Iran ; explosions across Tehran following Israeli and US strikes, 28 February 2026

[MassGuy]

Last Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called President Trump with a stunning tip: Iran's supreme leader and his top advisers were all set to meet at one location in Tehran on Saturday morning.

• They could all be killed in a single devastating airstrike, Netanyahu told Trump and his team, according to three sources briefed on the discussion.

Inside the room: An initial CIA check, conducted at Trump's direction, confirmed the information about Khamenei gathered by Israeli military intelligence.

• Preparations accelerated as Trump told Netanyahu he would consider moving forward — but first came the president's State of the Union address the following night.
• U.S. officials said Trump made a "deliberate decision" not to focus excessively on Iran so as not to spook the ayatollah and drive him underground before the strike could be executed.

By Thursday, the CIA had fully "confirmed that these people were all going to be together, and we needed to take advantage of it," a source said.

• That same day, Trump's envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff called from Geneva after hours of talks with Iranian officials and delivered a blunt verdict: negotiations were going nowhere.
• "If you decide you want to do diplomacy, we will push and fight to get a deal. But these guys showed us they weren't willing to make the deal you will be satisfied with," a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the call said Trump was told.

Trump was now convinced of two things: the intelligence was solid, and diplomacy was dead. On Friday at 3:38 p.m. EST, he gave the final order.

• Eleven hours later, bombs fell on Tehran, Khamenei was killed and the war had begun.

https://www.axios.com/2026/03/03/trump-netanyahu-call-iran-war-israel-coordination

 

[nao]

A drone struck the parking lot of the U.S. consulate in Dubai, according to a U.S. official and Dubai’s government media office.

The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, came under attack twice on Tuesday, causing part of the roof to collapse, according to people familiar with the matter.

President Trump said Iran's military has been largely neutralized, including its navy and air force. He said the U.S. could start escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz—the strategic waterway where Iran warned it could begin attacking ships.

Israel struck a building Iranian clerics use to choose the country’s supreme leader. Iranian official media said the building had been evacuated.

https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/iran-israel-us-strikes-2026?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqeWlXm68yw6HX9xpIUpjeD5RCLwRVr-GBQY-P-6l9E0fp1A8PV9fLnc_SQ-fvQ%3D&gaa_ts=69a774ae&gaa_sig=JKACAT2plsQwSYBXr3jnS-4tZBZQGsfX0cEiEJ-xOE5vADjUbfh9PW5U7K8k7CDBDmIZdJThTkkdFFuC2TVUTw%3D%3D

Moo...oh yes gotta get that oil moving..moo

 

[mickey2942]

And, if it is not off topic, now Pakistan is bombing Afghanistan. This is a disturbing development.

Pakistan declares state of ‘open war’ after bombing major Afghan cities

Wave of strikes comes after Taliban forces attack Pakistani border troops following earlier action from Islamabad

www.theguardian.com

Pakistan does have nuclear weapons.

 

[SouthAussie]

That same day, Trump's envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff called from Geneva after hours of talks with Iranian officials and delivered a blunt verdict: negotiations were going nowhere.

"If you decide you want to do diplomacy, we will push and fight to get a deal. But these guys showed us they weren't willing to make the deal you will be satisfied with," a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the call said Trump was told.

I wonder what the deal that Kushner and Witkoff were offering was. Will we ever know the truth of exactly what was on the table.

imo

 

[GatorsNorth]

And, if it is not off topic, now Pakistan is bombing Afghanistan. This is a disturbing development.

Pakistan declares state of ‘open war’ after bombing major Afghan cities

Wave of strikes comes after Taliban forces attack Pakistani border troops following earlier action from Islamabad

www.theguardian.com

Pakistan does have nuclear weapons.

MOO. This “conflict” seems to have a ripple effect and I’m not liking it. MOO

 

[Cryptic]

I think they excluded Bahais, and I don't know enough details about that religion to understand, why. (Growing too fast, perhaps?).

