WPLG Local 10

Explosions sounded in Tehran Wednesday as Iran's war with the U.S. and Israel entered a fifth day following earlier strikes on an Iranian nuclear site and retaliatory strikes by the Islamic Republic across the Gulf region.The explosions around Tehran came at dawn, according to Iran state television, while Israel’s military said its air defenses had been activated to intercept incoming Iranian missiles and explosions were heard around Jerusalem.Five days into a war that U.S. President Donald Trump suggested could last a month or longer, nearly 800 people have been killed in Iran, including some Trump said he had considered as possible future leaders of the country.Explosions also hit Lebanon, where Israel said it is retaliating against Hezbollah militants. Lebanon’s state-run media reported that at least four people were killed in an Israeli strike that hit a residential complex in the city of Baalbeck.Here is the latest:Israel says whoever is chosen as Iran’s next supreme leader will be ‘a target for elimination’Israel’s defense minister on Wednesday threatened whoever Iran picks to be the country’s next supreme leader, saying he will be “a target for elimination.”Israel Katz made the statement on X.“Every leader appointed by the Iranian terror regime to continue and lead the plan to destroy Israel, to threaten the United States and the free world and the countries of the region, and to suppress the Iranian people — will be a target for elimination,” he wrote.Israel targeted a building Tuesday associated with Iran’s Assembly of Experts, which will select the new supreme leader.Israel killed the 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a strike Saturday that started the war.Qatar Airways flights grounded until at least FridayQatar Airways will remain grounded until at least Friday, the airline said.New airstrikes in Beirut, Israeli military saysIsrael’s military said it began new airstrikes in Beirut.Strike on Beirut suburb hotel came without warning, guest saysPeople staying in a hotel in a southeastern suburb of Beirut said the strike that hit the second floor came without warning.Maggie Shibli, wife of the owner of the Hotel Comfort in the Hazmieh neighborhood, said they were sleeping when the missile hit.“We live in a country where a missile can fall on your head at any moment,” she said.Abbas Najdeh, who was displaced from the southern port city of Tyre and was staying at the hotel, said “we were sleeping then suddenly I, my children and my wife were thrown away.”He added there was no warning.US State Department orders non-emergency staff and families in Pakistan’s Lahore and Karachi to leaveThe U.S. State Department has ordered non-emergency staff and their families working in the consulates in Lahore and Karachi to leave the country due to safety concerns.Staff at the embassy in the capital Islamabad were not affected by the order.Pakistan shares a long western border with Iran and has a sizable Shiite Muslim minority.At least 10 people were killed in Karachi on Sunday after protesters attempted to storm the consulate in the city, Pakistan’s largest.Public mourning for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei starts WednesdayStarting Wednesday, there will be three nights of public mourning with the casket containing the body of the late 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran’s capital, Tehran, Iranian state television reported.The ceremony will take place at the Grand Mosalla of Tehran.Iran’s latest salvo launched 40 ballistic missiles, state TV saysIranian state television said the latest salvo in the war saw Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard launch 40 ballistic missiles at targets associated with the U.S. military in the Mideast.It said it targeted Irbil in Iraq, two military bases in Kuwait, and two U.S. warships.Beirut wakes up to drones and another evacuation warningStrikes hit Lebanon overnight, including in several towns and on a hotel in a suburb right next to the capital.Beirut woke up to the sounds of drones whizzing overhead.The Israeli military warned residents in a southern suburb to flee ahead of a morning airstrike, as more displaced people fleeing the conflict pour into the capital seeking shelter.Israel strikes towns near Beirut, killing at least 6Overnight Israeli strikes on towns near Beirut have killed at least six people, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said early Wednesday.Israel struck the towns of Aramoun and Saadiyat just south of Beirut’s international airport, killing six and wounding eight others.It also struck a hotel in the Beirut suburb of Hazmieh. No casualties were immediately reported there.The strikes came without warning and the Israeli military did not immediately disclose the targets.Israeli attacks target Iranian security forces in TehranThe Israeli military said Wednesday it conducted a series of strikes across Iran’s capital targeting its security forces.It said it hit buildings associated with the Basij, the all-volunteer force of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard that conducted the bloody crackdown on protesters in January that killed thousands and saw tens of thousands detained in the country.The Israeli military also said it hit buildings associated with Iran’s internal security command, which also has suppressed demonstrations in the past.Israel and the U.S. have said they want to see the Iranian public overthrow its theocracy.Strikes against counterprotest forces likely are part of that effort.Iraqi militant group says it fired drones toward JordanAn Iranian-backed militant group in Iraq said it fired drones toward Jordan.The group, Saraya Awliya al-Dam, said that drones were aimed at “a vital target” in the kingdom.Earlier Wednesday, Jordan’s state-run television reported that sirens sounded across the country.Iraqi militants on Tuesday threatened to target Jordan over allegations that U.S. aircraft that bombed their facilities took off from a Jordanian air base.Airstrike hits building linked to Iranian clerical panel in QomA building associated with the clerical panel that will pick Iran’s next supreme leader came under attack in an airstrike in the holy seminary city of Qom, semiofficial media reported.The attack Tuesday hit the building in the Resalat neighborhood of Qom.The semiofficial Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both believed to be close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, linked the building to Iran’s Assembly of Experts and said there was no meeting ongoing there at the time of the attack.Fars further went on to say the assembly is meeting remotely, without elaborating.It added that meetings over naming a new leader are ongoing — suggesting there could be an announcement by Iran in the coming days over who will replace the 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli strike at the start of the war Saturday.There was no report on if anyone was hurt in the strike.Israel’s public broadcaster KAN said Israel carried out the attack, though there’s been no confirmation from its military.The Assembly of Experts is an 88-member panel which “must, as soon as possible” pick a new supreme leader under Iranian law.The panel consists entirely of Shiite clerics who are popularly elected every eight years and whose candidacies are approved by the Guardian Council, Iran’s constitutional watchdog.Death toll rises to 5 after strike in Lebanon’s BaalbeckThe death toll from the strike on a residential complex in Baalbeck, Lebanon, rises to five, the state-run National News Agency reported.Fifteen others were wounded and three are missing, it said.Sirens go off in JordanSirens have sounded Wednesday morning across Jordan, the kingdom’s state television reported.Israeli airstrike hits hotel outside of BeirutAn Israeli airstrike hit a hotel outside of Beirut, Lebanon’s state-run news agency reported Wednesday.The strike came in Hazmieh, about 5 kilometers (3 miles) southeast of downtown Beirut.The report from Lebanon’s National News Agency said ambulances had been dispatched to the scene.It did not elaborate in its short report.Asian shares tumble as oil prices climbAsian shares tumbled Wednesday, with South Korea’s benchmark plunging as much as 11%, while oil prices climbed even higher.Worries over the widening conflict with Iran have hammered most world markets.In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 shed 3.4% to 54,346.73.Japan, like South Korea, depends heavily on imports of oil and natural gas from the Middle East that are now stranded in the Persian Gulf.The price of U.S. benchmark crude oil climbed 1.2% to $75.46 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 1.5% to $82.61 per barrel.Higher oil prices and how much they might worsen inflation are spooking investors worried that more spikes for oil prices may grind down the global economy and sap corporate profits.

