Mojtaba Khamenei chosen as Iran's next supreme leader, Iranian state media reports
He is the son of assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israel strikes attack targeting military and government sites, officials said.
Iranian state television confirmed that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was among those killed by airstrikes in Tehran on the first day of strikes. His successor is yet to be named.
Iran is responding to the operation with missile and drone attacks targeting Israel, regional U.S. bases and multiple Gulf nations. Israel is also intensifying its long-running strike campaign against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
(Read previous Iran live updates here.)
Watch special coverage on Nightline, "War with Iran," each night on ABC and streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.
Key Headlines
- Iran’s near-total internet blackout continues, tracker says
- Israel warns of strikes in Beirut's southern suburbs
- Israel says its working to intercept Iranian missiles
- Iranian missiles, drones targeting UAE, ministry says
- US orders evacuation of non-emergency government employees from Saudi Arabia
- More missile and drone attacks reported in the region
27,000 Americans have returned to US from Middle East
The State Department says it's aware of 27,000 Americans who have safely returned to the U.S. from the Middle East since Saturday.
The State Department said it is working to proactively call Americans to offer charter flights or ground transportation.
-ABC News’ Shannon Kingston
3 UN peacekeepers injured at base in Lebanon amid 'heavy firing': UNIFIL
Three United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon peacekeepers were injured inside their base in southwestern Lebanon amid heavy firing on Friday, the peacekeeping mission said.
Two of the wounded were treated at an internal medical facility and the third, who was the most severely injured, had to be transferred to a hospital in Beirut for treatment, according to UNIFIL. A fire at the base had to be extinguished, it said.
UNIFIL said it "will investigate the circumstances of this terrible event," noting it's "unacceptable that peacekeepers performing Security Council-mandated tasks are targeted."
-ABC News' Morgan Winsor
US was operating in area of elementary school ahead of deadly strike: Sources
The U.S. military was striking targets in Iran on Saturday in an area where an elementary school was hit and dozens of children were killed, according to two people familiar with the initial findings.
Sources say that while the U.S. investigation into the incident remains ongoing, officials believe it is possible American forces are responsible for the attack, because they were conducting strikes in the vicinity of the school and the Israelis were not.
Reuters reported Thursday that military investigators believed it was “likely" that U.S. forces were responsible.
Iran's Education Ministry says 168 people were killed in the attack, which destroyed a girls’ elementary school in Minab.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday referred questions about the strike to the Pentagon. Both Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and U.S. Central Command have declined to provide specifics on the probe, saying the investigation is ongoing.
An analysis of satellite imagery by ABC News suggests the school was near an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps compound, but had been separated more than decade ago. A comparison of Google Earth images from 2013 and 2016 shows a wall has been built sometime in those three years, effectively separating the school that had been part of a cluster of IRGC buildings.
-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty, Shannon Kingston and Ben Siegel
Trump: 'No deal with Iran except unconditional surrender'
President Donald Trump wrote on social media on Friday that “there will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”
“After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction,” he wrote.
Later on Friday, in a phone interview with Axios, Trump explained, "Unconditional surrender could be that [the Iranians] announce it. But it could also be when they can't fight any longer because they don't have anyone or anything to fight with."
-ABC News' Emily Chang