The Latest: Hegseth had an unsecured internet line in his office for Signal, AP sources say

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had an internet connection that bypassed the Pentagon’s security protocols set up in his office to use the Signal messaging app on a personal computer, two people familiar with the line told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.

The existence of the unsecured internet connection is the latest revelation about Hegseth’s use of the unclassified app and raises the possibility that sensitive defense information could have been put at risk of potential hacking or surveillance.

Also Thursday, a spokesperson for China denied any suggestion that it is in active negotiations with the U.S. over tariffs. The Trump administration has sent mixed messages regarding the progress and intent of its trade negotiations. The president said it would be “physically impossible” to negotiate with dozens of countries and “we are going to, at some point, just set prices for deals.”

Meanwhile the administration asked the Supreme Court to allow enforcement of a ban on transgender people in the military while legal challenges proceed. Elsewhere judges blocked orders to end DEI in K-12 public schools, to deny funds to ‘sanctuary’ cities, to deport people from Colorado under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act and to require proof of citizenship before registering to vote.

Here's the latest:

The Trump administration was handed a rapid-fire series of court losses Wednesday night and Thursday in lawsuits filed over its policies on immigration, elections and its crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in schools.

But the legal disputes playing out across the country are far from over, and administration attorneys pushed back, asking the federal appellate courts and the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn some of the decisions.

More than 170 lawsuits have been filed over President Donald Trump’s executive orders.

▶ Read more things to know about the legal challenges

New documents in a New Jersey court show that the government defended its warrantless arrest of Mahmoud Khalil by saying agents feared he would flee because he said he would leave the scene.

Khalil, a Columbia University student activist, has been in a detention center in Jena, Louisiana, for six weeks.

A lawyer for the Department of Homeland Security wrote that agents conducting surveillance of Khalil on March 8 were notified that he could be removed from the country because his presence or activities would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.

A Homeland Security Investigations agent approached and identified himself, according to the court filing.

After Khalil’s wife went to retrieve documents showing he had lawful residence status, the agent asked him to cooperate while they tried to verify his identity, but he “stated that he would not cooperate and that he was going to leave the scene,” the lawyer wrote.

At that point the Homeland Security supervisory agent “believed there was a flight risk and arrest was necessary,” he said.

The ACLU contested that account, saying the claim that Khalil was about to flee is false and belied by video taken by his wife, along with previous accounts.

▶ Read more about the case and the latest documents

The president has ordered the Justice Department to investigate the Democratic Party’s top fundraising platform.

In an executive order signed Thursday, he directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Republicans’ allegations that the platform allows illegal campaign donations.

A report this month from three GOP-controlled congressional committees alleged that ActBlue potentially allows fraudulent donations.

Democrats, who have been preparing to be targeted, quickly condemned the executive order.

A woman from Guatemala says she and her two U.S.-born children were held for nearly a week by customs agents in Detroit after a phone app’s directions to a Costco led them to an international bridge to Canada.

She now faces removal proceedings in June in immigration court, according to Ruby Robinson, senior managing attorney with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. Robinson said the woman has been in the U.S. about six years but does not have legal status. Her daughters are 5 and 1 years old, and their father also lives in Detroit.

Robinson, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, and the ACLU of Michigan called Thursday for more accountability and transparency by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on detentions along the northern border.

“Our neighbors and families should not be disappearing because they made a wrong turn,” Tlaib said.

The Michigan Democrat said she was told March 21 by CBP that about 213 people had been detained at the same location since January, with more than 90% mistakenly driving onto the bridge’s toll plaza. Tlaib also said she was told 12 families had been detained in the same building where Robinson’s client was held.

CBP said agents encountered just over 200 undocumented people from Jan. 20 to March 21 at crossings in Detroit. About half were detained and turned over to ICE after secondary processing was complete, according to a CBP spokesman.

▶ Read more about her case

German Deputy Defense Minister Nils Hilmer said during a news conference that approximately 1,000 people are expected at the May 13-14 meeting in Berlin to discuss the future of U.N. peacekeeping and make pledges to its 11 far-flung missions.

Many delegations will be led by defense ministers or foreign ministers, and the United States will attend the conference, he said, but Washington has not yet decided at what level.

U.N. peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said the U.S. has been “a very important supporter of peacekeeping operation throughout the years, and we look forward to continuing cooperation with the United States.”

