“Following the launch of U.S. combat operations in Iran, Americans worldwide and especially in the Middle East should follow the guidance in the latest security alerts issued by the nearest U.S. Embassy or consulate,” the department stated.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on March 1 that the U.S.–Israeli military operation against the Iranian regime could last up to five weeks and shared his views about how the country’s future leadership might be after the deaths of Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran retaliated with a series of attacks on Israel and its neighboring Gulf nations, targeting U.S. and Israeli military bases in the region.
Crude oil and gasoline prices are expected to spike when trading resumes on March 2 as Strait of Hormuz tanker traffic slows to a trickle amid warnings from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that the vital waterway, through which more than 20 percent of the world’s oil is exported from the Persian Gulf, is “effectively closed.”
“Due to the insecure conditions around the strait resulting from the U.S. and Israeli military aggression and Iran’s responses, passage through the strait is currently unsafe,” the IRGC stated on Feb. 28.
As of 1 p.m. ET on March 1—9:30 p.m. in Iran—at least two oil tankers and a port in Oman had been attacked, prompting ships to stack in the Arabian Sea rather than risk transiting the narrow 100-mile waterway and entering the Persian Gulf.
One day after the U.S. and Israeli militaries hit Tehran in a coordinated series of strikes to topple the Iranian regime, thousands of flights were canceled or delayed on March 1 across many of the busiest airports in the Middle East.
Large portions of the region’s airspace remain closed after the U.S. and Israeli strikes killed Iranian leader Ali Khamenei and other top Iranian officials on Feb. 28. Israel said it had launched a second wave of strikes on Iran on March 1.
Critical transport hubs, including Doha in Qatar and Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), have been closed or face significant disruptions after Iran retaliated with a series of attacks on its neighboring Gulf nations.
American Fatalities
U.S. Central Command said on March 1 that three U.S. service members have been killed in action and five are seriously wounded as part of Operation Epic Fury.
After the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in U.S. and Israeli airstrikes in Tehran, a temporary council has taken over the leadership of the nation.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said March 1 that the new leadership council “has begun its work.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has called on the people of Iran to rise up against the regime, explicitly tying U.S. interests in the region to regime change and preventing a nuclear-armed Iran.
Following Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s death, about 500 Shiite Muslims stormed a U.S. consulate in Pakistan and many took to the streets in Baghdad.
Authorities attempted to disperse crowds in both locations. At least six people were killed in clashes as the consulate was stormed.
Videos coming out of Iran are showing civilians honking, cheering, and celebrating in the streets over news that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed.
The Epoch Times confirmed one video from Iran, in which a man called his country’s former leader “Moosh Ali.”
Iranian Americans consider U.S.–Israeli military action a big step toward freeing their homeland from an oppressive regime, according to those interviewed by The Epoch Times in multiple U.S. states on Feb. 28, hours after the airstrikes on Iran began.
It is a mission to “liberate 90 million people in Iran,” no matter how some media reports might “spin” it, said Sherry Yadegari, who lives in the Atlanta area.
Several Iranian Americans who spoke with The Epoch Times said that they were hoping for a quick end to the conflict and lamented civilian casualties. But they all expressed hope that Iranian citizens might soon gain the freedom that they have long sought and said they support the strikes.
The White House shared several photos on X of President Donald Trump and staff in the war room at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday afternoon.
The post said Trump is monitoring the ongoing U.S. military operations in Iran, dubbed Operation Epic Fury.
Israel military releases video said to show strikes on regime troops in western Iran
Israeli fighter jets seen flying overhead
Smoke rises above US navy base in Bahrain
Sirens wailed and missile interceptors were seen in Tel Aviv after the U.S. and Israel launched a major attack on Iran on Saturday.
Video released by Israeli military showing strikes on targets in Iran.
Iranian missiles reportedly intercepted over regional capital of Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region
Here’s Trump’s address in full:
A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran. Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime. A vicious group of very hard, terrible people. Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world.