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Donald Trump says Iran’s interim leaders have called for talks as the human toll of the escalating conflict mounts
Holly Evans Sunday 01 March 2026 22:57 GMT- Bookmark
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Close popoverExplosion rocks Iran’s capital as Israel says it's targeting Tehran after strikes kill Khamenei
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Three American troops have been killed and five others seriously wounded during the attacks on Iran, the US military said on Sunday, as Iran ramped up its retaliation campaign across the Middle East. US Central Command did not say when and where the deaths occurred.
Tehran launched ballistic missiles and drones towards Israel and across the Persian Gulf on Sunday, striking US bases in Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE, as well as targeting a US aircraft carrier.
Israel and the US also unleashed fresh strikes, with blasts heard across the capital city, and former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad among those killed.
Donald Trump suggested the conflict with Iran could go on for the next four weeks, according to the Daily Mail. "It's always been a four-week process,” he said. “We figured it will be four weeks or so. It's always been about a four-week process so - as strong as it is, it's a big country, it'll take four weeks - or less.”
Trump warned the US would hit Iran “with a force that has never been seen before” if it tried to avenge the assassination of their supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during Saturday’s strikes.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to intensify strikes on Iran, saying its forces were “striking in the heart of Tehran” and warning “this will only increase in the coming days”.
open image in galleryRescue workers survey the scene of a hit from an Iranian missile in Tel Aviv (AP)But later, the US president said Iran's interim leadership had called for talks, and said he had agreed. He told Atlantic magazine from his Mar-a-lago mansion in Florida: “So I will be talking to them. They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long.”
The offer of talks came shortly after US Central Command confirmed that three service members had been killed as part of Operation Epic Fury – the codename for the offensive against Iran – while five others were seriously wounded and several others sustained minor injuries and concussions.
The deaths are the first combat-related fatalities of US military personnel in major operations ordered by Mr Trump since he returned to the White House last year.
Meanwhile, in a late statement on Sunday evening, UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said he has accepted a US request to use British bases for defensive strikes against Iranian missiles in storage depots or launchers.
"The United States has requested permission to use British bases for that specific and limited defensive purpose. We have taken the decision to accept this request to prevent Iran firing missiles across the region," he said in a video message on X.
In another dramatic day:
- Trump said 48 leaders of Iran’s regime have been killed in Israeli strikes
- The Iranian Red Crescent Society and official state-linked media said on Saturday 201 people had been killed and at least 747 injured. The death toll is reported to have since grown.
- At least 165 were killed in a strike on a girls’ primary school in southern Iran, authorities said
- Keir Starmer expressed “solidarity” with the leaders of several Middle Eastern countries “in the face of dangerous Iranian escalation”
- It was revealed that Iranian missiles and drones had landed within “a few hundred yards” of British troops at a base in Bahrain
- Three people have been killed in the UAE, including one at the Zayed International airport in Abu Dhabi, after it was targeted with an Iranian projectile
- Holidaymakers in Dubai and Doha have been forced to shelter inside their hotels as the barrage of Iranian missiles continued
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it had carried out further airstrikes in the Iranian capital to “establish aerial superiority and pave the path to Tehran”, as well as dismantling the majority of defence systems in western and central Iran.
open image in gallerySmoke and flames rising from Dubai's landmark The Palm archipelago (UGC)Concern is also mounting about the security of the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping lane for the global economy off Iran’s southern coast. Iran has said it has closed navigation through the critical waterway.
At least three tankers were damaged off the Gulf coast and one seafarer was killed, according to shipping sources and officials on Sunday. Major container shipping lines have rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope.
where two vessels are reported to have been struck by “unknown projectiles” on Sunday.
The UK has played no part in the US-Israeli strikes, but defence secretary John Healey warned on Sunday that Iranian retaliation could put UK personnel and allies at risk.
British aircraft have been deployed on defensive operations, flying from Cyprus and Qatar and “taking down” drones and missiles “menacing” UK bases and allies, Mr Healey added. He also confirmed to Times Radio that a British “counter-drone team” in northern Iraq had shot down Iranian drones.
He said “few people” would mourn the Ayatollah, but repeatedly declined to say whether the UK backed the US-Israeli strikes that killed him, or if the UK believed they were legal, when asked six times by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.
open image in galleryJohn Healey said missiles landed within a few hundred yards on UK troops in Bahrain (PA)He said: “Britain played no part in the strikes on Iran. We share, however, the primary aim of all allies in the region and the US that Iran should never have a nuclear weapon.”
In Dubai, home to more than 240,000 British expats, the blasts from Iranian missiles continued to cause uncertainty and fear after two hotels were hit overnight.
JS Anand, founder and CEO LEVA hotels, which has a flagship hotel in Dubai, told The Independent: “It caused a lot of panic, uncertainty, and there was an emergency message that came out in the night.
“It said there was a barrage of missiles coming in, everyone came to the lobby and basement, worried about what was going to happen, so we had to take care of them. Most of them have extended their stay because there are no flights and no certainty on when the airspace is going to open up.”
Flights across the region continue to be disrupted, causing travel chaos for thousands of travellers unable to leave. Airspace over Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Israel, Bahrain, the UAE and Qatar remained virtually empty, maps by Flightradar24 showed on Sunday, and three major airlines – Etihad, Qatar and Emirates – have grounded all flights to the region until at least Monday.
open image in galleryEmirates planes have been grounded at Dubai’s airport, a major transit hub in the Middle East (AP)In attacks elsewhere in the region, Kuwait's Ministry of Health said one person had been killed, and 20 people wounded in retaliatory attacks by Iran, while American citizens in Oman have been warned to take shelter after missiles were launched there.
Mr Trump announced on Sunday that the US military was sinking Iran's Navy, having destroyed nine Iranian warships so far and "going after the rest". While Iran's Revolutionary Guards said it had launched an attack on the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln with four ballistic missiles, state media reported. US Central Command said the ship was not hit and that Iran's missiles “didn't come close”.
In Israel, nine people were killed by a missile strike in the town of Beit Shemesh, its ambulance service said, after sirens sounded overnight on Saturday.
Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said many targets within Iran remained, including sites of military-industrial production. “We have the capabilities and the targets to keep going on for as long as necessary,” he said.
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