As the world’s largest economy, the United States pays 27% of the U.N. peacekeeping budget and currently owes close to $1.2 billion, according to a U.N. official who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

— Edith M. Lederer

A U.S. government technical team will head to Oman for a third round of U.S. talks with Iran on its nuclear program, the State Department said Thursday.

The department initially said Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was also going but later clarified that was not yet confirmed.

Iran has said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and a technical team of its own will attend.

The Trump administration is pushing Tehran to scale back its nuclear program to ensure it can never make the jump to building nuclear bombs. It has warned of a risk of war with the U.S. or Israel if Iran refuses.

Iran says its program is for civilian uses only.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the U.S. team will be led by the department’s director of policy planning, Michael Anton, a former speechwriter, author, instructor and private-equity executive.

Critics have questioned whether the administration has given nuclear experts a big enough role in the negotiations.

Democrats Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tim Kaine of Virginia wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday questioning whether the administration is “abandoning the measures necessary to meet its obligations to reducing civilian harm” in its military campaign against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Specifically they cited reports that U.S. strikes at the Ras Isa fuel terminal last week potentially killed more than 70 civilians.

“Military leaders agree that ingraining civilian harm mitigation practices within U.S operations leads to better outcomes and that civilian casualties actually undermine the mission that the military has been sent in to do,” their letter said.

In a new, expanded campaign against the Houthis that began last month, Trump promised to use “overwhelming lethal force” until the militants cease attacks on shipping along a vital maritime corridor. The U.S. has done more than 750 strikes since then.

Houthi rebels in Yemen have shot down seven U.S. Reaper drones in less than six weeks, a loss of aircraft worth more than $200 million, in what is becoming the most dramatic cost to the Pentagon of the military campaign against the Iran-backed militants.

According to defense officials, three drones were shot down in the past week, suggesting the militants’ targeting of the unmanned aircraft flying over Yemen has improved. The drones were doing attack runs or conducting surveillance, and they crashed both into the water and onto land, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.

The drones cost about $30 million each and generally fly at altitudes of more than 40,000 feet (12,100 meters).

The U.S. has increased its attacks on the Houthis, launching daily strikes since March 15, when President Donald Trump ordered a new, expanded campaign.

— Lolita C. Baldor

The pardon is for Republican former Las Vegas city councilwoman and state lawmaker Michele Fiore, who was awaiting sentencing on federal charges that she used money meant for a statue honoring a slain police officer for personal costs, including plastic surgery.

Fiore, who also ran unsuccessfully in 2022 for state treasurer, was found guilty in October of six counts of federal wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She was out of custody ahead of her sentencing, which had been scheduled for next month.

In a lengthy statement Thursday on Facebook, the loyal Trump supporter expressed gratitude to the president while also accusing the U.S. government and “select media outlets” of a broad, decade-long conspiracy to “target and dismantle” her life.

The pardon, issued Wednesday, comes less than a week after Fiore lost a bid for a new trial. She had been facing the possibility of decades in prison.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan accidentally filed an internal memo arguing that the government should change tactics if it wants to block the nascent program of tolls for driving in the most congested part of the borough.

The memo, intended for a U.S. Department of Transportation attorney, was inadvertently filed Wednesday night in New York’s lawsuit over the administration’s efforts to shut down the fee.

The blunder came days after the administration gave New York a third ultimatum to stop collecting the $9 tolls, which started in January.

In the memo, three assistant U.S. attorneys from the Southern District of New York wrote that there is “considerable litigation risk” in defending Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s decision to pull federal approval and that doing so would likely result in a legal loss.

The department might have better odds, they wrote, if it tries a different bureaucratic mechanism that would argue that the toll no longer aligns with the government’s agenda.

▶ Read more about the mistaken filing

Three advocacy groups are suing the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Kristi Noem.

The groups want to restore staff jobs at three gutted offices that oversee civil rights protections across the sprawling department.

Department officials said Thursday that they are “committed to civil rights protections” but called the three offices a roadblock.

Democrats have suggested that the cuts were about removing transparency at the department, which is key to the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts.

The groups suing said that because Congress set up the offices, only it can shutter them.

The order signed Thursday seeks to expand — and potentially make more stringent — the time periods that federal workers must clear before career protections kick in.

Probationary periods typically last one to two years, though they can go longer for some federal workers.

Rather than simply passing the probationary period after it ends, the order mandates that 60 days prior to coming off probation, employees must meet with officials to discuss their job performance and conduct.

“Instead of these employees becoming tenured civil servants by default,” a White House fact sheet on the order reads, agencies must “affirmatively certify” that finalizing their appointment “advances the public interest.”