NEW YORK (AP) — While the U.S. fights a widening war in Iran, American prosecutors are airing claims that Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was entangled in a foiled 2024 assassination plot that eyed then-candidate Donald Trump as a possible target.The alleged scheme is at the center of a criminal trial that started in a federal court in New York last week, days before the Mideast combat that now looms in the background.“This trial is happening in interesting times,” Judge Eric Komitee told lawyers this week in the case of Asif Merchant, a Pakistani national accused of trying to hire hit men to kill a U.S. politician. Merchant didn't name a target but searched online for Trump rally locations, according to prosecutors, who introduced evidence Tuesday that Merchant’s laptop contained photos of both Trump and then-President Joe Biden at a time when they were rivals for the presidency.An FBI agent testified Tuesday that Merchant told her he had a Revolutionary Guard “handler” and believed the handler would help bankroll the plan. Merchant's lawyer suggested the purported statements might not be accurate.Merchant, 47, has pleaded not guilty to attempted terrorism and other charges. His attorneys say prosecutors are trying to wedge evidence into a narrative that doesn't fit.Merchant's ties to IranMerchant has children in Iran and has traveled there. His lawyers have portrayed his trips as religious pilgrimages and family time. But federal authorities have long suggested that he had ties to Iran's theocratic government.When Merchant was indicted in 2024, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray said the case was “straight out of the Iranian regime’s playbook.” Then-Attorney General Merrick Garland portrayed it as an example of “Iran's lethal plotting against Americans.”In court Tuesday, an FBI agent opened a window — though a narrow, constrained one — on the government's basis for pointing a finger at Tehran.It stems from what Merchant allegedly told agents in a July 2024 interview. The session wasn't recorded, and the agents' report on it is sealed. Only a few questions about it were allowed in court.According to agent Jacqueline Smith, Merchant said one of his cousins introduced him to a Revolutionary Guard handler at some point in Iran. Formally called the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the force has been prominent in Iran under the country's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the U.S.-Israeli attack this weekend. The U.S. deems the Revolutionary Guard a “foreign terrorist organization.”Merchant said he expected his handler would reimburse $5,000 that Merchant had gotten from his cousin and had given to the supposed hit men, who actually were undercover FBI agents, Smith told jurors. She said Merchant also relayed some advice from the handler: “If he noticed he was being surveilled, he should act normal."Defense lawyer Avraham Moskowitz underscored that the interview wasn’t recorded, and he described the agents’ report as “someone’s impression of what was said.”“I disagree with that characterization,” Smith said, but acknowledged the sealed document wasn’t a verbatim account.The interview was what's known as a proffer session, generally a time when defendants or suspects and their lawyers explore the possibility of cooperating with authorities. Moskowitz noted, while jurors weren't in the room, that proffers can produce a mix of things "that may be true and other things that are said that may not be true.”While getting only a glimpse of that interview, jurors have seen and heard recordings of Merchant interacting with undercover FBI agents and with an acquaintance who flagged him to the agency in the first place.A recorded talk about a killingIn one June 2024 recording that was played in court this week, Merchant told the undercover agents that he and associates in Pakistan were looking for people to steal documents, create protests at political events, “and the last thing is: Maybe you can, say, kill someone.”“The third thing you wanted, like, that could be a big deal,” one of the agents observed. He dangled the possibility that “you want somebody’s wife killed?”“No, no.... maybe it’s some political person, maybe some other person,” said Merchant, who later explained that he didn’t yet know exactly whom.“Wow,” the agent said, adding: “That’s gonna cost.”About a week later, Merchant was recorded meeting the agents at a Manhattan rooftop restaurant and then, in a nearby car, handing them $5,000 in rolled-up, rubber-banded $100 bills.Trump points out alleged Iranian plotsMerchant was arrested in Texas on July 12, 2024, as he was packing to fly back to Pakistan, authorities said in court documents.A day after Merchant's arrest, a Pennsylvania man made an attempt on Trump's life at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania. Officials said it appeared the gunman acted alone but that they had been tracking a threat on Trump’s life from Iran, a claim that the Islamic Republic called “unsubstantiated and malicious.”The president alluded to the alleged Iranian plots Sunday as he discussed Khamenei's death."I got him before he got me,” Trump told ABC News.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Oil prices jumped Tuesday for the second straight day and gas prices moved higher in the United States, underscoring the threat of rising inflation posed by the Iran war.Coming after nearly five years of elevated costs, even a modest pickup in prices could further sour many Americans on the economy and heighten the affordability concerns that have become a top political issue.On Tuesday, U.S. oil prices rose more than 5% to $75.22 a barrel in afternoon trading. Gas prices jumped 11 cents to $3.11 a gallon on average nationwide, according to AAA.A key issue, economists say, is how long the conflict lasts and whether shipping routes, such as the Strait of Hormuz, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, is closed. About one-fifth of the world's oil and natural gas is shipped through the Strait. Even a war of a few weeks might not push up inflation or weaken the economy very long. But should it last for a few months, inflation would likely worsen — perhaps topping 3% for the first time since early 2024.Here are some ways the war could worsen the economy.Inflation has lingered even as gas prices have fallenWhile some measures of inflation have cooled in recent months, the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure has been stuck at about 3% for roughly a year. That is above the central bank’s 2% target, and has occurred even as gas prices fell steadily in 2025.Should gas prices rise significantly, air fares could also increase as airlines face bigger fuel costs. Shipping would also become more expensive, which could add to grocery prices. Oil is also used in chemicals and plastics and in many industrial processes, so higher prices could spread.Natural gas prices have also risen sharply, after a liquid natural gas plant was shut down in Qatar. That could raise electricity prices in the U.S. Natural gas has already gotten 10% more expensive in the past year, thanks in part to spiking energy usage by data centers powering AI.Still, economists noted that the U.S. economy is not as oil-dependent as it has been in the past, with most Americans now working in services, rather than manufacturing.And other factors may help keep oil price increases relatively limited. Rory Johnston, founder of Commodity Context, an oil analytics firm, pointed out that oil inventories were quite high before the conflict, which helped keep prices in check. That’s in sharp contrast to the winter of 2022, he said, when post-COVID supply chain problems had already pushed up oil costs even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused a much bigger spike.President Donald Trump on Tuesday acknowledged that oil and gas prices have risen as the U.S. remains engaged in the ongoing Middle East conflict, but he argued that prices would drop once the war ends.