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ABC News

Mojtaba Khamenei chosen as Iran's next supreme leader, Iranian state media reports

PHOTO: Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Iran's slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is seen in Tehran, October 30, 2024.
3:05
AFP via Getty Images
US strikes in Iran aim to protect vital shipping route
By David Brennan, Jon Haworth, Kevin Shalvey, Leah Sarnoff, Meredith Deliso, Nadine El-Bawab, Bill Hutchinson
Last Updated: March 9, 2026, 8:06 AM

President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israel strikes attack targeting military and government sites, officials said.

Iranian state television confirmed that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was among those killed by airstrikes in Tehran on the first day of strikes. His successor is yet to be named.

Iran is responding to the operation with missile and drone attacks targeting Israel, regional U.S. bases and multiple Gulf nations. Israel is also intensifying its long-running strike campaign against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.

(Read previous Iran live updates here.)

Watch special coverage on Nightline, "War with Iran," each night on ABC and streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.

Key Headlines

  • Iran’s near-total internet blackout continues, tracker says
  • Israel warns of strikes in Beirut's southern suburbs
  • Israel says its working to intercept Iranian missiles
  • Iranian missiles, drones targeting UAE, ministry says
  • US orders evacuation of non-emergency government employees from Saudi Arabia
  • More missile and drone attacks reported in the region
Here's how the news is developing.

Mar 09, 2026 8:06 AM

Iran’s near-total internet blackout continues, tracker says

A near-total internet blackout in Iran entered its 10th day on Monday, with connectivity at about 1% of its normal level, according to NetBlocks, a web tracker.

"As regional hostilities intensify, some 90 million Iranians are silenced and cut off from the global internet under a state-imposed shutdown," the tracker said on social media on Monday.

⚠️ Update: #Iran's internet blackout has entered its tenth day with connectivity at 1% of ordinary levels after the 216th hour.As regional hostilities intensify, some 90 million Iranians are silenced and cut off from the global internet under a state-imposed shutdown. pic.twitter.com/FNrSKvqBBP

— NetBlocks (@netblocks) March 9, 2026


Mar 09, 2026 7:34 AM

Israel warns of strikes in Beirut's southern suburbs

The Israeli military said it would "operate with force" on Monday against what it described as Hezbollah-related targets in Beirut's southern suburbs, saying it was issuing a warning for residents in the area to evacuate.

PHOTO: Smoke plumes rise from the site of an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs on March 9, 2026.
Fadel Itani/AFP via Getty Images
Smoke plumes rise from the site of an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs on March 9, 2026.
Fadel Itani/AFP via Getty Images

"In the coming hours, the Israel Defense Forces will operate with force against the terrorist infrastructure of Al-Qard al-Hasan Association, which constitutes a central element in financing Hezbollah's terrorist activities and harms the Lebanese economy in service of Iranian interests," Avichay Adraee, a spokesperson for the Isreal Defense Forces, said in Arabic on social media.


Mar 09, 2026 6:39 AM

Israel says its working to intercept Iranian missiles

Iran on Monday launched missiles toward Israel, which the country’s defenses were working to intercept, the Israel Defense Forces said.

PHOTO: Rocket trails are seen in the sky above the Israeli center coastal city of Netanya amid a fresh barrage of Iranian missile attacks on March 9, 2026.
Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images
Rocket trails are seen in the sky above the Israeli center coastal city of Netanya amid a fresh barrage of Iranian missile attacks on March 9, 2026.
Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

"The IDF has identified that missiles were launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel a short while ago," the IDF said. "Defense systems are operating to intercept the threat."



Mar 09, 2026 6:13 AM

Iranian missiles, drones targeting UAE, ministry says

Iranian missiles and drones were targeting the United Arab Emirates on Monday, the country’s Ministry of Defense said.

"UAE air defences are currently responding to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran," the ministry said on social media. "MOD asserts that the sounds heard are the result of the Air Defence."


Mar 07, 2026 12:07 PM

Dozens killed in rare Israeli raid on eastern Lebanon overnight, Lebanese officials say

At least 26 people were killed in an Israeli raid on the town of Nabi Chit in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley late Friday into early Saturday, according to the official news agency of the Lebanese government, the National News Agency (NNA).

The NNA reports that "an Israeli commando unit" arrived in Lebanon's eastern mountains via four Apache helicopters and "infiltrated under the cover of darkness towards" a family cemetery in the eastern part of Nabi Chit.

"After being spotted by resistance fighters and local residents, clashes ensued with the commandos using light and medium weapons," the agency said in a statement. "The confrontation resulted in 26 martyrs, including three Lebanese Army soldiers, one member of the General Security Directorate, 15 residents of Nabi Chit, nine residents of Khraibeh, one resident of Sar'in, and one resident of Ali al-Nahri. As usual, the enemy concealed its casualties."

Earlier Saturday, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said the preliminary toll from an Israeli raid on Nabi Chit overnight was at least 16 citizens killed and 35 others wounded, according to NNA.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement later Saturday that its special forces had operated in Lebanon overnight in an attempt to locate the body of missing Israeli Air Force pilot Ron Arad, who disappeared during a mission over Lebanon in 1986. The IDF said no injuries on their side were reported and that no findings related to Arad were located at the search site, without specifying exactly where in Lebanon.

"The IDF will continue to operate relentlessly, day and night, out of a deep commitment to bringing all of Israel’s sons, the fallen and the missing, back home to the State of Israel," the IDF added in its statement.

Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said in a statement Saturday that its fighters had detected four Israeli army helicopters coming from the direction of Syria that "proceeded to drop an infantry force" in Lebanon's eastern mountain range. The Israeli ground troops advanced toward Nabi Chit's eastern Al-Shukr neighborhood and clashed with Hezbollah fighters when they reached the cemetery, according to the group.

"The clash escalated after the enemy force was exposed, where the enemy resorted to launching intensive fire barrages involving about 40 raids, using warplanes and helicopters to secure the withdrawal of the force from the clash area," Hezbollah said in the statement.

Video from the scene in Nabi Chit shows destroyed buildings and streets next to a giant crater in the ground.

The Israeli military routinely launches aerial attacks across southern Lebanon and has sent in ground troops, and in recent days has bombarded the Lebanese capital of Beirut as well as its southern suburbs; but it's rare for them to carry out such operations further north or east. The last known such infiltration was in November 2024 when an Israeli naval commando unit captured a man whom they described as a "prominent Hezbollah element" in the northwestern Lebanese port city of Batroun.

-ABC News' Nasser Atta, Ghazi Balkiz, Dorit Long and Morgan Winsor


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