The Iranian regime is far more tolerate of Christianity and Judaism than Bahais because Christianity and Judaism pre-date Islam. Likewise, both are "Abrahamic religions. Therefore, Christians and Jews are and are considered "People of the book" in the Koran.

Meanwhile Bahaism emerged after Islam (when people were expected to accept Islam as the final message. They are Abrahamic in the full sense of the word, and are not mentioned in the Koran So.... far less tolerance.

 

[SouthAussie]

MOO. I am really not understanding why the messages from DC seem to change every single day, and I’m not a stupid person. MOO

It is possible that they are seeking a reason that will satisfy most US citizens. Typically, the longer a war and killing goes on the less favourable it is. imo


Only 27% of Americans approved of the U.S.-Israeli bombing of Iran, while 43% disapproved, according to a new poll by Reuters/Ipsos conducted over the weekend, before news that six U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iranian retaliatory attacks. And it’s not the only poll.

Most Americans Disapprove of War With Iran, Polls Show

There is a strong partisan divide in support for Trump’s latest military operations.

time.com

 

[otto]

The EU could be drawn into the conflict in the Middle East via Cyprus.

"Experts are convinced that the attacks on Iran are illegal under international law. ... Europeans benefit from Iran not acquiring nuclear weapons and from a different regime being established there for the benefit of the population. But the method used is inelegant," he believes, "and we must be careful not to accept Trump's approach as normal."

The US president himself leaves no doubt about it. "I don't need international law," he told the New York Times earlier this year. His top adviser, Stephen Miller, spoke of "might makes right" when discussing Greenland, which Trump had his eye on. EU leaders did, however, challenge him on this point.
...

EU member state Cyprus is under high tension. Cyprus is in the firing line, 400 kilometers off the coast of Israel. A British military base was struck by an Iranian drone shortly after Prime Minister Starmer authorized the US to use military bases for "defensive" actions against Iran. Iran sees the island as a target.
...

Greece and France have sent ships and fighter jets to protect Cyprus, and the UK is considering sending a warship. Cyprus could invoke Article 42.7 of the EU Treaty, which requires countries to assist each other in the event of an attack – a variation on NATO Article 5, which states that "an attack on one is an attack on all."
...

Cyprus has not yet requested assistance from the EU. Should it do so, the risk of the EU becoming directly involved in the war is very real."

Jetten en hele EU worstelen met Iran-oorlog, kritiek én begrip voor Trump

Europese leiders kijken verschillend naar de legitimiteit van de Iranoorlog die Washington en Jeruzalem voeren. De gevolgen van de oorlog voor de EU kunnen groot zijn.

nos.nl

 

[Kalanit]

I always consider the source.

The article headline is obviously not a fact (certainly not a provable one anyway).

Which leaves us with a far left opinion piece from a far left source.

Jmo

Especially considering the stated reasons are the same as they've been all along, with weeks of warning/looming deadlines for Iran to comply. Here's a very interesting article from last Friday, re Trump's meeting with Saudi officials and why we needed to act now, as well as the clearly defined conditions of a deal to avoid attack:

Report: Saudi defense minister tells US not striking Iran would ’embolden’ regime

Source tells Times of Israel that Prince Khalid bin Salman was urging Washington to have a clear plan and objectives of what it wants to achieve before taking any action

www.timesofisrael.com

"Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman reportedly told US officials in a private meeting in Washington on Friday that the Iranian regime would be emboldened should US President Donald Trump refrain from ordering an attack on the Islamic Republic."
...
"The US has said a deal with Iran will have to include a ban on uranium enrichment in Iran, the removal of already-enriched uranium from Iran, a cap on Iran’s stockpile of long-range missiles and a rollback of Iran’s support for proxies in the region — all terms that Tehran has said it will not accept."

 

[Dotta]

MOO. This “conflict” seems to have a ripple effect and I’m not liking it. MOO

These 2 countries (Afghanistan & Pakistan) have a long history of border conflict
(so called Durand Line), among other issues.

JMO

 

[Yellowbelly]

View attachment 649962
Starmer added that the UK would also deploy the HMS Dragon, one of the Royal Navy’s six Type 45 air defence destroyers, to the Eastern Mediterranean.

