Top U.S. & World Headlines — March 3, 2026

AMY GOODMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL NEWS ANCHOR, THE WARREN PIECE REPORT, IS AVAILABLE ON THE WEB. Welcome to Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. Iran's state broadcaster says U.S. and Israeli attacks have killed 787 people since President Trump joined Prime Minister Netanyahu in a massive bombing campaign, striking 153 cities

and more than 500 sites across Iran since Saturday. Much of the violence is directed at Iran's capital, Tehran, where thunderous explosions rang out for a third night in a row. And into the daylight hours, residents woke to scenes of widespread destruction, with city streets littered with debris from collapsed buildings. One attack hit Nullarfar Square in eastern Tehran, flattening buildings and killing over

20 people. Dropsite News reports two explosions hit the area, a smaller strike followed by a larger double-tap attack that devastated much of the neighborhood. On Monday, mourners in the southern city of Manab held a mass funeral Monday for 165 schoolgirls and staff killed Saturday, on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli strikes, when a missile hit a girls' school. Meanwhile, red alert sirens have been activated across much of Israel, with the Israeli military

reporting missile interceptions over West Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Eilat. On Monday, Ali Larijani, the secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, warned, quote, "'Iran, unlike the United States, has prepared itself for a long war,' he said. Iran's nuclear agency says there's been no leakage of radiological materials after a strike on its Natanz nuclear facility by the U.S.-Israeli coalition. Officials said the strike damaged the entrance to the site in Isfahan province, but there

were no signs of increased radiation. On Monday, Rafael Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency said he'd seen no indication that Iran's nuclear facilities have been damaged during the latest U.S.-Israeli strikes.

We haven't seen major military activity targeting the nuclear facilities. We have been looking at different satellite images. There might be something there, but not significant or comparable in any way to what we saw last

time.

Global energy prices are climbing, and Iran's continued attacks on oil and gas infrastructure across the Gulf. On Monday, a commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps declared the Strait of Hormuz closed, saying any ships attempting to cross the narrow shipping channel will be set afire. About a fifth of all oil consumed worldwide passes through the Strait each day. At least three oil tankers have been struck so far.

Qatar's state-owned fossil fuel company suspended all liquefied natural gas production after two of its facilities were hit. That followed a drone attack that halted operations at Saudi Arabia's largest domestic oil refinery. Oil production has also halted in Iraqi Kurdistan and in the Tamar gas field in the Mediterranean Sea off Israel's coast. Saudi authorities say two Iranian drones hit the U.S. embassy in Riyadh, causing what they

described as a limited fire and minor damage. The strikes came after the U.S. State Department urged Americans in 14 Mideast countries to leave. Meanwhile, Middle East Eye reports the Trump administration's stonewalling requests by some Gulf states to replenish their supplies of air defense interceptor missiles, which typically cost about $4 million

each, amidst reports that even the Pentagon may run low on interceptors in a matter of weeks. Iran's been launching $20,000 one-way attack drones at Gulf nations hosting U.S. military bases, with about 10 percent of the drones slipping past defenses. Israeli soldiers have invaded parts of southern Lebanon, and Israel's largest escalation of fighting there since it signed a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah in late 2024.

Israeli airstrikes have hit the capital, Beirut, for a second consecutive day, targeting residential neighborhoods. They also struck Lebanon's Bekaa Valley and the southern suburbs of Beirut. The Lebanese health ministry says the death toll from the attacks has climbed to 51, with 154 people injured. Meanwhile, Hezbollah claimed an attack on an airbase in northern Israel.

In the Gaza Strip, the World Food Program says a border crossing pivotal to providing food and supplies to Palestinians is reopening after Israel closed Gaza's borders on Saturday as it began its attacks on Iran. Despite the reopening of the Karam Shalom crossing, human rights and aid groups have accused Israel of reinstating a starvation policy in Gaza. Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the U.N. Agency for Palestinian Refugees, wrote, quote,

"'After more than two years of unspeakable suffering and a spreading man-made famine, people still lack the most basic supplies despite increases in aid since the ceasefire,' Lazzarini said. President Trump made his first public remarks Monday since unilaterally bringing the United States into a war with Iran. Trump spoke from a White House ceremony, where he awarded the Medal of Honor to three Army

soldiers, even as the Pentagon said the U.S. military death toll from what it's calling Operation Epic Fury had risen to six. Trump dedicated a few moments to honor the service members who died before launching into a lengthy monologue about his renovations to the White House, including his plans to build a new ballroom.

I picked those drapes in my first term. I always like gold. But I think we can save a lot of money. I just saved—I just saved curtains. But—and it will be. It will be spectacular.

It will be the most beautiful ballroom. I believe it's because I built many a ballroom. I believe it's going to be the most beautiful ballroom anywhere in the world.

