LIVE: Trump Says He Doesn’t Have The Yips About Sending U.S. Ground Troop Into Iran
“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.’”
In 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.
What to know:
- The wife of Iran's slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei died Monday after succumbing to wounds sustained during the US-Israeli attack, Iranian media reported. Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, 79, had been in a coma since strikes on Saturday killed Khamenei, the Tasnim news agency said.
- Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Monday their missile attacks have targeted the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the headquarters of the Israeli air force commander. "The office of the criminal prime minister of the Zionist regime and the headquarters of the regime's air force commander were targeted," the Guards said in a statement carried by Fars news agency. It said Kheibar missiles were used in the attack.
- The war in the Middle East expanded on multiple fronts Monday, with attacks from Iran and Iranian-backed militias hitting Israel and Arab states. A senior Iranian official signaled that there would be no negotiations with the United States, and the Iranian Red Crescent Society said at least 555 people have been killed so far in the Islamic Republic.
- Strikes by Israel and the United States were happening in Iran, and Israeli forces were hitting targets in southern Lebanon where at least 31 were killed, in a war that began with the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei . A strike in Iran on Monday apparently took Iranian state television off air.
- Trump says more US service members ‘will likely’ be killed: Trump said the U.S. would “avenge” the deaths of three service members before adding: “Sadly, there will likely be more, before it ends.”
- Iran’s foreign minister says Islamic Republic spent 2 decades studying US military: Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Islamic Republic had spent “two decades” studying U.S. military operations in the region and has since “incorporated lessons accordingly.” “Bombings in our capital have no impact on our ability to conduct war,” Araghchi said on X.
- CIA tracked the movements of senior Iranian leaders for months: That’s according to a person familiar with the operation who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke Sunday on condition of anonymity. The intelligence was shared with Israeli officials, and the timing of this weekend’s strikes was adjusted in part because of that information, the person said.
Live Updates
- 2 March 2026 10:06 PM IST
Israel says it has completed a wave of strikes on Lebanon
The Israeli military said it has completed “a broad wave of strikes” on dozens of targets in southern Lebanon, including weapons storage facilities and missile launchers that it said belonged 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, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
- 2 March 2026 9:45 PM IST
Israeli strike kills a senior Islamic Jihad militant in Lebanon
The top commander in Lebanon of the Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, was killed at dawn Monday in 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 fighting Israel. — AP
- 2 March 2026 9:38 PM IST
Iran launches drones at a Qatari power plant
Iran has targeted a power plant in Qatar, the country’s defense ministry said. There were no casualties.
The ministry reported that Iran launched two drone attacks, one targeting a water tank at a power plant in Mesaieed, in southern Qatar, and another targeting an energy facility operated by Qatar Energy in the industrial city of Ras Laffan. — AP
- 2 March 2026 9:22 PM IST
Israel extends nationwide restrictions on public activities
The Israeli military’s Home Front Command said all schools across the country will remain closed and the ban on attending workplaces will stay 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 U.S. launched a war against Iran on Saturday. — AP
- 2 March 2026 9:08 PM IST
Etihad begins limited evacuation flights from Abu Dhabi
At least 15 Etihad flights took off from Abu Dhabi’s airport Monday to help evacuate passengers who have been stranded there.
The flights headed to a variety of destinations, including Islamabad, Paris, Amsterdam, Mumbai, Cairo and London. But regular commercial flights remained canceled.
Emirates said it would also fly limited flights beginning Monday evening, but it wasn’t immediately clear if those had begun. — AP
- 2 March 2026 9:01 PM IST
Netanyahu visits the site of deadly Iranian missile strike
Israeli Prime 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. — AP
- 2 March 2026 8:11 PM IST
US Embassy in Beirut urging Americans to leave Lebanon
The 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. — AP
- 2 March 2026 8:03 PM IST
Russia’s Putin speaks to leaders of Qatar and Bahrain
The Kremlin said that Russian President Vladimir Putin held calls with the leaders of Qatar and Bahrain, in which they voiced concern about the expanding hostilities.
In a call with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, “mutual concern was expressed about the risks of the conflict’s escalation and the danger of third countries becoming involved,” the Kremlin said. It added that the two leaders “expressed hope that Iran’s retaliatory actions will not harm civilians or civilian infrastructure in neighboring countries.”
The Kremlin’s readout described U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran as a “flagrant violation of international law that has led to grave and tragic consequences for the Iranian people.”
Speaking to Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Putin confirmed Russia’s readiness to use all available means to actively contribute to stabilizing the situation in the region. — AP
- 2 March 2026 7:56 PM IST
Hegseth says Iran operation could be shorter or longer than the 4 weeks Trump suggested
U.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 President Trump has recently suggested.
“President 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.” — AP
