The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has entered its 12th day. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Tuesday was the most intense day of U.S. strikes on Iran. Iranian authorities say U.S. and Israeli forces have bombed nearly 10,000 civilian sites in the country and killed more than 1,300 civilians since the war began. This morning, Iran says it targeted Israel’s military intelligence agency, a naval base in Haifa and an Israeli radar system. Meanwhile, the Pentagon says that Iranian strikes across the region have so far injured 140 service members, killing seven U.S. troops. This is White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Steve Holland: “What is your current timeline for how long the war will last?”

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt: “So, look, as you know, Steve, the president and the U.S. military’s initial timeline was about four to six weeks to achieve the full objectives of Operation Epic Fury, again, to destroy their missiles and their ability to make them, destroy their navy, permanently deny them nuclear weapons forever and to, of course, weaken their evil terrorist proxies in the region.”

The Pentagon reportedly spent $5.6 billion worth of munitions during the first two days of striking Iran, according to a cost estimate shared with Congress. The Trump administration is expected to send Congress a supplemental defense budget request this week. It comes as the Trump administration is reportedly considering deploying special forces into Iran to secure its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. This is Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal: “I guess I am most concerned about the threat to American lives of potentially deploying our sons and daughters on the ground in Iran. We seem to be on a path toward deploying American troops on the ground in Iran to accomplish any of the potential objectives here.”

A New York Times analysis shows missile fragments purportedly from the site of the bombing of a girls’ school in Minab, Iran, on February 28 resemble the markings of a U.S.-made cruise missile. It adds to the mounting evidence that U.S. forces struck the girls’ school. It comes as Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi dismissed the Trump administration’s claims that Iran was planning a preemptive strike against the U.S. as “a sheer and utter lie.” On X, Araghchi wrote, “The sole purpose of that lie is to justify Operation Epic Mistake, a misadventure engineered by Israel and paid for by ordinary Americans.” This is Iran’s Ambassador to the U.N. Amir-Saeid Iravani.

Amir-Saeid Iravani: “Their intention is clear: to terrorize civilians, massacre innocent people and cause maximum destruction and suffering. The world is witnessing how a rogue and irresponsible state, together with an illegitimate regime, is targeting the Iranian schools, hospitals, residential building, infrastructure, sports hall and relief facilities. These attacks have already claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians, including women and children.”

Israel continues its attacks on Lebanon with the war expanding to central Beirut. An Israeli strike on a Ramada hotel killed at least four people. Israel claimed it was targeting commanders from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. According to the Lebanese government, Israeli strikes have killed 570 people in Lebanon, including over 80 children, while 750,000 people have been forced to flee their homes. This is Bassima Ramadan, who witnessed an Israeli strike on a building near her.

Bassima Ramadan: “We were sleeping. At around 5:30 a.m., I was asleep with my husband. My son was still awake after coming back from work. The sound was indescribable. The fear is indescribable. Enough is enough. Enough. This is a nightmare. When will it end? We can’t — we really can’t endure it anymore.”

Iran continued to fire retaliatory missiles and drones at targets across the Gulf region. Saudi Arabia says it destroyed five Iranian drones heading toward the kingdom’s Shaybah oil field. Kuwait said it downed eight drones. Off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, in the Strait of Hormuz, a projectile hit a container ship. The Dubai government says that air defenses intercepted two drones near Dubai airport, injuring four people. In Iraq, a drone hit a major U.S. diplomatic facility next to the Baghdad airport. CNN is reporting that Iran has laid a few dozen mines in the Strait of Hormuz and has the capability to place hundreds more. The U.S. military said it attacked and destroyed 16 Iranian mine-laying vessels near the strait. Since the beginning of the war, international tankers have largely avoided the Strait of Hormuz, and shipping traffic has considerably slowed.

The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has caused oil prices to surge, from less than $70 a barrel on February 27, a day before the war, to a peak of nearly $120 a barrel by Monday. Prices have now settled to about $90 a barrel. According to AAA, the average price of U.S. gasoline has shot up to $3.48 a gallon from just under $3 a week ago. The Iran war is also driving up the cost of fertilizers such as urea, ammonia and other nitrogen products that are critical for food production. The American Farm Bureau Federation sent a letter to the White House saying, “We are deeply concerned that failure to act could lead to disruptions to the food supply chain not seen since 2022 when food price inflation reached 40-year highs.”

