U.S. tells Americans in Iraq to leave immediately amid threat from Iran-backed militias

Ships from countries not involved in the war against Iran can transit through the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in a phone call today, Iranian state media said on Telegram.

“At present, vessels of countries not involved in the military aggression against Iran are able to transit the Strait of Hormuz in coordination with the armed forces of the Islamic Republic," Araghchi said.

Lavrov told Araghchi that there needs to be a diplomatic solution to the conflict and that Russia has presented initiatives to reduce tensions and manage the regional crisis, according to the state media report.

In a video post on X today, Hegseth signed a memorandum allowing off-duty members of the military to carry their private firearms on military installations.

“Our war fighters defend the right of others to carry, they should be able to carry themselves,” Hegseth said.

“Recent events like what happened at Fort Stewart, Holloman Air Force base or Pensacola Naval Air Station have made clear that some threats are closer to home than we would like,” he added. 

According to the video post, the memo directs commanders of installations to allow for requests of U.S. service members to carry privately owned firearms “with the presumption that it is necessary for personal protection.”

Should a request be denied, a detailed explanation will be given in writing. 

“Not all enemies are foreign, nor are they all outside our border,” Hegseth said.

“Confirming your God given right to self-protection is what I’m signing into action today, and I’m proud to do so,” he added.

The Israel Defense Forces said another round of missiles has been launched at Israel from Iran.

"A short while ago, the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel," the IDF said in a statement. "Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat."

The statement said an alert had been sent to mobile phones and that people should take shelter in a "protected space" until further notice.

David Miliband, president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, warned of the grim toll that Israeli attacks are taking on Lebanon in a statement today, noting that 1 million people have been displaced in just four weeks.

Lebanese residents inspect their homes and buildings Saturday following an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon.  Murat Sengul / Anadolu via Getty Images

Israel resumed attacks against Lebanon last month after the militant group Hezbollah began firing rockets and missiles toward Israel in solidarity with Iran. Israel has retaliated with widespread airstrikes and a ground incursion into southern Lebanon.

"Many are navigating impossible choices about whether to stay or move on. Lebanon continues to shoulder significant pressure, and without sustained support, conditions risk deteriorating further," Miliband said. "Lebanon risks a humanitarian Groundhog Day of displacement and insecurity — a population that has faced unrelenting crises, now forced to start again with fewer resources each time."

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned of the dire cost of the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran today on X.

"Every day the war in the Middle East continues, human suffering & devastation grow, indiscriminate attacks grow & the perils to our world grow," he wrote. "The conflict is being felt everywhere. We must find a peaceful way out. The spiral of death & destruction must stop now."

Amazon’s cloud computing operation in Bahrain faces near-total disruption, according to internet connectivity monitors, with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claiming to have attacked it.

"In the first action against spy and terrorist technology companies, Amazon's cloud computing center in Bahrain was attacked and destroyed," the Revolutionary Guard said in a statement, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

The Revolutionary Guard had threatened Tuesday that it would target American tech companies.

Amazon Web Services' operations in Bahrain were already working at a reduced capacity. In March, the company said its Bahraini data center had been damaged after Iran sent swarms of drones in the region.

An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment but pointed to a statement the company published last week, which said that its cloud services in Bahrain were still “disrupted” from the initial attack and that it was directing customers to operate through different AWS servers in the region. 

“We are working closely with local authorities and prioritizing the safety of our personnel throughout our recovery efforts,” the company said.

U.S. crude oil recorded its largest one-day price increase since 2020 today, ending trading higher by more than 11%, after Trump pledged last night to continue hitting Iran "extremely hard" over the next few weeks.

The news was exactly the opposite of what the market wanted to hear.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. Spencer Platt / Getty Images

For the year now, the price of U.S. crude oil has surged 94%. Since the start of the war, U.S. oil prices are up more than 65%.

As a result, the average gas price per gallon rose to $4.08, according to AAA.

Read more about today's market reaction.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired the Army chief of staff, Gen. Randy George, according to three U.S. military officials. Hegseth has long eyed removing George, who is associated with former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, for whom he served as senior military assistant. Hegseth has removed other senior officers he believes are associated with the previous administration. 

Chief Defense Department spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed George's departure on X.

General Randy George in the East Room of the White House. Win McNamee / Getty Images file

"General Randy A. George will be retiring from his position as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army effective immediately," he wrote. "The Department of War is grateful for General George’s decades of service to our nation. We wish him well in his retirement."