The rules would apply to many new employees, as well as those changing positions in the same agency.

Trump administration has moved to fire thousands of probationary federal workers, touching off an ongoing legal battle.

The American Federation of Government Employees announced the planned nationwide layoffs Thursday in the wake of Trump executive actions that have rapidly weakened the organization’s finances.

The union will move ahead with a reduction in force that could cut its 355 employees to approximately 150, eliminating organizers, national representatives, support staff and others.

The layoffs will weaken a leading opponent to Trump’s dramatic reshaping of the federal government.

AFGE has filed a flurry of lawsuits seeking to block everything from the mass firings of probationary workers to the sharing of sensitive data with billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. It has also helped organize protests and other pushback against Trump and DOGE.

In a statement Thursday, the union blamed Trump’s policies for the layoffs, calling them a setback, “but not the end of AFGE — not by a longshot.”

Ricketts repeatedly returned to his call for spending cuts amid grumbles from a central Nebraska audience during a public meeting Thursday that illustrated the tension between some voters and Republicans.

And though Ricketts was interrupted at times by shouts and jeers, including occasional chants of “tax the rich,” the 30 minutes he allowed for questions elicited civil exchanges on health care spending, President Donald Trump ’s agenda and the war in Ukraine.

Ricketts, one of only a handful of GOP senators and representatives who have risked direct public exchanges with constituents by holding in-person town halls this year, urged support for Trump’s proposed increase of $175 billion for U.S.-Mexico border security and $150 billion more in military spending, while urging deep cuts elsewhere.

Challenged on staffing cuts and other changes during the aggressive first three months of Trump’s second term, Ricketts said something had to be done to curb the $36 billion federal debt.

▶ Read more about Ricketts’ public meeting

Barnard College faculty members are expressing anger and anxiety over a survey they received from the Trump administration this week asking if they are Jewish, among other personal questions.

Barnard officials belatedly informed staff that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had ordered the college to turn over their contact information so that employees could voluntarily participate in a probe of possible discrimination. The survey was sent on government letterhead by text to their personal cellphones, as first reported by The Intercept.

“That the government is putting together lists of Jews, ostensibly as part of a campaign to fight antisemitism, is really chilling,” professor Nara Milanich said. “As a historian, I have to say it feels a little uncomfortable.”

Neither the EEOC nor Barnard College responded to emails seeking comment.

▶ Read more about the Trump administration’s antisemitism probe survey

The order signed Thursday aims to stimulate deep-sea mining, with the White House wanting to develop domestic capabilities for exploration, collection and processing of critical minerals.

It expects to be able to eventually explore more than 1 billion metric tons of available deep-sea nodules. Those are rock formations that contain critical minerals like cobalt, manganese and cooper, which the U.S. could eventually mine and export.

The order directs federal authorities to “expedite” deep-sea mining permits and produce a report on opportunities along the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.

Trump’s action follows a Canadian company recently seeking permission from the U.S. government to start deep-sea mining in international waters, despite a U.N. agency saying such efforts could violate international law.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had an internet connection that bypassed the Pentagon’s security protocols set up in his office to use the Signal messaging app on a personal computer, two people familiar with the line told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.

The existence of the unsecured internet connection is the latest revelation about Hegseth’s use of the unclassified app and raises the possibility that sensitive defense information could have been put at risk of potential hacking or surveillance.

— Tara Copp

Sethuraman Panchanathan, who had led the NSF since 2020, is departing after the agency made the cuts to funding for hundreds of university research projects.

Panchanathan initially defended the NSF’s priorities but said in a statement Thursday that he had “done all I can to advance the critical mission of the agency.”

NSF grants are a key source of funding for science research at U.S. universities. On Friday the agency abruptly canceled funding for hundreds of grants to comply with Trump’s directives to end support of research on diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as the study of misinformation.

More than 380 grant projects have been cut so far, including work to combat internet censorship in China and Iran and a project consulting with Indigenous communities to understand environmental changes in Alaska’s Arctic region.

“NSF is an extremely important investment to make U.S. scientific dominance a reality,” Panchanathan said in his statement. “We must not lose our competitive edge.”

An association that represents clinics across the country sued Thursday over the Trump Administration’s decision last month to withhold some family planning grants.

The National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association contends in a federal court filing in Washington that it was illegal to withhold funding for care including birth control, cancer screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.

