The U.S. and Israel's attack on Iran led to commercial flights disruption on Saturday across the Middle East and beyond as regional airspaces began closing and tens of thousands of travelers around the globe were stranded.
How long will it last? Will it grow? What will it mean to us — and to global security overall? Those questions echoed across the Middle East and the planet Saturday as world leaders reacted warily to U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a recorded message released Saturday morning that the attacks will let Iranians "take their fate into their own hands" and that Israel plans the current operation to be "much more powerful" than the bruising 12-day war Israel launched against Iran in June.
President Donald Trump said in an 8-minute video posted on his Truth Social that the U.S. has begun "major combat operations in Iran." He claimed Iran has continued to develop its nuclear program and plans to develop missiles to reach U.S. and appealed to the Iranian people to "take over your government."
The strikes came two days after the latest U.S.-Iran talks as Trump had pressured Tehran for a deal to constrain its nuclear program, building up a fleet of American warships in the region.
The strikes opened a stunning new chapter in U.S. intervention in Iran, marking the second time in eight months that the Trump administration has attacked the country during talks over its nuclear program.
A major attack launched by Israel and the United States killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Donald Trump announced Saturday, confirming an assassination.
Some of the first strikes on Iran appeared to hit near the offices of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Smoke rose from the capital as part of strikes that Iranian media said occurred nationwide.
Alberto Carvalho, the superintendent of Los Angeles public schools in the nation's second-largest district, was put on paid leave Friday, two days after the FBI served search warrants at his home and the district's headquarters.
A federal judge on Friday extended an order protecting refugees in Minnesota who are lawfully in the U.S. from being arrested and deported, saying a Trump administration policy turns the "American Dream into a dystopian nightmare."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he was designating Anthropic as a supply chain risk, a move that could prevent U.S. military vendors from working with the company.
President Trump said he was unhappy with the progress of diplomacy with Iran, and indicated he might "have to" use the military. That came in contrast to a statement from the mediator of the talks, who said they are making progress and asked Trump to give it more time. But the U.S. has deployed the largest military presence in the Middle East in more than two decades. Nick Schifrin reports.
Bill Clinton became the first former president compelled to testify to members of Congress. At a closed-door session, the House Oversight Committee heard from Clinton about his connections to Jeffrey Epstein. The testimony comes a day after the committee questioned his wife, former First Lady Hillary Clinton, for more than 6 hours. Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins reports.
In our news wrap Friday, Pakistan's defense minister says his country is engaged in "open war" with Afghanistan, Israel's High Court ruled that aid groups can continue operating in the Gaza Strip and Democratic lawmakers say they are "stunned" and "deeply alarmed" following another instance of a laser being used to shoot down a drone near the U.S.-Mexico Border.
The clash between Anthropic and the U.S. government escalated with President Trump ordering every federal agency to stop using any of the AI company's products. It came after Anthropic wanted to limit how the Pentagon used one of its AI tools. William Brangham discussed more with Michael Horowitz. He previously worked in the Pentagon, where he wrote the policy on AI weapon systems.
For months, ICE has been quietly buying industrial warehouses around the country, reportedly with plans to turn them into a network of immigration detention and processing centers to hold tens of thousands of detainees. White House correspondent Liz Landers reports on how the controversy is playing out in one small Maryland community.
Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery reportedly signed an agreement on a $110 billion deal. The merger would make one of the largest media empires in the world. Paramount could now control two key movie studios, multiple streaming platforms, and two of the biggest news operations on television, CBS and CNN. Geoff Bennett discussed the implications with Roben Farzad of Full Disclosure.
David Brooks of The Atlantic and Jonathan Capehart of MS NOW join Geoff Bennett to discuss the week in politics, including the Republican and Democratic Senate primaries in Texas, the reaction to President Trump's State of the Union and the Paramount buyout of Warner Bros.