Iran’s ‘potential new leadership’ open to US talks, Trump is ‘eventually’ willing, AP source says

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Edited By BRIDGET BROWN, LORIAN BELANGER, RICARDO BENASSI, and HRVOJE HRANJSKI
Updated 10:26 AM PST, March 1, 2026

A senior White House official says that “new potential leadership” in Iran has suggested they are open to talks with the United States after U.S. and Israeli forces launched a major attack on Iran, killing its supreme leader and other high-ranking officials.

Bombing Iran Is Easy. What Comes Next Is Not.

It comes down to a straightforward question: What’s the plan to translate military force into political change?

Mark Hertling

Feb 28, 2026

(Composite by Hannah Yoest,

Photos: GettyImages/ Shutterstock)

US-Israel war on Iran: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei confirmed dead by state media; Iran launches fresh strikes – latest reports

U.S. President says Khamenei’s death is ‘justice for the people of Iran’ as he repeats call for regime change; Iran targets US bases in region

• Full report: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei killed

• A visual guide to the US-Israeli strikes on Iran – and Tehran’s response

• War on Iran: how the U S-Israeli bid for regime change unfolded

Rebecca Ratcliffe

Sun 1 Mar 2026 05.53 GMT

Thousands of people have gathered in central Tehran to mourn the death of Khamenei, who had ruled Iran since 1989. Mourners, who were dressed in black and carried photos of the former leader, chanted “death to America” and “death to Israel”.

Expert Reveals Possible Cell Phone Mistake By Nancy Guthrie's Kidnapper That Could Help Crack The Case

Favour Adegoke
Sat, February 28, 2026
Key takeaways

• Authorities are considering analyzing cell phone tower data to help identify and track the suspect in Nancy Guthrie's abduction.
• Despite emerging evidence, including footage of a suspect, no arrests have been made in the nearly month-long search for Nancy Guthrie's kidnapper.
• Investigators are planning to use genetic genealogy as a last resort to match a DNA sample with a person in the search for Nancy Guthrie, after recent DNA testing yielded no matches in the FBI's database.

Trump’s war on Iran threatens to drive up oil prices and inflation

U.S. and Israeli strikes against the Iranian regime and military threaten to upend the global oil market and send shock waves through the world economy

Story by Costas Paris, Rebecca Feng, Georgi Kantchev

© Associated Press

The government of Qatar, one of the world’s biggest exporters of liquefied natural gas, urged shipowners to suspend maritime activities. Dozens of tankers diverted from the Persian Gulf in the early hours of the conflict. The U.S. Navy advised tanker companies to avoid nearby waters because it couldn’t guarantee their safety, according to an alert from an industry body.

Chaos and Uncertainty Reign in Iran Following Trump’s Announcement of Khamenei's Death

The Greek Courier

February 28, 2026

Donald Trump announced via Truth Social that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been killed in US-Israeli strikes on Tehran. As often happens in these situations, the aggressor labeled his opponent "one of the most evil people in history" and declared his death a form of "justice" for "the people of Iran," as well as for Americans and others worldwide affected by Khamenei's actions. A senior Iranian diplomat reported that he was 'not in a position' to confirm the status of Iran's senior leadership; however, some Iranians are celebrating amidst the uncertainty surrounding their immediate future.

Trump vies for Bush’s crown for worst foreign policy decision in history

US-Israel war on Iran

The US president upended half a century of US foreign policy in an eight-minute video with another attempt at Middle Eastern regime change

How the world has reacted to US-Israeli strikes on Iran

4 hours ago
Tom McArthur

American and Israeli forces have carried out strikes on cities across Iran, in what US President Donald Trump has described as "major combat operations".

US-Israeli strike on girls' school kills at least 85 students, Iran's judiciary says

At least 85 students have been killed in US-Israeli strikes that hit an Iranian girls' school in Hormozgan province, Iran's judiciary said on Saturday. Washington has not commented on the reported strike.

Issued on: 28/02/2026 
By: FRANCE 24

US-Israeli air strikes killed at least 85 people at a girls’ school in southern Iran, Iran's judiciary said. The state-run IRNA news agency reported the strike happened in Minab in Iran’s Hormozgan province. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has a base in the city. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reported strike.