George had been expected to serve longer in the job, at least until the summer, according to two officials. He became chief of staff in September 2023 and would have normally retired from that position later this year. 

Hegseth asked George to retire effective immediately. It is unclear who will replace him; Hegseth had recently pushed to install Gen. Christopher LaNeve as the vice chief of the Army, and two officials have said Hegseth made the move to prepare LaNeve to take over as chief ultimately.

Trump posted a 10-second video on Truth Social showing the collapse of the B1 bridge in Karaj, Iran, amid clouds of towering black smoke after a military strike.

“The biggest bridge in Iran comes tumbling down, never to be used again — Much more to follow!” Trump wrote in his post.

The now-partially collapsed highway bridge was designed to connect Karaj to Tehran, Iran’s capital. According to Iranian state media, two people were killed.

“IT IS TIME FOR IRAN TO MAKE A DEAL BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, AND THERE IS NOTHING LEFT OF WHAT STILL COULD BECOME A GREAT COUNTRY!” Trump added.

In an address to the nation last night, Trump threatened to target Iran's civilian infrastructure and said the U.S. would bring Iran "back to the Stone Ages."

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, responded to the attack on X: “Striking civilian structures, including unfinished bridges, will not compel Iranians to surrender. It only conveys the defeat and moral collapse of an enemy in disarray. Every bridge and building will be built back stronger. What will never recover: damage to America’s standing.”

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper convened a meeting of 40 countries to pressure Iran to allow unimpeded transit through the Strait of Hormuz and reject the imposition of tolls on vessels passing through the critical maritime corridor.

“This meeting showed clearly the determination of the international community to secure freedom of navigation and re-open the Strait of Hormuz,” Cooper said in a statement today, adding that Iran’s closure of the strait “is a direct threat to global prosperity.”

They discussed ways to potentially increase international diplomatic pressure, as well as coordinated economic and political measures, including sanctions, to persuade Iran to allow marine traffic to pass through the strait unhindered.

Key international organizations such as the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization also took part in the meeting to discuss ways to secure the safe passage of thousands of ships and sailors trapped in the strait.

Kremlin aide Yuri ⁠Ushakov said today ⁠that the ​Strait ⁠of ‌Hormuz was open for ‌Russia.

“It is ‌open for ⁠us,” said Ushakov, speaking on a Russian state TV ‌channel, Russia's Interfax ‌news ⁠agency ⁠reported.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, said a protocol is being drafted for Iran and Oman to oversee traffic in the Strait of Hormuz after the war, according to the state media outlet IRNA and the semiofficial Mehr News Agency.

Gharibabadi said previous peacetime rules that allowed for open navigation in the strait "cannot be expected to apply" during the war, IRNA reported.

Leaders in the U.S., the European Union and China have warned against setting tolls or any kind of monitoring system that would allow Iran to control navigation in the strait.

Gharibabadi said that even in peacetime, vessel movement in the strait would take place under supervision and coordination with Iran and Oman, positioned on either side of the strait.

“Naturally, these requirements do not mean restrictions but are intended to facilitate and ensure safe passage and provide better services to vessels using this route,” he said.

Pope Leo in May became the first U.S. leader of the global Catholic Church, but for ​the initial 10 months of his tenure he mostly avoided comment about his home country and never once mentioned Trump publicly. That era ‌has come to an end.

In recent weeks the pope has emerged as a sharp critic of the Iran war. He named Trump, for the first time publicly, on Tuesday in a direct appeal urging him to end the expanding conflict.

It is a significant shift in tone and approach that experts said indicated that the pope wanted to serve as a counterweight on the world stage to Trump and ​his foreign policy aims.

“I don’t think he wants the Vatican to be accused of being soft on Trumpism because he’s an American,” said Massimo Faggioli, an ​Italian academic who follows the Vatican closely.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has renewed his call for the U.S. and Israel to end the war with Iran.

He addressed the countries directly in remarks to reporters this morning, saying: "To the United States and Israel, it is high time to stop the war that is inflicting immense human suffering and already triggering devastating economic consequences. To Iran, to stop attacking their neighbors."

He also called for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial oil choke point.

"When the Strait of Hormuz is strangled, the world’s poorest and most vulnerable cannot breathe," Guterres added.

Iran's mission to the United Nations has criticized Trump’s comments last night threatening to send Iran “back to the Stone Ages.”

The U.N. mission said Trump’s remark reflects “ignorance, not strength, and constitutes evidence of intent to commit war crimes under international humanitarian law.”