The group says funds were cut off with virtually no notice to about one-fourth of the providers who receive Title X funding, including all of them in California, Hawaii, Maine, Missouri, Montana and Utah.

The Agriculture Department says it is withdrawing a plan to limit salmonella bacteria in poultry products. The move halts a Biden Administration effort designed to prevent food poisoning.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service said Thursday that it withdrew the proposal after getting more than 7,000 public comments. The agency will evaluate whether salmonella regulations should be changed.

The move drew praise from the poultry industry and criticism from food safety advocates. Salmonella causes 1.35 million infections each year, mostly from food.

A key group of state and local election officials questioned the leaders of a federal agency at the center of the executive order seeking major changes to U.S. elections, raising concerns about the consequences for voters and the people in charge of voting.

The annual meeting of the Standards Board of the U.S. Election Commission was an opportunity for elections officials to ask the four EAC commissioners about Trump’s executive order.

Trump’s March 25 order directed the commission — an independent federal agency — to update the national voter registration form to include a proof-of-citizenship requirement and revise guidelines for voting systems among other actions.

Whether the president can order an independent agency to act and whether it has the authority to do what he wants will likely be settled in court.

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Thursday blocking the proof-of-citizenship requirement pending legal challenges.

▶ Read more on the elections officials’ questions about the order

U.S. stocks rallied further as better-than-expected profits for U.S. companies piled up, though CEOs say they’re unsure whether it will last because of uncertainty created by Trump’s trade war.

The S&P 500 jumped 2% Thursday for its third straight day of big gains, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.2% and the Nasdaq composite climbed 2.7%.

ServiceNow surged after the AI platform company delivered a stronger profit for the start of 2025 than expected.

Southwest Airlines likewise reported stronger-than-expected results, but it joined a lengthening list of companies that have pulled financial forecasts because of uncertainty around tariffs.

The National Endowment for the Humanities announced Thursday that, along with the National Endowment for the Arts, it is committing $30 million this year to “enable the creation of statues in marble, granite, bronze, copper, or brass depicting historical figures tied to the accomplishments of the United States.”

Trump issued an executive order at the end of his first term calling for a “new monument to our country’s greatness.” He cited hundreds of Americans he considered worthy, from Benjamin Franklin and James Madison to Kobe Bryant and Shirley Temple.

Back in office, he has targeted the NEH, the Kennedy Center and other organizations for vast cuts and restructuring, accusing them of advancing a “woke” and anti-patriotic agenda. At the same time the NEH is offering money for the garden of heroes, it has cut off millions of dollars in grants.

The garden is scheduled to open in July 2026, timed to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

The U.S. Constitution says Trump can only be elected to two terms as president. That’s not stopping his family from promoting a third campaign.

Eric Trump shared a photo on Instagram of himself wearing a red “Trump 2028” hat, now sold by the Trump Store.

Trump, who would turn 82 in 2028, has said he is considering how to breach the constitutional prohibition. He had previously made jokes about it before telling NBC news he’s serious and that “there are methods which you could do it.”

The 22nd Amendment was adopted after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected four times. He died at 63, before the 100th day of his fourth term, on April 12, 1945.

Trump has threatened to reimpose his steep ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on nearly all U.S. partners in a manner of months if they don’t negotiate separate deals with his administration. At some point, he said, his administration will “just set prices” for each partner that doesn’t come to the table.

“I can’t think of one country that doesn’t want to negotiate a deal, and they either negotiate a deal or we set a deal that we think is fair,” Trump said. But he said one-on-one talks will end at some point because only a “very small group” understands the issues.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said bilateral talks with South Korea may be “moving faster than we thought” after meetings earlier Thursday, with an agreement possible as soon as next week.

Switzerland’s foreign minister in China says the sweeping Trump tariffs are like an earthquake that has hit “all the other countries on the planet” and thrust them into “a sort of coalition” to reach a deal with the United States.

Ignazio Cassis spoke to reporters in Beijing on Thursday after meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.

“We have to convince the United States to come back to a multilateral discussion -- which for now is not a given,” the Swiss diplomat said.

Trump has imposed 31% tariffs on Swiss goods — far higher than the 20% faced by its European Union neighbors — but Switzerland is among the many places now subject to a 90-day pause.

Ukraine and much of Europe have fiercely pushed back against this notion, arguing that it’s hardly a concession for Russia to pause its land grab.

Earlier Thursday, Trump posted what for him is a rare rebuke of Putin after Russia struck Kyiv for hours with missiles and drones that killed at least 12 people and injured 90 in the deadliest assault on the city since July.

