stop the threat is to destroy the missiles at source.”Britain had previously refused to allow the United States to use U.K. bases to attack Iran.
Starmer said Sunday he was authorizing their use because of the threat from Iran’s attacks on countries across the region, He said “we are not joining these strikes but we will continue with our defensive actions in the region.”
Starmer said Royal Air Force jets have had intercepted Iranian strikes as part of defensive operations in the region.He said an Iranian strike on a military base in Bahrain on Saturday narrowly missed British personnel. (edited)
JUST IN: Trump, in video message, says ‘there will likely be more’ US service members killed in Iran conflict before it ends
France to send 2 warships to the Red Sea to join a European Union naval mission
France will send two warships to the Red Sea in the coming days to join a European Union naval mission there because of security concerns over the war on Iran, an EU official said Sunday after emergency talks between the bloc’s foreign ministers.
“There’s been a steep increase in additional requests for protection” from civilian vessels in the area, the official said. “There are two additional ships which will now join the operations from France.”
The official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity to provide details about the meeting held via video link, said that the ministers agreed that it was important to “protect our maritime economic interests.”
Traffic through the strategic maritime trade route the Strait of Hormuz is not closed but remains “a little bit arbitrary for the moment,” with some vessels getting through, the official said.
Top Israeli general praises his military’s early gains in fighting with Iran
Israel’s top general on Sunday praised his military’s early gains in fighting with Iran, while warning the public that “many more days of combat lie ahead.”
After a day marked by warning sirens, strikes and at least nine deaths from one Iranian attack, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir mourned fatalities in the town of Beit Shemesh and hailed “significant achievements” that he said Israel and the U.S. had made thus far. The two countries’ strikes on Iran took out high ranking security officials and Supreme Leader Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday.
“Patience and resilience are required now. We are operating in close cooperation with our ally. Coordination with the U.S. military is closer than ever. All of you are part of this and understand it well,” Zamir, the army’s chief of the general staff, said.