“We have a little high oil prices for a little while, but as soon as this ends, those prices are going to drop, I believe, lower than even before,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.For every $10 increase in the price of a barrel of oil, economists estimate that U.S. gas prices would rise about 25 cents. Should prices top $100 a barrel, gas would move closer to $3.50 a gallon or higher.Businesses may pull back amid uncertaintyIf the Iran war drags on for months, it could also torpedo business confidence, which could lead companies to invest and hire less, said Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide Financial.“When there is an injection of new uncertainty into the business environment ... that's a hit to confidence," she said.The result could be similar to the impact of Trump's tariffs, which did not raise prices as much as many economists feared, but did appear to weigh on job gains. Hiring in 2025 was the weakest, outside of a recession, since 2002.Consumers sour further on economyEven without a big inflation spike, a major risk for Trump is that Americans sour on his economic leadership.According to surveys, Americans already have a gloomy outlook on the economy, largely because of the lingering effects of the price spikes of the past five years. Trump's attempts to portray the U.S. as in a “golden age” have had little impact on those attitudes.A protracted conflict in Iran that raised gas prices would likely make it worse, said Alex Jacquez, chief of policy and advocacy at the Groundwork Collaborative and an economic adviser to the Biden White House.“People generally don’t think that President Trump is focused on the things that they are focused on,” Jacquez added, “and what they want him to be focused on is the price of groceries. What they think he’s focused on are things like tariffs and foreign policy.”Interest rates could also riseWith inflation potentially headed higher, the Federal Reserve could further delay any additional interest rate cuts. The Fed cut its key rate three times last year, but kept them unchanged in January, despite Trump's repeated demands to cut them further. When the Fed reduces its rate, over time it can lower consumer borrowing costs for things like mortgages and auto loans.On Tuesday, Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, said that before the Iran war he had supported at least one interest rate cut this year as inflation slowly cooled. But now he isn’t so sure.“With the geopolitical events that we talked about, I just need to see,” he said at the Bloomberg Invest conference in New York City, referring to the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran. “We need to get a lot more data in.” Kashkari is one of 12 voting members of the Fed’s rate-setting committee.Financial markets have forecast two rate cuts this year, according to futures prices, and Trump has loudly demanded many more reductions. But the odds of those two cuts occurring this year have fallen since the Iran war began.

Republican U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas sought to fend off a primary challenge Tuesday that comes as he faces calls to resign following allegations of an affair with an aide, who later died after setting herself on fire.Gonzales, who has said he won't step down, entered the nation's first big primary of 2026 under pressure from fellow House Republicans after published reports last month that alleged to show explicit text messages between him and the former staffer.The three-term congressman was locked in a rematch against GOP challenger Brandon Herrera, a gun manufacturer and YouTube gun-rights influencer who narrowly lost to Gonzales by less than 400 votes in the 2024 primary.President Donald Trump endorsed Gonzales in December, and last week, Gonzales was among the Texas Republicans in attendance for Trump's visit along the Texas coast.“There will be opportunities for all of the details and facts to come out,” Gonzales said last week in Washington. “What you’ve seen is not all the facts.”Gonzales, a father of six, first won his seat in 2020 after retiring from a 20-year career in the U.S. Navy that included time in Iraq and Afghanistan.His win in 2020 beat back Democratic expectations in the sprawling district along the U.S. border with Mexico that stretches from western San Antonio to El Paso. His victory was fueled in part by Trump’s surprisingly strong performance in the heavily Hispanic Rio Grande Valley.Gonzales said in a recent social media post that he was being blackmailed and then suggested in another post that he is the target of “coordinated political attacks.”The San Antonio Express-News reported that it had obtained text messages in which the former staffer, Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, wrote to a colleague that she had an affair with Gonzales.The Associated Press has not independently obtained copies of the messages. An attorney for Adrian Aviles, Santos-Aviles’ husband, has said the husband found out about the affair before his wife’s death.Santos-Aviles, 35, died in September 2025 after setting herself on fire in the backyard of her Uvalde home. The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office later ruled her death a suicide.

BEIJING (AP) — China’s progress in building a modern economy, evident in its kung-fu fighting robots and self-parking cars, is hitting limits as a downturn in its housing industry drags on, small businesses suffer and young people struggle to find jobs.The gap between Chinese leader Xi Jinping's high-tech, artificial intelligence-driven ambitions and the hard realities of slowing growth is the backdrop for the annual meeting of the country’s largely ceremonial national legislature, the National People’s Congress, which begins Thursday.During the meetings, which draw about 3,000 deputies to Beijing, top leaders will outline China's annual target for growth and the congress will endorse a five-year blueprint of policy priorities until 2030.“What we’ll see is the trade-off between whether it’s going to be industry and tech, or looking after domestic demand,” said Alexander Davey, an analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies. “These are the two priorities that are juggling for Xi Jinping right now.”China’s economy is losing momentumIn a city in southern China's Guangdong, families were cutting back on big purchases during last month's Lunar New Year holidays. Even for auspicious houseplants like orchids, used as a symbol of abundance and prosperity, prices were slashed by as much as 40% from last year.The penny pinching has small business owners complaining about hard times.China reported it reached “around 5%” economic growth in 2025, but economists question some official data.The relatively robust pace of growth was supported by strong manufacturing as exports surged, despite U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff hikes and other disruptions to trade.“Hitting the 2025 growth target is hardly reassuring as the Chinese economy is losing growth momentum, with rising imbalances and enormous structural problems being papered over by a surge in export-driven growth,” Eswar Prasad, a professor of economics and trade policy at Cornell University, told The Associated Press in emailed comments.Property slump persistsA downturn in China's housing market began several years ago and piecemeal efforts to revive the industry have made only fitful progress. Dozens of property developers defaulted on their debts as authorities cracked down on excessive borrowing. With overall home prices down 20% or more from 2021, a recovery remains elusive.The meltdown in one of the country's biggest industries eliminated hundreds of thousands of jobs and with 12.7 million graduates entering the job market this year, more than 16% of young Chinese are unemployed. Some just are giving up and opting out of the rat race, or “lying flat.”Families whose main assets are their homes have grown cautious about spending, weakening consumer demand and confounding longstanding efforts to shift the economy to greater reliance on domestic investment.The congress may bring some fresh moves to beef up social welfare and other support, measures economists say are overdue and necessary for sustained, steady growth.China sticks to exportsReliance on exports is what help keeps China's economy buzzing, at least for now. China recorded a $1.2 trillion trade surplus in 2025, as exports kept its factories humming. Despite the China-U.S. trade war, it has been shipping more to regions including Europe and Latin America. But it's facing pushback from its trading partners.Under leader Xi, China has prioritized developing advanced technologies such as AI, robotics, computer chips, electric vehicles and renewable energy. Massive state support has companies churning out more EVs, TVs, solar panels and other products than China and its trading partners need.