“I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying.” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!”

“I didn’t like last night,” Trump said. “I wasn’t happy with it.”

Walz’s first major address to a statewide audience since he was Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate last year is getting attention.

Republican House floor leader Harry Niska called the Wednesday night speech an “angry rant about Donald Trump.”

But Walz urged state lawmakers to prove there’s a better way to govern.

“This current administration in Washington, they’re not forever,” Walz said. “These small, petty men will disappear into the dustbin of history. And when they do, there will be an opportunity and an obligation to actually rebuild government so that it works for working people.”

▶ Read more about Walz’s speech on governing in the Trump era

The order blocks the Trump administration from immediately enacting certain changes to how federal elections are run.

Trump’s executive order argued that the U.S. “fails to enforce basic and necessary election protections” that exist in other countries.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sided with voting rights groups and Democrats to grant a preliminary injunction to stop the citizenship requirement from moving forward while the lawsuit plays out.

She also blocked a requirement that public assistance enrollees have their citizenship assessed before getting access to the federal voter registration form. But she denied other requests from the Democratic plaintiffs, including refusing to block Trump’s order to tighten mail ballot deadlines.

▶ Read more about the case against Trump’s federal elections changes

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth listens as President Donald Trump meets with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein))

President Donald Trump stands on the North Lawn of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters after signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Iran and Iranian-backed militias fired missiles at Israel and Arab states, apparently hitting the U.S. Embassy compound in Kuwait, while Israel and the United States pounded targets in Iran as the war expanded Monday with statements of defiance and increasing casualties.

In the chaos, the U.S. military said that Kuwait “mistakenly shot down” three American F-15E Strike Eagles during a combat mission.

At least 555 people have been killed in Iran so far by the U.S.-Israeli campaign, the Iranian Red Crescent Society said, and more than 130 cities across the country have come under attack. In Israel, 11 people have been killed, with 31 in Lebanon, according to authorities.

Iranian cleric Alireza Arafi, delivering his first public remarks since he was made a member of Iran’s temporary leadership council, said he hoped that a new supreme leader would be “quickly” appointed to replace Ali Khamenei.

Here is the latest:

The price of oil jumped as tanker disruptions near the Strait of Hormuz raise fears about supply shortages from the Persian Gulf.

U.S. oil rose to about $71.97 a barrel on Monday and Brent climbed to about $78.46. Higher prices increase the risk of costlier gasoline and pricier goods.

The U.K. maritime center also reported attacks on vessels and warned of heavy electronic interference. Oman said a drone boat hit an oil tanker and killed one mariner. Saudi media said drones hit near Ras Tanura and Saudi Arabia shut the refinery as a precaution.

Iranian cleric Alireza Arafi has delivered some of his first public remarks since he was made a member of Iran’s temporary leadership council.

In remarks aired on state television, Arafi said he hoped that a new supreme leader would be “quickly” appointed. The 88-seat Assembly of Experts, a group of mostly hard-line clerics, will choose former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s replacement. But no clear successor is in place.

Arafi is serving on a temporary leadership council that includes President Masoud Pezeshkian and Iran’s hard-line judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei. Arafi added that state institutions were continuing to function “under these extremely difficult circumstances.”

Iran has targeted a power plant in Qatar, the country’s defense ministry said. There were no casualties.

The ministry reported that Iran launched two drone attacks, one targeting a water tank at a power plant in Mesaieed, in southern Qatar, and another targeting an energy facility operated by Qatar Energy in the industrial city of Ras Laffan.

Lebanon’s government says it considers Hezbollah’s military activities illegal and says the group should hand over its weapons. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said only the state can decide on matters of war and peace.

The U.S. military said Monday that Kuwait “mistakenly shot down” thee American F-15E Strike Eagles during a combat mission as Iran attacked the country.

The U.S. military’s Central Command said the combat included attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones — the first time Iran’s aging combat fleet has been engaged in the war.

“The U.S. Air Force fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses,” it said. “All six aircrew ejected safely, have been safely recovered, and are in stable condition. Kuwait has acknowledged this incident, and we are grateful for the efforts of the Kuwaiti defense forces and their support in this ongoing operation.”

A bomb-carrying drone boat exploded against a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman on Monday, killing one mariner on board, Oman said.

The state-run Oman News Agency said the attack occurred in the Gulf of Oman off Muscat, the sultanate’s capital. It identified the vessel as the MKD VYOM. It said the dead crew member was from India.