The prime minister’s announcement comes a day after a suspected Iranian drone attacked the British airbase in Cyprus, but the ministry of defence said the damage was “minimal”.

Monday’s attack happened after Starmer said the UK would help Washington in the war against Iran. The UK had initially denied access over fears that it would violate international law.

“The UK is fully committed to the security of Cyprus and British military personnel based there,” Starmer said on Tuesday

UK, France to send warships, air defence assets to Cyprus after ‘Iran’ drone attack on British base

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the United Kingdom is sending helicopters with counter drone capabilities to Cyprus after a...

www.thecable.ng

Given that it's been obvious for weeks that it was probably about to kick off over Iran (no American President has ever accumulated that much material in theatre and not used it), and given that the Iranian regime sees us as the 'little satan' to America's 'great satan', you would have thought somebody, somewhere would have asked themselves 'how do we defend the British Sovereign Bases on Cyprus', given that they are probably the worst defended air bases in the entire region, but apparently not.

Now we're scrambling around trying to find a single servicable warship to station in the Eastern Med after the Cypriots asked the French to send their aircraft carrier battle group!

 

[bestill]

They might want to lineup a replacement for him too

Yes and he just inherited his fathers wealth!! Does he have a wife and children?

 

[Seni]

Khameni's son named as successor? Anyone have a link?

 

[HmmMysterious]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2028962240276140251

 

[JennieM]

Snipped by me

When children grow up in conflict, they often develop into rigid thinkers who cling to prejudices and have little regard for the dignity of others, she continued. "When a country restricts opinions, it restricts its own future."
...

Although Melania Trump remained silent on the Iran war, top UN diplomat Rosemary DiCarlo did address it during the hearing. She recalled that armed conflicts have not reached this high since World War II, and that the conflict in the Middle East also underscores the importance of the issue. "The reality is clear: when conflict breaks out, it's the children who suffer the most."

https://nos.nl/artikel/2604767-vred...ump-bij-vn-is-primeur-hypocriet-vindt-iran[/]

Does she actually victim blame children who survive “conflict”?

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2028962011636236600

 

[SouthAussie]

Khameni's son named as successor? Anyone have a link?

@MassGuy posted this link earlier.

Post in thread 'Iran ; explosions across Tehran following Israeli and US strikes, 28 February 2026'

Yesterday at 3:55 PM

Coming from Iran International which is generally reliable but not without its biases:

https://twitter.com/x/status/2028932783511372039

• MassGuy

• 

 

[Dotta]

Khameni's son named as successor? Anyone have a link?

Iran's new supreme leader is named - Iranian TV network reports

Mojtaba, 56, Ali Khamenei's second oldest son, has strong links to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and was reportedly chosen by Iran's Assembly of Experts.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[imstilla.grandma]

What the president determined is he didn’t want to just ... keep the country safe from an Iranian nuclear weapon for the first three, four years of his second term. He wanted to make sure that Iran could never have a nuclear weapon, and that would require, fundamentally, a change in mindset from the Iranian regime,” Vance said Monday night in an interview on Fox News.

“So he saw that the Iranian regime was weakened, he knew that they were committed to getting on that brink of a nuclear weapon, and he decided to take action because he felt that was necessary in order to protect the nation’s security,” he added.

Vance reinforced the message later that night in an X post that included a clip of the interview.

“President Trump will not get the United States into a years-long conflict with no clear objective,” he wrote. “Iran can never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon. That is the goal of this operation and President Trump will see it through to completion.⁩”

Vance's anti-war posture collides with his more hawkish views on Iran

The vice president is skeptical of foreign entanglements. He also has a history of asserting that "weak little bombing runs" aren't enough to stifle Iran's nuclear capabilities.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Momoffourboys]

Khameni's son named as successor? Anyone have a link?

Report: Khamenei’s son chosen as Iran’s new supreme leader

Assembly of Experts' selection of Mojtaba Khamenei reportedly made under pressure from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

www.ynetnews.com