Confirmed developments
On Feb. 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched strikes on multiple locations in Iran, including Tehran, according to reporting from Al Jazeera and NBC News. President Donald Trump described the action as “major combat operations,” and NBC News reported that Trump publicly framed the campaign as a U.S. operation joined by Israel. NBC News also reported that Trump urged Iranians to “take over your government” following the strikes.
Iran retaliated with missile fire aimed at Israel, as described by both Al Jazeera and NBC News. The retaliatory response also extended to U.S. military sites in the region. NBC News reported that Iran targeted U.S. bases across multiple countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan, and Al Jazeera similarly reported missiles aimed at U.S. military bases in the Middle East. The Guardian likewise characterized Iran’s response as a barrage of retaliatory missiles directed at Israel and U.S. bases across the region.
Targeting and leadership status
NBC News reported, citing two U.S. officials, that Israel targeted Iranian political and military leaders. Accounts about Iran’s senior leadership were less settled in early reporting. NBC News quoted Iran’s foreign minister saying the supreme leader was still alive “as far as I know,” adding that “all high ranking officials are alive,” while also stating that two commanders had died and that other senior officials, including the head of the judiciary and the parliament speaker, had survived. In contrast, the Jerusalem Post cited Israeli sources saying Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was “cut off from contact,” with “no certainty on fate.” These accounts do not resolve whether the communications disruption reflects deliberate isolation, damage to command-and-control, or more serious harm to leadership.
Civilian harm and contested casualty reporting
Casualty reporting varied across outlets and remained difficult to reconcile. Al Jazeera’s live updates cited an Iranian official saying at least 70 people were killed in a southern Iranian province. The Guardian reported that the strikes had “killed at least 40 children.” The New York Times reported that Iranian state news agencies said dozens of people died in a strike on a girls’ school in Minab, while emphasizing that the claim could not be independently verified. The different figures may reflect separate incidents, differing time windows, or limited verification amid ongoing strikes and disrupted information flows; as reported, they do not provide a single, corroborated casualty picture.
Diplomacy and de-escalation signals
Some reporting situated the strikes alongside nuclear-related diplomacy, but accounts diverged on how active talks remained once hostilities began. Al Jazeera reported that the attacks came amid negotiations between the United States and Iran over Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. NBC News quoted Iran’s foreign minister saying Iran was willing to talk and interested in de-escalation if the U.S. and Israel halted attacks, and also reported the foreign minister’s claim that Washington and Tehran had been close to a deal and that the strikes occurred while talks were ongoing. The New York Times, however, reported that the foreign minister said there were no backchannel negotiations underway to end the fighting with the U.S. and Israel. Taken together, the reporting suggests conditional openness to diplomacy on Iran’s side, but leaves uncertainty over whether any active channels existed at the time of the strikes or whether contacts had already collapsed into public messaging.