Iran has been threatening vessels approaching the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.

Ali Bahreini, Iran’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, said the “use of force and the deliberate killing of civilians” is a violation of the UN Charter and condemned the recent strikes by the U.S. and Israel.

“The ongoing unlawful military aggression against Iran exemplifies the dominance of raw power over the principles of human rights,” he said.

Iranian state television claimed that Iran had targeted one of the U.S. aircraft that crashed in Kuwait. It did not elaborate.

Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said earlier Monday that several U.S. warplanes crashed, and all the pilots safely bailed out and were in stable condition.

The U.S. military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Air defenses in the United Arab Emirates have intercepted drones over Abu Dhabi, officials said.

Debris fell on a warehouse and a commercial facility in the city’s industrial areas. There was minor damage but no injuries, according to a statement posted on X by the Abu Dhabi Media Office.

The Jordanian Civil Aviation Authority says airspace will be closed between 6 p.m. (1500 GMT) to 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) daily until further notice. It called the closure “partial and temporary.”

Displaced families from southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs sought refuge in schools in the capital, after Israel launched its deadliest barrage of airstrikes in more than a year. It came hours after Hezbollah fired missiles across the border.

At a public school hastily converted into a temporary shelter, families arrived carrying mattresses, plastic bags and bundles of clothing. People sat on sidewalks beside their belongings, some smoking quietly as they waited for space to open inside.

Hussein Abu Ali, who fled with his wife and children, described the moment the strikes hit. “My son began shaking and crying. ... Where are you supposed to go? I stepped outside, then back in because I was afraid of shooting in the air. I gathered my children and went down to the street.”

Israeli attacks killed at least 31 people and wounding 149, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Russia remains “in constant contact with the Iranian leadership” while also keeping up communication with the Persian Gulf states.

Peskov said Moscow was deeply disappointed to see the U.S. and Israel attack Iran despite the progress made in the U.S.-Iranian talks.

He said Russia will continue to take part in the U.S.-mediated talks on Ukraine and praised Washington’s efforts to help negotiate an end to the conflict.

Iran’s ambassador to the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog alleged on Monday that U.S.-Israeli airstrikes targeted Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment site.

Israel and the U.S. have not acknowledged strikes at the site, which the United States bombed during the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June.

Iran’s Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Reza Najafi, told journalists he condemned what he called the “unlawful, criminal and brutal” attacks by the U.S. and Israel against Iran.

“Again they attacked Iran’s peaceful safeguarded nuclear facilities yesterday,” he said. “Their justification that Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons is simply a big lie.”

Israel’s air force carried out new airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs Monday. The blasts were heard in parts of the Lebanese capital.

The strikes hit an area where the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group has a giant hall used to hold rallies. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties.

Saudi Aramco temporarily shut down its Ras Tanura oil refinery near Dammam on Monday after it was targeted by Iranian drones.

Saudi state television reported the decision, citing what it described as an “official source.” It added there were no casualties from the fire and its decision was a precautionary one.

The refinery has a capacity over half a million barrels of crude oil a day.

An Iranian university student reached by The Associated Press on Monday described a heavy security presence in the northern city of Babol and nearby towns.

Communications into Iran remain unstable with internet access mostly blocked. The student, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of security fears, said he had briefly regained an internet connection and was able to talk with friends in nearby towns where a similar security presence was reported. Babol is 136 miles (220 kilometers) north of the capital, Tehran.

The student said armed riot police were on the streets Saturday night and into the early hours of Sunday as crowds gathered to mourn the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

About 30,000 German tourists are currently stuck on cruise ships, in hotels or at closed airports in the Middle East and cannot get back home because of the conflict.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said late Sunday that a military evacuation was currently not possible because of the closed airspace.

He said that the government was looking into other options to help bring its citizens home and that everyone should follow advise by German travel agencies and local authorities.

The German Travel Association called on tourists to “remain at their booked hotels as a matter of urgency” and not “make their own way to the airport or to a neighboring country.”

The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Mariano Grossi on Monday said that “up to now” the International Atomic Energy Agency has “no indication that any of the nuclear installations, including the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, the Tehran Research Reactor or other nuclear fuel cycle facilities” in Iran have been damaged or hit.

Addressing a special session of the IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna, he said that the IAEA continues to try and contact the Iranian nuclear regulatory authorities via the IAEA’s own Incident and Emergency Center “with no response so far,” given the limitations in communications caused by the conflict.