Reuters reports U.S. oil companies Chevron and Shell are close to finalizing a deal that would become the first major oil production agreement with Venezuela since the U.S. abducted former President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. Just weeks after, Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, signed a law that opened Venezuela’s oil industry to privatization, reversing a key principle of the Chavista movement that persevered in Venezuela for more than two decades.

The artificial intelligence company Anthropic is suing the Trump administration after the Pentagon designated Anthropic as a “supply chain risk.” That’s after Anthropic refused to lift restrictions on its AI tool Claude, prohibiting the military from using it for autonomous weapons ​or domestic surveillance. It comes amid reports that the Pentagon relied on Anthropic’s Claude tool to strike a thousand targets in the first 24 hours of its attack on Iran. The Pentagon had also reportedly used Claude in the abduction of Venezuela’s former President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. Meanwhile, a senior member of OpenAI’s robotics team has resigned over the company’s new partnership with the Pentagon. Caitlin Kalinowski said she was stepping down on “principle” after OpenAI agreed to make its AI systems available inside the Pentagon.

A whistleblower complaint alleges a former worker with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, accessed two restricted databases and planned to share the highly sensitive information with a private employer. That’s according to The Washington Post, which reported the Social Security Administration’s internal watchdog is now investigating the complaint. If the allegations are confirmed, it would constitute an unprecedented breach of security protocols at the agency. The two databases included the records of over 500 million people in the U.S., living and dead. The former DOGE employee reportedly copied the data onto a personal thumb drive. This adds to the mounting reported violations by Elon Musk’s DOGE as it slashed funding for federal agencies.

Alabama’s governor has commuted the death sentence of Charles “Sonny” Burton, a 75-year-old African American man who has spent three decades on death row for a killing he did not commit. Burton was convicted for the 1991 fatal shooting of Doug Battle during a store robbery. Burton participated in the robbery but had already left when the person he was with shot and killed Battle. Republican Governor Kay Ivey’s decision came two days before Burton was scheduled to be executed using nitrogen gas. The daughter of the victim, Tori Battle, had joined calls to commute Burton’s death sentence, writing in an op-ed for the Montgomery Adviser, “My love for my father does not require another death, especially one that defies reason.” Burton uses a wheelchair due to his painful arthritis. He will now serve a life sentence without parole. Governor Ivey has presided over at least 25 executions in Alabama.

Staff members at Columbia University and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital were discouraged from reporting abuse committed by convicted gynecologist Dr. Robert Hadden, who sexually assaulted hundreds of women over the span of more than 20 years while employed at both institutions. A new independent report blames the systemic abuses on Columbia’s culture of silence as the university protected Hadden even after he was accused of assaulting a patient in 2012 and arrested. The external investigation says Hadden used his prestigious position to prey on women. Hadden was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2023. A statement from the survivors of Hadden’s abuse said, “Survivors and the public at large have spent more than a decade rightfully demanding the truth about what happened at Columbia. We are still waiting.” Click here to see our coverage of this case and interviews with survivors.

The Justice Department has reached a major settlement with Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, avoiding a breakup of the world’s largest live entertainment company. The Justice Department had accused Live Nation of operating an illegal monopoly on the concert business. According to the terms of the settlement, Live Nation agreed to change how it makes ticketing deals with venues and would also pay up to $280 million in damages. Dozens of states have vowed to continue legal action against Live Nation. New York Attorney General Letitia James said, “We will keep fighting this case without the federal government so that we can secure justice for all those harmed by Live Nation’s monopoly.”

In Oregon, a federal judge is continuing to restrict federal agents from using tear gas on protests outside an ICE building in Portland. The preliminary injunction comes as part of a lawsuit filed by the ACLU, and testimony by several protesters, including a married couple in their eighties, and freelance journalists, who described having chemical or projectile munitions used against them. Video footage cited in court reportedly showed masked DHS officers discharging tear gas and firing pepper-ball munitions into crowds of peaceful protesters. U.S. District Judge Michael Simon described the aggressive tactics on nonviolent demonstrators as “objectively chilling.”

Chilean LGBTQ and women’s rights activists are gearing up for the inauguration of José Antonio Kast today, the most right-wing president elected in Chile since the U.S.-backed Pinochet military dictatorship. Kast advocates for a total abortion ban in Chile and, as a congressman, voted against the right to a divorce in 2004. Kast is an unapologetic supporter of Pinochet. Kast’s party has announced plans to repeal Chile’s current abortion law, which allows the procedure in cases of rape.