On Capitol Hill, Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined top generals and intelligence officials in a classified briefing for select members of Congress Monday. After the closed-door briefing, Rubio told reporters the president had opted to join Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned war on Iran, rather than trying to stop the Israeli assault, or even to avoid getting involved.

President made the very wise decision. We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces. And we knew that if we didn't preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.

Meanwhile, MSNOW is reporting that when FBI Director Kash Patel fired a dozen FBI personnel last week because they were part of the investigation into Donald Trump's mishandling of classified documents, Patel targeted an elite counterespionage unit that investigates threats from foreign adversaries and specializes in Iran. The U.S. military may have used artificial intelligence tools made by tech company Anthropic to aid in its deadly air attack on Iran.

The Wall Street Journal and Axios reported the Trump administration's decision came despite Anthropic's announcement last week rejecting the use of its Claude AI model from being used for mass domestic surveillance or in fully autonomous weapons systems. The Journal reported U.S. military officials use the AI tools for intelligence purposes and to help select targets. On Friday, President Trump ordered all federal agencies to stop using Claude denouncing Anthropic as a, quote,

radical left AI company, unquote, after Anthropic refused to concede to a Pentagon ultimatum Friday for full access to its AI tools. On Capitol Hill, calls are growing for lawmakers to regulate online betting platforms known as prediction markets amidst allegations of insider trading that includes profiteering from U.S. military strikes. Bloomberg reports $529 million was traded on contracts tied to the timing of the strikes on the Polly Market prediction market.

One Polly Market account, called MAGA MyMan, made more than a half-million dollars betting on the U.S. attack on Iran, with the first trade placed just over an hour before the news broke publicly. This echoes similar bets on the U.S. military operation Venezuela placed on PolyMarket and other prediction markets, including Calxi. Donald Trump Jr. sits on PolyMarket's advisory board, and his venture capital firm has invested

tens of millions of dollars in the company. Both the Justice Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ended active investigations into PolyMarket after Trump returned to the White House last year. In Texas, voters are taken to the polls today for a closely watched Democratic primary between Congressmember Jasmine Crockett and State Representative James Tallarico, who are vying for a highly contested Senate seat in a heated midterm election that could determine which

political party will control Congress during Trump's final two years in office. Incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn, who's served in the Senate for over two decades, is facing off against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the GOP primary. Both are Trump supporters. Crockett is a progressive who staunchly denounced Trump's policies, while her opponent, Talarico, has appealed to Republican voters and put his Christian faith at the center of his campaign.

In Minnesota, the Justice Department has indicted another 30 people on federal crimes for participating in a peaceful protest in January at a St. Paul church, where one of the pastors worked for ICE. Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed over two dozen people have been arrested. The new indictments come about a month after independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort and prominent civil rights activist and attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong were also charged

for what the attorney general called their roles in the protest at City's church. They were covering it. In related news, a federal judge has summoned Minnesota's U.S. attorney Daniel Rosen and several ICE officials to appear in a St. Paul court today over violations in immigration cases. The officials are facing civil and criminal contempt charges for repeatedly ignoring court

orders, including refusing to return belongings, such as cell phones, cash and passports, to immigrants who are released from detention. This comes as a separate federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to bring back a wrongfully deported immigrant to the United States. Emilia Peña Jiménez was sent to Mexico despite two court orders mandating his release from detention in Minnesota.

A court filing said Jiménez may have been denied access to a lawyer before being forced to sign removal documents that were not translated into Spanish. His case is among hundreds of complaints that have been filed in Minnesota courts. And prominent Iraqi human rights defender and feminist advocate, Yonar Mohammed, was killed in an armed attack on her home in Baghdad on Monday. Yonar had reportedly returned to Iraq from Canada a few days before her murder by two

unidentified gunmen, who opened fire as she stood outside her home. Inar Mohamed was the co-founder and president of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq. In 2003, she founded the first women's shelter in Iraq to protect women from trafficking and so-called honor killings, becoming the target of death threats over her activism.

She was a frequent guest on Democracy Now! Following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, we spoke to her in 2022, when over two dozen people were killed in Baghdad after armed supporters of the powerful Iraqi cleric Maqdada al-Sadr clashed with government forces.

And the strange thing is that those who started the demonstration that led to the clashes, to the killing and to the bombing around the city, nobody dares to challenge them or to speak any bad word against them. It's as if I'm living the days of Saddam Hussein all over again, where everybody is scared of a single person and nobody dares to say anything.

It's a terrible situation. Inar Mohamed was killed yesterday. To see all our interviews with her, go to democracynow.org. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman in New York, joined by Juan González in Chicago.

Hi, Juan.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ, J.D.

FOREIGN MINISTER OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMorted journalism, go to democracynow.org, where you can download our news app, sign up for our newsletter, subscribe to the Daily Podcast and so much our news app, sign up for our newsletter, subscribe to the Daily Podcast and so much

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