Grossi urged military restraint, warning that Iran and many other countries in the region that have been targeted militarily have “operational nuclear power plants and nuclear research reactors, as well as associated fuel storage sites,” which increases the threat to nuclear safety.

So far, he said, “no elevation of radiation levels above the usual background levels has been detected in countries bordering Iran.”

The Iranian Red Crescent Society said Monday that the U.S.-Israeli airstrike campaign targeting Iran has killed at least 555 people so far in the Islamic Republic.

The society added that 131 cities have come under attack so far in the war.

Iran’s decision to target the Saudi refinery further expands the war gripping the Middle East, directly targeting the lifeblood of the kingdom’s economy.

Already, Iran has been threatening ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil trade passes.

Several ships have been attacked as well there.

“The attack on Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery marks a significant escalation, with Gulf energy infrastructure now squarely in Iran’s sights,” said Torbjorn Soltvedt, an analyst at the risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.

“An extended period of uncertainty lies ahead as Iran seeks to impose a heavy economic cost by putting tankers, regional energy infrastructure, trade routes and U.S. security partners in the crosshairs,” he said.

Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura oil refinery came under attack Monday from drones, the kingdom’s defense ministry said, with authorities downing the incoming aircraft.

A Saudi military spokesman made the announcement on the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

Online videos from the site appeared to show thick black smoke rising after the attack. Even successfully intercepted drones cause debris that can spark fires and injure those on the ground.

Ras Tanura, near Dammam, has a capacity over half a million barrels of crude oil a day.

Israel’s military has launched an offensive campaign in Lebanon that could include “many prolonged days of combat ahead,” Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the military chief of staff, said on Monday morning.

Hezbollah launched several rockets and drones toward Israel overnight, and Israel responded by striking dozens of targets in Beirut and southern Lebanon, he said.

“Hezbollah will pay a very heavy price for this,” Israel’s military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said. He added that Israel is keeping “all options on the table” for a possible ground operation in Lebanon.

Israel has called up more than 100,000 reservists since the war with Iran began on Saturday.

Israel also recommended that residents of 53 villages in southern Lebanon evacuate, causing massive traffic jams.

Germany will not actively participate in military action against Iran but will consider defending its soldiers stationed on multinational military bases in Jordan and Iraq if they get attacked, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Monday morning.

“The federal government has no intention of participating” in the conflict, Wadephul told Deutschlandfunk public radio. "We also do not have the necessary military resources.”

Multinational bases where German troops are stations in Irbil in northern Iraq and Al-Azraq in Jordan were targeted on the weekend, the German military said.

The soldiers on site were not injured and are safe, the German news agency dpa reported.

Strikes killed three people in the western city of Sanandaj early Monday, Iran’s state-run news agency said.

IRNA said the strikes hit two residential sites without providing further details.

Several U.S. warplanes crashed Monday in Kuwait, the country’s Defense Ministry said, with all the pilots safely bailing out.

The ministry did not elaborate on what caused the crashes but it came during an intense period of Iranian fire targeting the country.

The Kuwaiti Defense Ministry said the pilots were taken to a hospital for checkups and their condition was stable.

The U.S. military’s Central Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Turkey has temporarily closed its border with Iran to crossings by Iranians visiting for short trips, the Trade Ministry said, following public concerns that the tensions could trigger migration flows.

A ministry statement said that in a mutual agreement reached with Iran, Turkey is allowing its citizens and third country nationals to enter from Iran but short trips by Iranians have been temporarily suspended.

Meanwhile, commercial freight crossings between Turkey and Iran are continuing “in a controlled manner,” the ministry said.

Israel said crossings to Gaza, where much-needed humanitarian aid passes, will remain closed while the war with Iran continues.

COGAT claimed that Gaza has sufficient stockpiles of food for an “extended period” though some organizations, including the World Central Kitchen which operates soup kitchens across Gaza, have warned that they are running out of supplies.

“We need food deliveries every single day to feed hungry families who are not part of this war,” chef Jose Andres, the founder of World Central Kitchen, wrote on X.

Like some other U.S. embassies in the Middle East, the outpost in Kuwait is a large, walled compound consisting of multiple buildings and recreational facilities.

It is located near other embassies and residential areas to the south of central Kuwait City.

The ruling emir’s Bayan Palace is not far away.

In December 1983, a truck packed with explosives heavily damaged parts of the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait when it drove through a gate and detonated.