The mission added on X that Iran is an established civilization that “cannot be destroyed by bombing.”

In his address last night, Trump said: "We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong."

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker, said 7 million Iranians have "stepped up and declared they’re ready to pick up arms and stand in defense of our nation."

In an English-language post on X, Ghalibaf credited a “powerful campaign sweeping across the country” for recruiting millions of people to join Iran's military service in less than one week.

"You come for our home ... you're gonna meet the whole family. Locked, loaded and standing tall. Bring it on," Ghalibaf said.

00:24

Multiple airstrikes reported as “attacks” by local media hit the 15th Khordad Barracks missile site near the city of Isfahan, Iran, yesterday. The explosions — caught on videos geolocated and verified by NBC News — created large smoke plumes near a residential area located over a mile outside the military installation.

One social media video taken from along a highway near the barracks showed the aftermath of the strike, with pieces of fiery debris scattered along the mountain range housing the barracks. Another video taken from the town nearby caught the moment a smaller secondary explosion was set off after the initial blasts.

The strikes look to have targeted multiple buildings and small warehouses that make up the barracks, which share the name of the Khordad 15 air defense system officially revealed by the Iranian government in 2019.

Satellite imagery taken before the strikes shows multiple entrances carved out of the mountainside that are similar to those seen at the Isfahan Tunnel Complex located just over 9 miles north of Khordad.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the original objectives of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran had been achieved and that it was “not clear” what more needs to be done as the conflict wreaks havoc on the global economy.

Albanese said that while Australia is not an active participant in the war, he supported the original aim of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and diminishing its ability to threaten its neighbors. Iran’s air force, navy, military-industrial base and capacity to launch missiles have all now been degraded, he said.

“Now those objectives have been realized, it is not clear what more needs to be achieved — or what the endpoint looks like,” Albanese said in a speech today at the National Press Club of Australia in Canberra. “What is clear is that the longer this war goes on, the more significant the impact on the global economy will be.”

Albanese’s speech comes a day after he gave a rare national address during which he urged Australians to conserve fuel and warned that “economic shocks” from the war could last months. Australia, which relies directly or indirectly on the blockaded Strait of Hormuz for much of its energy imports, has halved fuel taxes and encouraged the use of public transportation amid soaring gas prices.

French President Emmanuel Macron said today it would be ⁠unrealistic to launch a military operation to force open the Strait of Hormuz, after U.S. President Donald Trump challenged U.S. allies to work towards reopening it.

“Some people defend the idea of freeing the Strait of Hormuz by force via a military operation, a position ⁠sometimes expressed by the United States, although it has varied,” Macron told reporters during a trip ​to South ⁠Korea.

“This ‌was never the option we have supported because it is unrealistic,” he said. “It would take forever, and would expose all those who go through the Strait to risks from the Revolutionary Guards ‌but also ballistic missiles,” he said.

Macron, who has worked ‌with European and other allies to build a coalition to guarantee free passage through Hormuz once hostilities have stopped, said this could only be done by talking to Iran.

A White House official has confirmed that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House next week for a previously scheduled visit.

The meeting comes amid escalating tensions between Trump and European allies over their reluctance to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

President Donald Trump delivered a prime-time address to the nation yesterday, declaring military success against Iran and making his case for what he says will be several more weeks of war.

“We’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong,” he said.

Iran has responded saying, the U.S. hasn’t destroyed key targets and that it won’t open the Strait of Hormuz. 

05:50

West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the main U.S. benchmark, climbed to $111 Thursday morning, while Brent crude oil, the international standard, hit about $108 after President Donald Trump said in an address from the White House that the war was "nearing completion" but offered no exact time frame or a detailed plan for the war to end.

After President Donald Trump's strongest-ever threat to leave NATO, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said the situation appears to be playing in Russian President Vladimir Putin's favor, as Europe faces a major energy crisis following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the suspension of aid to Ukraine.

"The threat of NATO’s break-up, easing sanctions on Russia, a massive energy crisis in Europe, halting aid for Ukraine and blocking the loan for Kyiv by Orbán — it all looks like Putin’s dream plan," Tusk said in a post on X today.

Though Tusk didn't explicitly mention the U.S., his comments came after Trump this week threatened to leave NATO after allies didn't offer support in his war against Iran.

Tusk, who leads a liberal government in the eastern European nation bordering Ukraine, has for months walked a thin line between defending Poland's European partners and not upsetting the country's most powerful ally, the U.S.