“To achieve those goals, the government is going to have to continue to provide subsidies and preferential support for high-tech and strategic industries,” said Leah Fahy, a China economist at Capital Economics. “(That) will, in turn, continue to fuel overcapacity.”In a recent report, the International Monetary Fund urged China to cut massive state subsidies and other support for industries that many Western countries say give its companies an unfair advantage over foreign rivals. At the same time, social welfare and other areas of the economy lag behind.The focus on what the ruling Communist Party has dubbed “high quality development” is bound to continue under the five-year plan for 2026-2030 that lawmakers are due to endorse at the congress.Over the past few decades, China's transformation into a manufacturing superpower was underpinned by booming construction of homes, office buildings, roads, ports and railways. But tech supply chains are narrower, providing fewer jobs. So the trickle down effect is much weaker, said Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at ING Bank.“If anything, the more successful the so-called future industries become, the more they will draw resources away from the traditional sectors that still provide the bulk of employment and livelihoods for most people,” said Henry Gao, a professor of law at Singapore Management University.Xi is expected to consolidate more powerThe annual congress is an impressive show. Thousands of delegates fill the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing. A military band performs and delegates from various ethnic groups attend in traditional clothing.For all the pomp, the meeting is largely a set piece. The congress lasts only one week and its near-unanimous votes on the final day formalize decisions made ahead of time by party leaders. It's a show of unity reaffirming the polices and direction they have set.Increasingly that leadership has centered on one person, Xi, who has consolidated power since taking the helm in 2012. Now 72, he is one of modern China's most powerful leaders. Some analysts think Xi will emulate Mao Zedong, the revolutionary leader who founded communist China, and rule for life.Annual reports presented at the congress are replete with references to the party's crucial role, “with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core.”Xi’s military purge is under the spotlightAfter ascending to power, Xi doubled down on longstanding anti-corruption campaigns, forcing many officials to step down to face investigation and prosecution, including top military brass.Days before the congress opened, the national legislature removed nine military officers from its ranks, widening a years long military purge. Last month, Gen. Zhang Youxia, the highest ranking military member just below Xi, was ousted over suspected disciplinary violations.Xi’s actions may weaken China's military readiness in coming years, but he is also ensuring the force would be more politically reliable in the longer run, a report by Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank suggested.The anti-corruption drives have eradicated potential political rivals, and his iron grasp on power makes it much less likely other officials will challenge his vision to build China into a self-sufficient tech leader and 21st-century global power.____Chan reported from Hong Kong. AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed from Bangkok.

A Minnesota prosecutor announced an investigation Monday that may lead to charges against federal officers, including Border Patrol official Greg Bovino, for misconduct during an immigration enforcement crackdown.Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a news conference that her office is already looking into 17 cases, including one where Bovino threw a smoke canister at protesters on Jan. 21. Another on Jan. 7 involved federal officers making an arrest outside a high school and deploying chemical irritants while students and staff were in the area.“Make no mistake, we are not afraid of the legal fight, and we are committed to doing this correctly,” Moriarty said. “Operation Metro Surge caused immeasurable harm to our community.”The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration enforcement, responded in a statement Monday night that such enforcement is a federal responsibility and states cannot prosecute federal officers.“What these States are trying to do is unlawful, and they know it," the statement said. “Federal officials acting in the course of their duties are immune from liability under state law.”The statement added that local officials should instead consider how their actions have endangered federal law enforcement officers.A message to Bovino seeking his response was not immediately returned.Bovino, who emerged as a key figure in the Trump administration's immigration enforcement operations, is known for bringing aggressive tactics to crackdowns in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Chicago and Los Angeles. In Chicago, federal officers frequently deployed chemical irritants as crowd control measures in residential neighborhoods, and a judge ordered Bovino to wear a body camera and appear in court daily to answer questions about the crackdown. That order was overturned before his first mandated appearance.Officers at times took a forceful approach to corralling protesters in Minneapolis-St. Paul and detained numerous people blowing whistles and recording arrests.Bovino was eventually removed from his leading role in the Minnesota effort after federal officers fatally shot 37-year-old mother Renee Good and 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti on different days in January, leading to nationwide demonstrations and criticisms of DHS use-of-force policies.Moriarty's office has set up an online portal where photos, videos and eyewitness accounts from any point during Operation Metro Surge can be uploaded.The Trump administration has defended federal officers, but Moriarty is making clear that her office is “collecting evidence about all sorts of possible crimes,” said Rachel Moran, a professor of criminal law and policing at University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis.In cases where officers unjustifiably used chemical weapons, threw people to the ground or smashed car windows, Moran said as examples, prosecutors may be investigating assault or property damage.“These would be situations where the state has to determine: Is there evidence that agents acted unlawfully and outside the scope of their authorized duties?” Moran said. “I think agents did illegal things here. I watched it.”Though federal officers conducted immigration enforcement throughout the Twin Cities, Moriarty’s investigation will only focus on incidents in Hennepin county, which includes Minneapolis and many of its suburbs.Her office is also investigating the deaths of Good and Pretti, and she is “confident” they will be able to pursue charges. She said Monday that her office is prepared to sue the federal government to get the evidence she has requested for the investigations if she does not hear from them by Tuesday.