On the third day after the U.S. and Israel’s joint strike on Iran, conflict in the Middle East threatens to escalate further. Iran has carried out
relatiatory stikes on U.S. bases and Gulf energy sites, with explosions reported in Dubai, Bahrain, Iraq and elsewhere.
The conflict could escalate on Monday with Gulf monarchies threatening to retaliate as a Saudi oil refinery burns, Qatar halts LNG production, and tankers have been attacked off Oman. Meanwhile, Lebanon’s Hezbollah is entering the fray and a British air base in Cyprus has been targeted.
U.S. has said it expects to incur casualties as Iran presses on with attacks. Flights through the region’s hub airports have been cancelled, disrupting international travel for many thousands of people.
Additional reporting from Agence France-Presse
Here’s the latest:
Trump says Iran was close to producing long-range missile that could reach U.S.
President Donald Trump said Iran was close to developing a missile capable of striking the U.S. during his first press briefing since the start of the war.
“The regime already had missiles capable of hitting Europe and our bases, both local and overseas, and would soon have had missiles capable of reaching our beautiful America”, he said, adding: “The purpose of this fast-growing missile program was to shield their nuclear weapon development and make it extraordinarily difficult for anyone to stop them from making these highly forbidden, by us, nuclear weapons.”
The U.S. has “already” sunk 10 Iranian naval ships, he said.
Trump says bigger attacks to come; says he doesn’t care about polling
Trump says attacks on Iran will escalate and warned of “the big wave” that would arrive.
“We haven’t even started hitting them hard,” Trump said in an
with CNN. “The big wave hasn’t even happened. The big one is coming soon.”
Trump said he didn’t want the conflict to go on too long and that ““I always thought it would be four weeks, and we’re a little ahead of schedule.”
In an
with NY Post, Trump said he has not ruled out sending troops to Iran.
“I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground — like every president says, ‘There will be no boots on the ground.’ I don’t say it,” Trump said. “I say ‘probably don’t need them,’ (or) ‘if they were necessary.’”
Trump said he believes he “did the right thing” in attacking Iran and that he doesn’t care about polling.
“I think that the polling is very good, but I don’t care about polling. I have to do the right thing. I have to do the right thing. This should have been done a long time ago,” he said.
The Post noted that the initial reaction to the strikes among Americans have been negative.
Pete Hegseth says Iran campaign targeting nukes, navy
In a briefing this morning, the United States defense secretary Pete Hegseth declined to rule out putting troops on the ground in Iran and indicated the war launched over the weekend could go on for as long as six weeks.
U.S. forces began carrying out sweeping strikes on Iran Saturday in concert with military action by Israel, and have struck hundreds of targets across the country since then, including the Islamic republic’s missiles, navy and command-and-control sites.
When asked if the U.S. already had boots on the ground, Pentagon chief Hegseth, told a news conference: “No, but we’re not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do.”
“We’ll go as far as we need to go,” he said.
WATCH IN FULL: @SecWar and Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of @thejointstaff, provide an update on Operation Epic Fury pic.twitter.com/LU8r1Y3p5u
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 2, 2026
Hegseth sought to differentiate the Iran operation from past long-running U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying the war is not an effort to build democracy in Iran.
“This is not Iraq. This is not endless,” he said. “Our generation knows better and so does this president. He called the last 20 years of nation building wars ‘dumb’ and he’s right.”
— With files from AFP
Anand won’t say whether Canada considers strikes on Iran as legal
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi on Monday, Foreign Minister Anita Anand would not say whether Canada considered Saturday’s strikes on Iran to be in violation of international law. Anand noted that Canada was not involved in the operation and “stressed” that Canada wanted talks to open up “as soon as possible.”
“We prefer a diplomatic solution. This is why I have spent the last two days speaking with my counterparts across the Middle East and in the Gulf states, from Jordan, to Qatar, to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to U.A.E and all of my G7 counterparts, stressing that Canada believes in a diplomatic and peaceful solution, and as soon as possible, we would like parties to get to the table,” Anand said.
Re strikes on Iran, it is key to remember that “Canada wasn’t involved. We weren’t notified, and we do not have an intention to be involved in any military strikes or operation.” In addition, Canada believes in a diplomatic and peaceful solution and in my conversations with my… https://t.co/ZwwJIDznaV
— Anita Anand (@AnitaAnandMP) March 2, 2026
Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement on Saturday that he supported the U.S. operation in Iran.
“Canada supports the United States acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent its regime from further threatening international peace and security, and the Canadian government urges the protection of all civilians in this conflict,” said Carney, before a scheduled speech in Mumbai, India.
Kuwait accidentally shoots three U.S. fighter jets, incident under investigation
Three U.S. Air Force fighter jets crashed after they were shot down by Kuwaiti air defences on Monday due to apparent friendly fire.
“During active combat — that included attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones — the three U.S. F-15E Strike Eagles were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses,”
said in a statement.
The crew members, all six of them, ejected safely and have been safely recovered. The incident has been acknowledged by Kuwait and the cause of it is under investigation. Although such incidents are not uncommon during intense air combat, “the U.S. hasn’t lost multiple jets to enemy fire since early in the 2003 invasion of Iraq,”
notes.
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