The bombing was part of a series of attacks later blamed on Iranian-backed militant groups.

Fire and smoke rose from inside the U.S. Embassy compound in Kuwait after an Iranian attack on the small Mideast nation on Monday.

The United States had earlier issued an urgent warning to Americans there to take cover and remain indoors.

It said: “Do not come to the Embassy,” without elaborating.

Iranian state media published footage showing damage at the Gandhi Hospital in Tehran.

Associated Press journalists heard several loud explosions Monday morning in Irbil, the capital city of Iraq’s semiautonomous region of Kurdistan.

The World Health Organization called for the sparing of civilians and health care facilities in the Middle East amid a regional conflict triggered by Israeli-US strikes on Iran over the weekend.

“The protection of civilians and health care must be absolute,” Hanan Balkhy, regional dietitian at WHO wrote on social media.

“All parties must … ensure medical facilities remain protected.”

Strikes across Iran continued into Monday, with one apparently taking Iranian state television off air.

Witnesses said an attack in northern Tehran’s Niavaran neighborhood struck one of the transmitters used for Iranian state TV.

Since then, its satellite signals have dropped.

State media had said hospitals and residential areas had been hit in strikes by the Americans and Israelis.

The United Arab Emirates is shutting the country’s main stock exchanges for the start of the trading week as the regional war intensifies.

The country’s Capital Market Authority said the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and Dubai Financial Market would be closed Monday and Tuesday.

It says it will closely monitor the regional situation and take any further steps as necessary.

Another market, the Nasdaq Dubai, also said it was halting trading both days.

Dubai is the Gulf’s main business hub, though the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi is also an important regional financial center and home to some of the world’s biggest sovereign wealth funds.

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon after Hezbollah attacked it have killed at least 31 people, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Monday.

The Hezbollah attack and the Israeli retaliatory strikes expand the ongoing war gripping the Mideast after the U.S. and Israel launched an airstrike campaign targeting Iran.

The Health Ministry said that the strikes also wounded 149 people.

It said about two-thirds of those killed were in southern Lebanon.

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides said a Shaheed-type drone caused “minor material damage” to military installations inside the U.K.’s RAF Akrotiri air base on the island’s southern coast.

Christodoulides said in a brief national address that the drone struck just past midnight Monday.

Overnight, airstrikes were reported across Iran.

Elsewhere, explosions were heard in Dubai on Monday.

In Bahrain, the Interior Ministry said sirens sounded across the country as it urged residents to “head to the nearest safe place.”

And in Kuwait, authorities said debris fell on its Ahmadi oil refinery, slightly injuring two workers there.

The state-run KUNA news agency said earlier that Kuwait’s forces had thwarted a drone attack early Monday.

A top Iranian security official on Monday said: “We will not negotiate with the United States.”

Ali Larijani made the statement on X, responding to a report from Qatar’s Al Jazeera news network.

The comment comes as an American and Israeli airstrike campaign continues to target Iran.

Iran and its militia allies have expanded their attacks over the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are planning to hold a press conference Monday morning about the military operation against Iran.

The Pentagon announced the 8 a.m. EST media briefing on social media Sunday night.

On Tuesday, Hegseth and Caine will join U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe in briefing the full membership of Congress on the strikes, the White House said.

Rubio also was slated to brief Hill leadership Monday.

Lebanon President Joseph Aoun said Hezbollah’s rocket launches from Lebanon put the country at risk.

Aoun said in a statement that the Lebanese state has been trying to "keep Lebanon away from the dangerous military confrontations taking place in the region.”

A previous version of this story included a post on fire and smoke rising from US Embassy in Kuwait that referenced a video obtained by The Associated Press; however the video was not from the same location.

A state TV communications tower and building destroyed Sunday during a strike as part of the ongoing joint U.S.–Israeli military campaign are seen in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iraqi Shiites hold pictures of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed by a U.S. airstrike in Tehran, during a symbolic funeral, in Najaf, Iraq, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)

Israeli security forces inspect the scene of a direct hit on a road following an Iranian missile strike in Jerusalem, Sunday, March 1, 2026.(AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Smoke rises up after a strike in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows a F/A-18E Super Hornet makes an arrested landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) after a mission in support of Operation Epic Fury, on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (U.S. Navy via AP)

People watch from a rooftop as a plume of smoke rises after a strike in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A black plume of smoke rises from a warehouse at the industrial area of Sharjah City in the United Arab Emirates following reports of Iranian strikes in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)