“The question is, should we charge in federal court? Do we expect the federal government to obstruct us? I would say they’re already doing that,” Moriarty said.The Department of Justice opened a civil rights inquiry into Pretti's death, but said it saw no reason for a civil rights investigation of Good's death. The Federal Bureau of Investigations barred state investigators from accessing evidence in her case.The DOJ and FBI did not immediately return requests for comment.While Moriarty addressed the challenges her office would face in bringing charges against federal agents, she said they are committed to transparency and accountability.Mark Osler, who served as director of the criminal division for a year under Moriarty in 2023 and 2024, said regardless of whether there are charges, he thinks the public can look forward to more clarity.“One of the most important roles that prosecution has … is truth-telling, is to bring to the surface what actually happened at a given time,” said Osler, who is currently a law professor at University of St. Thomas. “We’ll all know more than just what we saw in those initial videos by the time she’s done. I’m confident of that.”___Raza reported from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Fingerhut reported from Des Moines, Iowa.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke Monday to widening concerns that the U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran could spiral into a protracted regional conflict by declaring: “This is not Iraq. This is not endless," even as he warned that more American casualties are likely in the weeks ahead.While the Trump administration has cited Iran’s nuclear ambitions as the chief concern to be addressed, officials increasingly are pointing to the threat from Iran’s ballistic missiles as a key reason to launch the attacks as well as an opportunity to take out the government’s leadership and the sense that negotiations around the nuclear program have stalled.Trump said Monday that Iran’s conventional missile program “was growing rapidly and dramatically, and this posed a very clear, colossal threat to America and our forces stationed overseas.”Hegseth said at a separate press conference with Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that the operation had a “decisive mission” to eliminate the threat of Iranian ballistic missiles, destroy the country’s navy and ensure “no nukes.”Trump, Hegseth and Caine have not suggested any exit plan or offered signs that the conflict would end anytime soon as the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cast doubt on the future of the Islamic Republic and hurtled the region into broader instability. Caine said the biggest U.S. military buildup in the Middle East in decades would only grow because the commander in the region “will receive additional forces even today.”“This is not a so-called regime-change war, but the regime sure did change, and the world is better off for it,” Hegseth said.Trump, however, in video statements released after the strikes began, urged the Iranian people “to take back your country.”More American troop casualties expectedThe conflict has spilled into the wider region, with Iran and its allied armed groups launching missiles at Israel, Arab states and U.S. military targets in the Middle East.Six American troops have been killed, with Trump, Hegseth and Caine predicting more casualties. All were Army soldiers and part of the same logistics unit in Kuwait, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.When asked about the six deaths Monday, Hegseth said an Iranian weapon made it past allied air defenses “and, in that particular case, happened to hit a tactical operations center that was fortified.”Eighteen American service members also have been seriously wounded, said Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command.The latest sign of the escalating upheaval came when, the U.S. military said, ally Kuwait “mistakenly shot down” three American fighter jets during a combat mission as Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones were attacking. U.S. Central Command said all six pilots ejected safely from the American F-15E Strike Eagles and were in stable condition.Asked if there are boots on the ground now in Iran, Hegseth said, “No, but we’re not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do.”He said it was “foolishness” to expect U.S. officials to say publicly “here’s exactly how far we’ll go.”Trump told the New York Post on Monday that he wasn’t ruling out U.S. forces in Iran if “they were necessary.” He noted, “I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground."At the White House, Trump said the mission was expected to take four to five weeks but “we have the capability to go far longer than that.”Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters at the Capitol that the U.S. “will do this as long as it takes to achieve" its objectives and warned that “the hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military."Hegseth also dismissed questions about the time frame and said Trump had “latitude” to decide how long it would take. “Four weeks, two weeks, six weeks," he said. “It could move up. It could move back.”Pentagon gives justification for strikesIn laying out a case for the strikes, Hegseth did not point to any imminent nuclear threat from Iran and said again that strikes by the U.S. and Israel last June “obliterated their nuclear program to rubble.”Instead, Hegseth pointed to threats from other weaponry that justified the operation: “Iran was building powerful missiles and drones to create a conventional shield for their nuclear blackmail ambitions.”He added: “Our bases, our people, our allies, all in their crosshairs. Iran had a conventional gun to our head as they tried to lie their way to a nuclear bomb.”Hegseth said that during negotiations leading up to the attack, Iranian officials were “stalling" despite having “every chance to make a peaceful and sensible deal.”He also justified the operation by describing Iran’s government as having started the conflict from its inception, declaring that for 47 years it has “waged a savage, one-sided war against America.”In a private briefing Sunday, Trump administration officials told congressional staffers that U.S. intelligence did not suggest Iran was preparing to launch a preemptive strike against the U.S., three people familiar with the briefings said.Trump, a Republican, had said the objective of the mission was to eliminate “imminent threats from the Iranian regime.” And senior Trump administration officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, told reporters Saturday that there were indicators that the Iranians could launch a preemptive attack.Military doesn't specify Iran's nuclear sites as targetsAs with the attack that dropped massive bunker-buster bombs on Iranian nuclear facilities last year, Caine said the military used B-2 stealth bombers in the new operation with a 37-hour round trip.He said the penetrating bombs were dropped on Iranian underground facilities" but did not specify that they were nuclear facilities. Nuclear sites were not among the types of targets on a list released over the weekend by U.S. Central Command.The administration says Israel and the U.S. have bombed Iranian missile sites and targeted its navy, claiming to have destroyed its headquarters and multiple warships.Caine on Monday referenced the use of cyber technologies, saying the U.S. “effectively disrupted communications and sensor networks” that left “the adversary without the ability to coordinate or respond effectively.”Without giving specifics, Caine said the military “delivered synchronized and layered effects designed to disrupt, degrade, deny and destroy Iran’s ability to conduct and sustained combat operations on the U.S. side.”Caine said Trump gave the go-ahead order for the strikes at 3:38 p.m. EST on Friday. That meant the president gave the green light when he was aboard Air Force One heading to Texas with Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn and actor Dennis Quaid.___Associated Press writers Meg Kinnard in Charleston, S.C.; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; David Klepper, Ben Finley and Lisa Mascaro in Washington; and Farnoush Amiri in New York contributed to this report.

