Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi:

Killing Khamenei was a “religious crime” that will have serious consequences.

U.S. military says it has struck over 1,250 targets in Iran since start of operation on Saturday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi:

Tehran is not in war with regional countries.

BREAKING: The Strait of Hormuz has been closed, and any ship attempting to pass through could be targeted, an adviser to the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said.

Kuwait has announced the death of another soldier.

IRGC Advisor Brigadier General Sardar Ebrahim Jabbari:

Strait of Hormuz is closed. Anyone who wants to pass, our self-sacrificing heroes in the IRGC Navy and the Army will set those ships on fire. Don't come to this region.

The price of oil has reached 82 dollars and surely the world is waiting for it to reach at least 200 dollars.

IRGC Advisor Brigadier General Sardar Ebrahim Jabbari:

We will also hit their pipelines in the region and we will not allow oil to be exported from this region so that they are in a tight spot.

Hegseth:

History doesn’t care if we are tired, scared, or if the fight feels big; it demands warriors who rise anyway.

IRGC Advisor Brigadier General Sardar Ebrahim Jabbari:

The Americans have thousands of billions of dollars in debt. They are thirsty for the region's oil.

Not a single drop of oil will be poured down your throat. Know this.

Hegseth:

We are not defenders anymore; we are warriors, trained to kill the enemy and break their will.

Zelensky:

The Middle East has close economic relations with the Russian Federation and has influence.

If they give a signal to Russia regarding a ceasefire, for example, for some time — a month, a term of two months — we can then send and protect the civilian population, send our specialists.

Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi:

In the past, we have repeatedly warned regional countries that if America enters a war with us, it cannot remain limited to just us and America; it will involve the whole region.

Not because we want to regionalize it, but because American bases and facilities are spread across our region.

From our point of view, those bases are legitimate targets—because they belong to the country attacking us, even if they claim they are not being used against Iran.

America is targeting parts of our country every day—hospitals and schools. More than 160 innocent schoolgirls were killed by American bombs and missiles.

And we’re told we shouldn’t strike their regional bases just because a specific base didn’t participate?

What kind of talk is this?

NEW: The U.S. Embassy in Jordan says all staff have temporarily left the embassy compound due to a threat.

Zelensky on Iran:

It is no coincidence that Moscow and the regime in Iran were so close. What unites them is their lack of respect for people.

And all of us in Europe and around the world must be effective in defending against such regimes — we must be effective so that life prevails.

Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi:

From our perspective, the war is not a regional one. It is a war between Iran and America that has unfortunately spread throughout the region.

We have no war with the countries in the region, except for the Zionist regime.

But unfortunately, American forces are spread across different countries in the region, and we are forced to counter them.

This confrontation of ours is with America.

Tucker Carlson was one of the only figures urging Trump not to strike Iran. In three Oval Office meetings, he warned that war would risk American lives, raise energy prices, and destabilize the region. He argued the U.S. was being pulled in by Israel and urged Trump to resist that pressure.

Trump said he understood the dangers but felt he couldn’t stay out if Israel attacked.

Source: NYT

Almost no one in Trump’s inner circle opposed military action. Even JD Vance, typically skeptical of foreign wars, said that if the U.S. struck Iran, it should “go big and go fast.”

During the same meeting, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine warned that war could cause significant U.S. casualties. But days later, Trump publicly suggested Caine had been reassuring, saying any action would be “easily won.”

In briefings to Congress, officials were also less than fully transparent. At a Feb. 24 meeting with the Gang of Eight, Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not mention that the administration was considering regime change.

Source: NYT

NOW: Air raid sirens sounding in Aqaba, Jordan.

Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi:

We entered the negotiations to prove to the whole world that their intention was to attack the Islamic Republic of Iran; their intention was hostile.

And they could not claim that we requested negotiations and the Islamic Republic did not accept.

We also negotiated so that it would be clear that the truth was with us, so that ultimate proof would be established for the whole world.

Our own people would also understand that it wasn't the Islamic Republic that caused the war by refraining from negotiations.

Because there was a question: if we hadn't negotiated and a war had broken out, everyone might have thought to themselves that if we had negotiated, the war wouldn't have happened.

Rubio on Iran:

They are producing, by some estimates, over 100 of these missiles a month. Compare that to the six or seven interceptors that can be built a month.

Rubio on Iran:

That entire regime is led by radical clerics who don’t make geopolitical decisions.

They make decisions on the basis of theology — their view of theology, which is an apocalyptic one.