Israel’s military says it has killed Iranian security chief Ali Larijani, as the U.S. and Israel continue massive airstrikes across Iran. Larijani was among the most powerful figures in the Islamic Republic and helped direct nuclear negotiations with the U.S. and other Western powers. His reported assassination comes just days after he joined senior Iranian officials in a march through central Tehran in a public act of defiance against the U.S. and Israeli war. Israel also announced it had assassinated Basij force commander Gholamreza Soleimani in a separate airstrike.

In the city of Arak, officials say a U.S.-Israeli coalition bombing killed a 3-day-old infant and his 2-year-old sister, along with their mother and grandmother. In Tehran, Iranian Red Crescent workers searched for survivors through the rubble of damaged homes after an airstrike on Monday.

Red Crescent aid worker: “This alley is totally residential. Those dear residents who got stuck here are being rescued by the aid workers. The search continues.”

Amnesty International reports an investigation found the U.S. was responsible for the attack on an Iranian school that killed about 170 people, most of them schoolgirls, on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Iran’s foreign minister says U.S.-Israeli strikes have killed over 200 children.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has announced the deployment of thousands of additional U.S. Marines and warships to the Middle East. U.S. Central Command reports at least 200 U.S. troops have been injured since the U.S. and Israel launched attacks against Iran just over two weeks ago; 13 U.S. service members have been killed.

In Israel, at least seven people were wounded Monday when a rocket launched from Lebanon struck residential buildings in the northern town of Nahariya. Elsewhere, debris from an Iranian missile fell onto the rooftop of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem, one of the holiest sites in Christianity, where tradition holds that Jesus was crucified. An Iranian missile also damaged the U.S. consulate residence building in Jerusalem, though no injuries were reported.

Iran continues to fire on Middle East countries that host U.S. military bases. Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said it intercepted nearly 100 Iranian drones in 24 hours — the largest single-day wave of attacks yet by Iran. In the United Arab Emirates, an Iranian drone triggered a huge fire at a key oil trading hub, coming just days after a similar attack triggered another fire at the site. In Iraq, an Iranian drone damaged the top floor of the Al-Rasheed Hotel in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Monday, amid reports that Iraqi air defenses shot down an Iranian missile targeting the U.S. Embassy. Meanwhile, Kuwait and Qatar reported more Iranian drone and missile attacks.

According to Goldman Sachs, if the war lasts until the end of April, the gross domestic products of Gulf states could plummet by up to 14% this year.

In Lebanon, Israeli strikes have driven more than 1 million people from their homes and killed more than 880 people. Israeli troops launched ground operations in southern Lebanon on Monday. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said southern Lebanese residents will not return to their homes until the safety of Israelis near the border was guaranteed. This is a displaced mother who fled to Beirut due to Israeli attacks.

Douaa Mroueh: “Of course, I was displaced. My house was damaged. The situation is difficult, of course. I mean, I can’t describe to you the feeling that we’re experiencing, but it’s hard, very hard. It’s hard to leave your home, hard to leave your land.”

European countries are rejecting President Trump’s call to send warships to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, despite Trump’s threat of “a very bad future” for NATO if it doesn’t help the U.S. This is Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief.

Kaja Kallas: “There was no appetite from the member states to do that. As I said, this is — nobody wants to go actively in this war. And, of course, everybody is concerned what will be the outcome.”

Australia and Japan also said they had no plans to send warships to help reopen the strait. South Korea said it was an issue that needs “very careful” deliberation, but did not commit to helping the U.S.

The New York Times reports President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is trying to raise $5 billion in additional funding for his private equity firm from Gulf Arab states, even as he serves as a top U.S. government negotiator in the Middle East. As part of the fundraising effort, Kushner’s representatives have already met with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which is headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

In Texas, Leqaa Kordia walked free from an ICE jail on Monday after more than a year in custody. Kordia was arrested during the 2024 Gaza solidarity protests at Columbia University. Those charges were dropped, but Kordia was later detained at a routine immigration check-in in New Jersey. This week an immigration judge ordered her released on a $100,000 bond. It was the third time a judge ruled in her favor, despite the government blocking her release twice. While in custody, Kordia was hospitalized following a seizure, and her legal team said her legs were chained to her bed and she was denied access to her lawyer or family. Kordia was the last person still held in detention from the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus activists.

A federal judge in Boston has blocked Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s overhaul of U.S. vaccine policy, including a January directive slashing the number of recommended childhood vaccinations from 18 to 11. Under RFK Jr., the CDC had dropped recommendations that all babies should be protected against hepatitis A, hepatitis B, RSV, dengue and two types of bacterial meningitis. U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy wrote in his ruling, “There is a method to how these decisions historically have been made — a method scientific in nature and codified into law through procedural requirements. Unfortunately, the Government has disregarded those methods and thereby undermined the integrity of its actions.” Judge Murphy also found that Kennedy violated federal law when he fired all 17 members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and replaced them with handpicked appointees who have questioned established medical research on vaccines.

In Cuba, the national electricity grid collapsed Monday, leaving millions without power as the country reels from an energy blockade imposed by President Trump. It was the third major blackout in Cuba over the past four months. This comes as The New York Times reports that the Trump administration is pushing for Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel to step down. President Trump spoke to reporters Monday about his plans for the island nation.

President Donald Trump: “I do believe I’ll be the honor of — having the honor of taking Cuba. That’d be a good honor. It’s a big honor.”

Reporter: “Taking Cuba?”

President Donald Trump: “Taking Cuba in some form, yeah. Taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it — think I can do anything I want with it, you want to know the truth.”

Later in the broadcast, we’ll go to Havana for the latest.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban government says 408 people were killed and 250 injured Monday evening after Pakistan targeted a drug treatment center in Kabul with an airstrike. Pakistan denied bombing any health facilities, but reporters who visited the wreckage of the Omar Addiction Treatment Hospital found the 2,000-bed facility on fire and in ruins, with dozens of bodies being carried out on stretchers. The U.N. reports scores of civilians have been killed since Pakistan’s defense minister last month declared “open war” on Afghanistan.

The Trump administration has approved BP’s proposed $5 billion oil drilling project in ultra-deep waters off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. BP, formerly known as British Petroleum, is the same company responsible for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Environmentalists warn the new project threatens Gulf communities, sensitive deep-sea ecosystems and imperiled marine life.

Voters in Illinois head to the polls today for primary elections that could determine the balance of power in the next Congress. Ahead of the election, AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, poured nearly $22 million into Illinois congressional races. Among AIPAC’s targets is Kat Abughazaleh, a progressive running for Illinois’s 9th District, covering parts of Chicago and its northern suburbs. Abughazaleh has condemned the war in Gaza as a genocide and has made cutting U.S. military aid to Israel a top campaign priority. She says AIPAC poured $7 million through two shell PACs to defeat her — even as a dark money group was caught paying social media influencers $1,500 each for scripted attack posts.

Meanwhile, several candidates are competing for the Senate seat of retiring Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, with a flood of super PAC spending also influencing that race.