As the war in the Middle East spirals further, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that the U.S. has “ the capability to go far longer ” than its projected four to five week time frame for its military operations against Iran.The comment, made during a Medal of Honor ceremony, comes as the U.S. and Israel have continued pounding Iran since killing its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.Tehran and its allies have hit back against Israel, neighboring Gulf states, and targets critical to the world’s production of oil and natural gas.The intensity of the attacks and the lack of any apparent exit plan set the stage for a prolonged conflict with far-reaching consequences.At least 555 people have been killed in Iran so far by the U.S.-Israeli campaign, the Iranian Red Crescent Society said, and more than 130 cities across the country have come under attack. In Israel, 11 people have been killed, with 31 in Lebanon, according to authorities.Here is the latest:Senior UN official highlights impact of recent Middle East escalations on childrenU.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo briefed the U.N. Security Council on Monday during a session chaired by First Lady Melania Trump on protecting children, education and technology in conflict.Before making general statements about the impact of conflict on children worldwide, DiCarlo highlighted the immediate impact of the U.S.-Israel strikes and Iranian retaliation on the youngest citizens of regional countries.“We have been reminded of this truth over the last two days. Schools in Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman have closed and moved to remote learning owing to the ongoing military operations in the region,” she said.DiCarlo added that the world body was aware of the reports about the deaths at a girl’s school in southern Iran, which Iran said killed dozens of children. Both U.S. and Israel have said they are looking into it.Mourners grieve Israeli teens killed in Iranian missile attackThree young siblings killed in an Iranian missile strike in central Israel were buried Monday night at the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.Yaakov, 16, Avigail, 15, and Sarah Biton, 13, were among nine people killed Sunday when a missile hit a shelter in a synagogue in Beit Shemesh, the deadliest attack on Israelis since the war began. Rescuers searched the rubble late into the night.Israel’s rescue services said 65 people were hospitalized, including two seriously wounded.President Isaac Herzog visited one of the injured, Penina Cohen, at Hadassah Hospital on Monday. She told him she lost her husband, Yosef, and her mother-in-law, Bruria, in the strike. She and her young son were sitting beside them in the shelter when the missile hit.“I was right beneath the hole that was torn open, and I have no explanation for how we were not more seriously hurt. We experienced a great miracle,” she said. “Today my son turns 13, and he was meant to celebrate his bar mitzvah. Instead, we are burying my husband and mother-in-law.”Iran accuses US of hypocrisy before Melania Trump’s UN meeting on protecting kids during conflictMoments before U.S. First Lady Melania Trump led a U.N. Security Council session Monday on protecting children in armed conflict, Amir Saeid Iravani, Iranian ambassador to the U.N., blasted the subject of the meeting, saying that it was in contrast to the reported deadly strikes on a girl’s school in Iran on Saturday.“It is deeply shameful and hypocritical,” Iravani told reporters, “that on the very first day of its presidency of the Security Council, the United States convenes a high-level meeting on protecting children, technology, and education in armed conflict under the agenda item ‘Maintenance of international peace and security,’ while at the same time launching missile strikes against Iranian cities and bombing schools and killing children.”He added, “For the United States, ‘protecting children’ and ‘maintaining international peace and security’ clearly mean something very different from what the UN Charter provides.”US military says it’s taken out 11 Iranian warships in the Gulf of Oman“Two days ago, the Iranian regime had 11 ships in the Gulf of Oman, today they have ZERO,” U.S. Central Command said in a post on X.The statement follows President Donald Trump’s Truth Social post on Sunday that U.S. forces had “destroyed and sunk 9 Iranian Naval Ships.” The president said they would be “going after the rest” and had “largely destroyed their Naval Headquarters.”UN says Israel’s Gaza closure causes fuel rationing and water shortagesThe U.N.’s humanitarian office tracking Gaza said Monday that the Israeli closure of all crossings into Gaza was stretching stocks of food, inflating the prices of basic goods and halting municipal services like solid waste collection as humanitarian workers tried to ration fuel supply. It said that reduced water production in some parts of Gaza City had left people drinking as little as two liters of water a day.COGAT, the Israeli military body overseeing civilian affairs in Gaza, closed crossings into the territory at the start of the unfolding war and froze the entrance and exit of humanitarian workers. It said the crossings cannot not be safely operated under fire and that they would reopen as soon as the security situation allows.Tense calm in Jerusalem during a lull in Iranian missile fireA tense calm has settled over the central Jerusalem after an afternoon and evening with no sirens announcing incoming missiles from Iran. The streets are still quite empty in West Jerusalem, where most Israelis live.NATO chief calls on European allies to support war against IranNATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said in an interview that the United States’ and Israel’s war against Iran is crucial for security in Europe. He said the allies could support the effort even without direct involvement in military operations, through logistics and access.Rutte, a former prime minister of the Netherlands, said he unreservedly approves of Trump’s decision to attack Iran and kill its supreme leader. Rutte cited the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.“It would be a stranglehold on Israel. It could potentially mean Israel’s defeat,” Rutte told German public broadcaster ARD in its Brussels studio on Monday.When asked about the possibility of NATO entering the war, Rutte said absolutely no one believed that NATO would be involved. “This is Iran, this is the Gulf, this is outside NATO territory,” he said.NATO troops deployed for 20 years to Afghanistan, and its 2011 air campaign helped topple Libya’s late leader Moammar Gadhafi.Iran says it shot down 20 drones since the war beganIranian state-run IRNA news agency said the country’s military has shot down 20 “enemy drones” since the beginning of the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Saturday.Iraqi militias threaten US military presence in JordanA prominent Iran-backed Iraqi militia has threatened to attack American military bases in neighboring Jordan.Kataib Hezbollah has claimed attack on U.S. bases in northern Iraq in solidarity with Tehran.Iran has been targeting American military assets in the Mideast in its ongoing war with Washington and Israel.The Iraqi government for years has tried to keep a delicate balance maintaining strong ties with both Washington and Tehran.Israel strikes a Hezbollah-linked financial institution in LebanonThe military said it has completed a wave of strikes targeting branches of al-Qard al-Hasan, saying the quasi-banking system is being used to fund the militant group’s military wing.The strikes come amid a day of successive Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon and in its capital, following Hezbollah rocket fire on Israel.Al-Qard al-Hasan is officially a non-profit charity institution operating outside the Lebanese financial system, and one of the tools by which Hezbollah entrenches its support among the country’s Shiite population.Israel targeted the institution also in 2024 during its months-long conflict with Hezbollah.More US adults oppose initial airstrikes on Iran, early polling suggestsAmericans’ initial reactions to Trump ordering airstrikes against Iran over the weekend appear more negative than positive, according to a new snap poll from The Washington Post that was conducted via text message on Sunday.About half of those polled opposed the strikes, while 39% were in support. Roughly 1 in 10 were unsure. Democrats and independents drove much of the disapproval, with nearly 9 in 10 Democrats and about 6 in 10 independents opposed to the military strikes.Republicans were much more supportive, with 81% backing the military action. About 1 in 10 Republicans were opposed, and a similar share were unsure.Respondents were about twice as likely to say the U.S. should stop the military strikes as that time, rather than continue them.Spain says joint US bases were not used in attack on IranSpanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the U.S. attack an “unjustifiable” and “dangerous” military intervention.Defense Minister Margarita Robles said “no assistance of any kind, absolutely none,” had been provided from the Rota and Morón bases in southern Spain, which are shared with the U.S. but remain under Spanish command.