Reuters: Netanyahu says there are signs Khamenei dead, calls on Iranians to 'finish the job'

By Phil Stewart, Parisa Hafezi, Emily Rose and Andrew Mills

February 27, 2026 11:37 PM PST

Updated 7 mins ago

Summary

• U.S. and Israel attack Iran
• Explosions cause panic among Iranians
• No breakthrough this week in US-Iran nuclear talks
• Iran's supreme leader moved to a secure location
• Gulf Arab oil producers are on edge

WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM/DUBAI/DOHA, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested on Saturday that Israel and the United States had killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and called on Iranians to "take to the streets and finish the job."

US and Israel attack Iran as Tehran retaliates across Middle East

US President Donald Trump called for regime change in Tehran, telling Iranians to “take over your government.”

Updated 1:03 PM EST, Sat February 28, 2026

CNN’s Oren Liebermann, Eugenia Yosef, Tal Shalev, Brad Lendon, Jeremy Diamond, Kevin Liptak, Haley Britzky, Zachary Cohen, Kevin Liptak, Alayna Treene, Oren Liebermann, Mostafa Salem, Adam Pourahmadi, Riane Lumer, Eyad Kourdi, Tim Lister, Kaitlan Collins, Abbas Al Lawati, Samantha Waldenberg, Jeremy Diamond, Jomana Karadsheh, Catherine Nicholls, Jim Sciutto contributed reporting.

SEE no Evil, HEAR no Evil, DID no Evil, said the Clintons about Epstein

The Greek Courier

Published: 02/27/2026

Source: Maya Kaufman, Gelila Negesse, and Hailey Fuchs, POLITICO

During two days of depositions with Bill and Hillary Clinton, House Democrats and Republicans emerged with starkly contrasting narratives regarding their investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Democrats say the depositions pave the way for slapping Trump with a subpoena. Republicans say they point to his exoneration.

Live Updates: U.S. Attacks Iran as Trump Calls for Overthrowing Government

Explosions were reported in Tehran as President Trump said in an eight-minute video that the U.S. had begun a large assault. Israel also said it was attacking Iran.

Updated Feb. 28, 2026,

22 minutes ago
Aaron Boxerman, Tyler Pager, 

Farnaz Fassihi, and Ronen Bergman

Here’s the latest.

President Trump announced on Saturday that the United States had launched a major attack on Iran as he vowed to devastate the country’s military, eliminate its nuclear program and bring about a change in its government. 

OpenAI strikes deal with Pentagon, hours after rival Anthropic was blacklisted by Trump

Ashley Capoot

AI Age
Published Fri, Feb 27 2026

11:05 PM EST Updated 4 Hours Ago

Key Points

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on X that his company has come to terms with the Defense Department for use of its models “in their classified network.”
• The post landed hours after rival Anthropic was shut out by the Trump administration.

BREAKING NEWS: US and Israel launch "pre-emptive" attack against Iran

February 27, 2026

10:34 PM PST / Updated 29 mins ago

Feb 28 (Reuters) - Israel said it launched a pre-emptive attack against Iran on Saturday, pushing the Middle East into a renewed military confrontation and further dimming hopes for a diplomatic solution to Tehran's long-running nuclear dispute with the West.

Longtime CBS News Producer Cites Claims of Aiming Reporting Towards “Particular Part of the Political Spectrum” in Exit Memo

BY MCKINLEY FRANKLIN

FEBRUARY 27, 2026

Mary Walsh joined the news network in September 1982, with her departure arriving a day after Netflix backed out of the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery, that was ultimately won by Paramount.

Donald Trump goes nuclear on Anthropic

Business | Pentageddon
Silicon Valley will be caught in the fallout
Feb 28th 2026 

Los Angeles

4 min read

SINCE PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP returned to power in 2025, he has courted a cadre of Silicon Valley billionaires, with one big exception. The White House has long had Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, an artificial-intelligence (AI) lab, in its crosshairs. On February 27th Mr Trump unleashed the full force of his government against Anthropic in a sharply escalating row over the use of AI in war. The implications could seriously damage one of America’s leading AI pioneers. But the fallout may spread beyond Anthropic to Silicon Valley at large.

'Bomb and hope’ is not a strategy

Opinion

Fareed Zakaria

Today at 3:30 a.m. PT

If Iran’s regime must go, Trump will own what follows. 

And it’s not likely to be pretty.

In his 1-hour, 47-minute State of the Union address, President Donald Trump spent three minutes on Iran. This is alarming because the United States seems on the verge of a war with that country, with little public discussion about it. The Trump administration has assembled the largest U.S. military force in the region since the Iraq War, deploying two carrier strike groups and at least 150 aircraft nearby. There are up to 40,000 American troops in the region. And yet the core of any successful military operation remains unclear and undefined — what is the objective?