President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes attack targeting military and government sites, officials said.
Watch special coverage on Nightline, "War with Iran," each night on ABC and streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.
Trump 'would be quite interested' in calling Middle East allies to pay for war, Leavitt says
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she thinks President Donald Trump "would be quite interested in calling" on Middle East allies like Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to pay for the costs of the war in Iran.
“I won't get ahead of him on that. But certainly it's an idea that I know that he has, and something that I think you'll hear more from him on,” she said in response to a reporter’s question at Monday’s White House briefing.
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart
Mar 30, 2026, 12:31 PM EDT
Trump says US dealing with a 'whole new set of people' in Iran
President Donald Trump told the New York Post on Monday that the U.S. is talking to new leaders in Iran, without providing more details.
President Donald Trump talks to members of the media aboard Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, March 29, 2026.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
“There has been total regime change because the regimes of the past are gone and we’re dealing with a whole new set of people,” Trump said. “And thus far, they’ve been much more reasonable.”
The president also said the U.S. response to Iranian strikes on an Israeli oil refinery would be seen soon.
“You’ll see shortly,” Trump told the paper when asked about his response.
Trump added that the U.S. is waiting to see if Iran’s Parliamentary Leader Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf will work with the U.S., and he claimed that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was “seriously injured.”
“We’re gonna find out,” Trump told The Post when asked about Ghalibaf. “I’ll let you know that in about a week.”
“Nobody’s heard from him,” Trump said of the younger Khamenei. “He’s very seriously injured.”
Asked if he was still alive, Trump said that he “probably” was.
“We don’t know. We think probably yes, but in extraordinarily bad shape,” he said.
-ABC News’ Nicholas Kerr
Mar 30, 2026, 11:29 AM EDT
NATO intercepts Iranian missiles in Turkish airspace
A missile launched from Iran was intercepted by NATO air defenses after it entered Turkey's airspace, Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense said.
The ballistic missile was "neutralized by NATO air and missile defense assets deployed in the Eastern Mediterranean," the Turkish officials said in a statement.
This is the fourth time NATO has intercepted a projectile from Iran as it approached or entered Turkish airspace. Iran has previously denied launching projectiles at Turkey.
-ABC News’ Engin Bas
Mar 30, 2026, 10:49 AM EDT
US proposals 'excessive, unrealistic and illogical': Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson
Esmaeil Baqaei, the spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, said Monday that Iran has “not had any negotiations with America,” even though President Donald Trump said this weekend that there have been talks both directly and indirectly.
Baqaei said "they have presented a request for negotiations along with a set of proposals, which has reached us through some intermediaries, including Pakistan.”
“Our position is very clear: we are currently in a situation where the military aggression and invasion by America continues with intensity, and we are certainly exerting all our efforts and capabilities to defend ourselves,” Baqaei said at a news conference.
"The information that has been conveyed to us [from the U.S.], regardless of what name you want to give it, as 15 articles or whatever you call it, involved a large number of requests that are excessive, unrealistic, and illogical,” he said.