“There is a deal with the U.S. over these bases, but our understanding of the deal is that operations have to comply with international legal frameworks and that there has to be international support for them,” Robles said.The U.S. and Israel were acting “unilaterally without the support of an international resolution,” Robles said.Flight map data from FlightRadar24 showed that several U.S. military aircraft had left the bases in southern Spain since the weekend attack, including nine tankers that departed Sunday from Morón for Germany.Israel says it intercepted a drone from LebanonIsrael’s military said the hostile aircraft was intercepted and it is reviewing the incident. The army’s social media post did not blame the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah or any other party.Iran-backed Hezbollah did not immediately issue a statement. The group had fired rockets late Sunday into northern Israel, sparking Israeli strikes throughout Lebanon that killed at least 31 people and displaced thousands.Drone hits at a fuel terminal in the UAE but fire is containedAuthorities in Abu Dhabi quickly responded to the drone attack on the Musaffah fuel terminal and got the fire under control. No injuries were reported and operations at the terminal were not affected, according to a statement by the Abu Dhabi Media Office posted on X.Russia’s Putin speaks to Saudi crown princeVladimir Putin held a phone call Monday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss “the escalation in the Middle East as a result of American-Israeli armed aggression” against Iran, the Kremlin said.Both “expressed serious concern over the real risks of the spreading of the conflict, which has already affected several Arab countries and is fraught with catastrophic consequences,” the Kremlin said in the readout of the call.Putin “emphasized the urgent need to resolve the current extremely dangerous situation through political and diplomatic means,” and Prince Mohammed “expressed the opinion that Russia could play a positive, stabilizing role in these times, given its friendly relations with both Iran and the Persian Gulf countries,” the readout said.Tennis stars in Dubai and Paralympians face travel issues due to warFormer U.S. Open tennis champion Daniil Medvedev has indicated he’s one of what the ATP Tour calls “a small number of players and team members” it is trying to help leave Dubai. A widespread travel shutdown has also caused issues for athletes heading to the Paralympics.Medvedev’s Instagram account reposted on Monday a report from a Russian-language tennis outlet, Bolshe, which said he was safe and staying at a friend’s apartment in Dubai, amid flight cancellations after winning the ATP event there last week.Medvedev and others are due to play at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California, where main-draw matches start Wednesday.The Winter Paralympics open in Italy on Friday and some athletes are facing travel difficulties, the International Paralympic Committee said. Iran has one cross-country skier expected to compete at the March 6-15 Paralympics.Trump articulates his four objectives for the US war in IranThe president said U.S. forces are out to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities, wipe out its naval capacity, stop the country from obtaining a nuclear weapon and “ensuring that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm fund and directors armies outside of their borders.”He said U.S. attacks have already “knocked out” 10 ships, and that attacks on Iran’s missile capacity is ensuring they is destroyed while stopping “their capacity to produce brand ones.”“This was our last, best chance to strike — what we’re doing right now — and eliminate the intolerable threats posed by this sick and sinister regime,” Trump said.Trump says the US expected the Iran operation to take 4 to 5 weeksThe president said during an unrelated event at the White House that from the beginning, the U.S. has projected that time frame but “we have the capability to go far longer than that.”He then said he wouldn’t get “bored” of continuing the operation over such time. “I don’t get bored. There’s nothing boring about this.”Trump said the U.S. had also projected it would take four weeks to get rid of Iran’s military leadership, but that was quickly accomplished “so we’re ahead of schedule there.”Iranian missiles filmed flying over Jerusalem skiesIranian missiles drew straight lines of smoke across clear Jerusalem skies Monday afternoon. the conflict’s third day.Interceptions by Israel’s advanced aerial defense system could be seen as the projectiles flying overhead suddenly lost course and began haphazardly falling before disappearing from view, leaving circles of smoke behind where they’d been hit by the interceptor missiles.Loud booms could be heard, intermingled with the barking of dogs and chirping of birds.Jerusalemites were told to take shelter three times Monday morning and early afternoon, but sirens didn’t ring for much of the afternoon.Israeli military says airstrike in Beirut targeted a senior Hezbollah officialAn Israeli airstrike in the Lebanese capital heavily damaged a building as the Israeli military said it targeted a senior Hezbollah official.The strike occurred near the old compound of the Iranian embassy in Beirut’s Beir Hassan neighborhood.Medal of Honor Ceremony begins at the White HouseTrump is attending with top members of his administration. The event began with a prayer.4 Greek warplanes land in Cyprus after a drone strike on air baseFour Greek F-16 fighter jets landed in Cyprus on Monday to bolster the country’s security, after a drone struck a U.K. military base.The drone strike caused minor damage, according to Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides. Another two drones flying in the direction of RAF Akrotiri shortly after midday Monday where intercepted after two British Typhoon fighter jets and another pair of F-35 warplanes were scrambled from the base.Cyprus government spokesman Constantinos Letymbiotis posted on X that the arrival of the F-16s was done in close cooperation with Greece, which was also sending two navy frigates equipped with an anti-drone system.Iran’s deadly strikes in the Gulf highlight vulnerability of migrant workersThe five reported casualties from Iranian strikes in Gulf nations have been foreign nationals. The countries hit — including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait — rely heavily on labor from South and Southeast Asia.Migrant workers in Gulf states are often housed in employer‑provided accommodations on the outskirts of cities or near industrial zones.The Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday upgraded its travel advisory for the United Arab Emirates, placing it along with Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia at a level that automatically triggers a deployment ban on newly hired workers.The Emirates reported three deaths, one each from Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Kuwait’s Health Ministry said a strike killed one person and wounded 32 others, all foreign nationals. Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said a post-strike fire killed an Asian worker and wounded two others.The International Labor Organization estimates more than 24 million foreign workers were employed across the Gulf states in 2024, forming a backbone of the region’s economy while often remaining among its most vulnerable.Medal of Honor Ceremony begins at White HouseTrump is attending with top members of his administration. The event began with a prayer.Israeli military says airstrike in Beirut targeted senior Hezbollah officialAn Israeli airstrike in the Lebanese capital heavily damaged a building as the Israeli military said it targeted a senior Hezbollah official.The strike occurred near the old compound of the Iranian embassy in Beirut’s Beir Hassan neighborhood.Qatar says its air force shot down 2 Iranian warplanesThe Gulf state of Qatar, home to a key U.S. military base, said its air force had shot down two Iranian Sukhoi Su-24 bombers.Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates said it intercepted nine ballistic and six cruise missiles and 148 drones on Monday. The Defense Ministry said it has repelled hundreds of Iranian drones and missiles since the attacks began on Saturday, in response to U.S.-Israeli bombardment.No fatalities were reported Monday in the UAE. Three people were killed in Iranian attacks on Sunday.Trump says he doesn’t ‘have the yips’ about sending US ground troops into IranIn a brief phone interview with the New York Post, the president said he wasn’t ruling out U.S. forces in Iran if “they were necessary.”“I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground. Like, every president says, ‘There will be no boots on the ground.’ I don’t say it,” Trump told the newspaper. “I say, ‘Probably don’t need them,’ (or) ‘if they were necessary.’”Trump has said since the start of U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran that American military casualties were likely, as they are in any war, but he hasn’t committed to having U.S. forces on the ground long term. Before the strikes began, Vice President JD Vance told The Washington Post that there was “no chance” the U.S. would be pulled into a drawn out war in the Middle East.Israel launches a new wave of strikes on LebanonThe Israeli army said it had completed “a broad wave of strikes” on dozens of targets in southern Lebanon, including weapons storage facilities and missile launchers that it said belong to the militant group Hezbollah.At least 31 people were killed in overnight Israeli strikes in Lebanon after Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel for the first time in more than a year.British prime minister defends letting the US use bases in the countryU.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday defended his decision to allow the U.S. to use British bases to launch defensive strikes against Iran, saying the country had to support its allies in the region and British citizens who were at risk due to indiscriminate attacks by Iran.Speaking to the House of Commons, Starmer said that the government was focused on looking ‘’at all options to support our people.’’“We want to ensure that they can return home as swiftly and safely as possible, for their lives are on the line.’’Starmer also defended his decision not to join U.S and Israeli offensive actions against Iran, saying the U.K. had learned the lessons of the Iraq War and that any military action must be legally justified. Britain can legally take part in defensive action to protects its own citizens and allies, but it will not participate in offensive actions aimed at regime change, he said.Pakistan's president urges restraintPakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday condemned what he described as a “war being waged on Iran while negotiations were underway” and called for restraint.In a televised address to lawmakers in parliament, Zardari said he joins “all Pakistanis in condoling the martyrdom of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.” He also condemned what he called “subsequent attacks launched on our brotherly countries in the Gulf region.”Demonstrators in Pakistan supportive of the Iranian government attempted to storm a U.S. Consulate on Sunday, authorities said, leading to violent clashes with security forces that killed at least 22 people and injured more than 120 others.Israeli strike in Lebanon kills a senior Islamic Jihad militantThe top commander in Lebanon of the Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, was killed at dawn Monday by an Israeli airstrike on a southern suburb of Beirut.The group gave no further details about Adham Adnan al-Othman but said he had a long history of fighting Israeli forces.Like the larger and stronger Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad was formed in the 1980s as a radical Islamist movement to resisting Israel.Israel extends nationwide restrictions on public activitiesThe Israeli military’s Home Front Command said all schools across the country will remain closed and the ban on attending workplaces will continue at least until Saturday evening. Gatherings are prohibited and all beaches will remain closed to the public.The nationwide restrictions were first imposed after Israel and the US launched a war against Iran on Saturday.Netanyahu visits site of Iranian missile attackPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has visited the site of a deadly Iranian missile attack in central Israel.Nine people were killed Sunday when a missile slammed into a shelter located in a synagogue in Beit Shemesh.Netanyahu accused Iran of intentionally targeting civilians and said the country poses a threat to the entire world. He said the world would benefit from the joint Israel-U.S. war against Iran.“We set out to protect ourselves, but in doing so we protect many others,” Netanyahu said.Hegseth says Iran operation could be shorter or longer than 4 weeksU.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the U.S. military operation in Iran could be shorter or longer than the four to five weeks that Trump has recently suggested.“Trump has all the latitude in the world to talk about how long it may or may not take,” Hegseth said at Monday’s news briefing. “Four weeks, two weeks, six weeks. It could move up. It could move back.”Trump, in an interview Sunday with The New York Times, said the assault could last “four to five weeks.”US Embassy in Beirut urging Americans to leave LebanonThe U.S. Embassy in Beirut is urging Americans to depart Lebanon immediately while commercial flights remain available, saying that the security situation in the country “is volatile and unpredictable.”The statement came as Israel carried a new wave of airstrikes on Lebanon that were clearly heard in the capital Beirut and the southern port city of Tyre.Israel’s military also said that it killed Hezbollah’s intelligence official Hussein Mokalleh in a strike near Beirut earlier Monday.The embassy urged U.S. citizens not to travel to Lebanon. It said all consular services are suspended until further notice, and that the U.S. embassy currently has no ability to provide any assistance to U.S. citizens in Lebanon.Trump ‘disappointed’ in Starmer over UK basesPresident Donald Trump says he is “very disappointed” in Prime Minister Keir Starmer for initially refusing to allow British bases to be used for U.S. strikes on Iran.Trump told Britain’s Daily Telegraph that “we were very disappointed in Keir.”In a change of position, Starmer announced Sunday that the U.S. can use bases in England and on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to strike Iran’s ballistic missiles and their launch and storage sites, but not to hit other targets.Trump said the change in position is “useful” but “took far too much time.”“It sounds like he was worried about the legality,” Trump said.Iran media reporting that wife of Khamenei diedIranian media said Mansoureh Khojasteh, wife of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, died on Monday. She had been in a coma since Saturday’s strikes on her husband’s office.Khojasteh, 78, was the only wife of Ali Khamenei. They married in 1964.Separately, an Iranian human rights activists’ group cited an education ministry spokesperson as saying that 171 students were killed across Iran in the past 48 hours.According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, the ministry spokesperson said the deadliest strike hit the Shajareh Tayebeh girls’ elementary school in Minab, where 168 students died and 95 were injured. Additional casualties included two students in Tehran and a 9‑year‑old child in Abyek, Qazvin, while three others were injured in separate incidents in two districts of Tehran.Caine says cyberattacks were used to 'disorient’ IranCyberattacks knocked out Iran’s key systems ahead of U.S and Israeli strikes, according to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Air Force Gen. Dan Caine.U.S. cyber operations were used to “disrupt, disorient and confuse” Iranian forces at the start of the operation, Caine said.Disruptions to its communications systems reduced Iran’s ability to assess the attack and to coordinate its response, Caine told reporters at a Monday briefing.Energy prices surgeEuropean natural gas futures are spiking 42% in the wake of the shutdown of a major supplier of ship-born gas due to the fighting in the Middle East.The futures contract for April delivery shot up to 45.46 euros ($53.26) on the ICE commodities exchange. The jump came after QatarEnergy said it would stop its production of liquefied natural gas as the Mideast war rages. The state-owned firm blamed the war for the decision.