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Editor’s notice, February 28, 5:30 pm ET: President Donald Trump introduced on Saturday afternoon that Iran’s supreme chief, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed within the airstrikes. The next story was revealed earlier on February 28, earlier than the information of Khamenei’s demise.
Welcome to The Logoff: The US is at warfare with Iran.
Hello readers, by now I’m positive you’ve seen the information: Early on Saturday morning, the Trump administration, after weeks-long naval buildup within the Center East, launched a serious assault on Iran.
As all the time with battle reporting, there’s a lot we nonetheless don’t find out about what has occurred, a lot much less what is going to come subsequent. Making an attempt to comply with all of it in actual time can really feel like ingesting from a firehose, and that is more likely to be a narrative of weeks and months, not days or hours.
With that in thoughts, right here’s what it is advisable know proper now:
What occurred? The primary wave of assaults by the US and Israel, which started round 1 am Japanese time on Saturday morning, focused a number of Iranian cities, together with the capital, Tehran. A whole bunch are reportedly lifeless and plenty of extra injured.
Iran has responded by placing at targets all through the area, together with Israel and numerous international locations within the Persian Gulf which might be residence to US bases: Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Kuwait.
To this point, there have been no US casualties reported. There are additionally stories that Iran has blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, by which roughly 20 p.c of the world’s oil passes because it makes its means into the worldwide market.
Why is the Trump administration doing this? As my colleague Zack Beauchamp reported this morning, Trump’s justifications for warfare have been bewilderingly incoherent.
For a lot of the week, it has appeared like the potential for warfare turned on the end result of US-Iran negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program (and its ballistic missile arsenal and assist for proxy forces like Hezbollah).
On Saturday, although, Trump solid the battle in grander phrases: “For 47 years, the Iranian regime has chanted demise to America and waged an endless marketing campaign of bloodshed and mass homicide,” he mentioned in a video posted to social media. “We’re not gonna put up with it any longer.”
Trump can be promising regime change in Iran, on the heels of his menace earlier this yr to intervene on behalf of anti-regime protesters; “the hour of your freedom is at hand,” he mentioned on Saturday.
What’s the massive image? Saturday’s strikes are Trump’s second norms-shattering use of army power overseas in simply the primary two months of 2026. However in contrast to Venezuela, this seems to be a full-scale warfare, not a quick operation already over by the point many Individuals are tuning in.
Iran’s retaliatory strikes in opposition to Gulf states on Saturday additionally increase the chance that this might additional escalate right into a broader regional battle.
Trump on Saturday described the US marketing campaign as a “large and ongoing operation,” and with one plane service group already within the area and one other on the way in which, the US seems to be positioned for a possible multi-week battle.
What that can seem like because it performs out, not even Trump might know: As Reuters reported Saturday, briefers informed the president forward of the assault that it might be a high-risk, high-reward operation.
And with that, it’s time to log out…
We love to present you a hyperlink to click on right here, however that may be arduous to do on days like as we speak. So as an alternative, I’ll simply encourage you to log out in no matter means you favor, whether or not that’s going for a stroll, watching a film, or one thing else.
As all the time, thanks for studying. We’ll be again on Monday with extra.