Warsaw has instead delegated the task of dealing with Trump largely to the rather conservative President Karol Nawrocki, whom Trump endorsed during the presidential campaign last year. Trump also declared he would not pull the U.S. troops out of Poland after he met with Nawrocki in September.

Israel’s military said it killed 40 Hezbollah militants and has destroyed dozens of what it called “terror infrastructure sites” in the past 24 hours.

“The IDF continues targeted ground operations in southern Lebanon, combined with aerial, naval, and ground strikes targeting Hezbollah terror infrastructure,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. 

Israel’s navy also carried out an attack on a Hezbollah weapons storage facility in southern Lebanon, the IDF said. 

Futures tracking Wall Street’s main indexes fell this morning in the last session of a holiday-truncated week after President Donald Trump signaled more aggressive attacks on Iran, dampening expectations for a swift end to the Middle East conflict.

After Trump floated the possibility of strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure, oil prices surged about 7%, taking Brent crude futures to $108 per barrel. Energy stocks in the U.S. climbed, with ExxonMobil and Chevron up 3.1% and 2.6%, respectively, in premarket trading.

“Uncertainty is kryptonite for markets and between the contradictory messages from Trump, disputed claims on both sides, and the lack of clarity on a plan that can provide a resolution to the conflict, they are getting a heavy dose of it,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

Still, Wall Street’s three indexes looked set to post their biggest weekly rise in four months. This would be their first week of gains in six. Earlier this week, markets were optimistic that an end to the war was near.

The Strait of Hormuz is open to the world but will remain closed to Iran’s adversaries, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader said today, according to the semiofficial Mehr News Agency.

“The war will end with Iran’s prudence and power, not with the optimism and illusions of the aggressors,” Ali Akbar Velayati said.

Crowds gathered in Enghelab Square in Tehran yesterday for the funeral of Iranian naval commander Alireza Tangsiri. Last week, Israel said it had killed Tangsiri, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s naval forces and the commander responsible for mining and blockading the Strait of Hormuz.

A member of the security services stands guard as the funeral procession is held in Tehran yesterday.  Majid Saeedi / Getty Images

Iranians gather at Enghelab Square yesterday to attend the funeral of Alireza Tangsiri, alongside others killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.   AFP via Getty Images

A woman in the crowd at Enghelab Square in Tehran yesterday. Fatemeh Bahrami / Anadolu via Getty Images

A boy raises his fist while standing on a giant Iranian flag in Tehran during the funeral procession yesterday.  AFP via Getty Images

The funeral also commemorated the lives of others killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.

China today urged all sides of the conflict in the Middle East to immediately “cease military action,” and called for “dialogue and negotiation” to avoid further damage to the global economy.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that peace talks should begin as soon as possible and “differences resolved issues through dialogue and negotiation.”

The spokesperson added that all involved must “avoid causing even more serious impacts on the global economy and global energy security.”

Israel said its military carried out a “wide-scale wave” of strikes in Tehran.

“The IDF has systematically struck hundreds of command centers and headquarters belonging to the Iranian regime,” the military said in a statement today. 

It added that a ballistic missile storage site in Tabriz, Iran’s fourth-largest city, was also struck.

Far-right supporters of a controversial Israeli death penalty law were popping Champagne corks as it cleared the Knesset on Monday night, but its passage has sparked a global chorus of condemnation from allies and international human rights groups.

The new law effectively makes death by hanging the default punishment for murderers who kill “with the intent to deny the existence of the State of Israel” — language that targets Palestinian militants but amounts to a de facto exclusion of Israelis who kill Palestinians.

Because the law would accelerate lethal punishments for Palestinians and is almost impossible to apply to Israeli murderers, human rights groups say it’s likely to inspire far more outrage and violence than it prevents.

Read the full story here.

It was an especially intense night for many in Israel, as missiles from Iran and Lebanon activated sirens into the early morning in the north and central part of the country.

The scene of an Iranian missile strike in Tel Aviv early this morning. Alexi Rosenfeld / Getty Images

While these were heard mainly in towns close to the Lebanese border in the north, sirens were also heard in Jerusalem and central Israel. Since yesterday at 4 p.m. Israel time, sirens were activated 40 times across large areas, according to the Tzofar app, which warns users of possible attacks and aircraft intrusions.

According to Israeli media, about 50 launches from Lebanon targeted the Upper Galilee in Israel overnight.

Iran-affiliated militant groups may carry out attacks in central Baghdad within the next 24 to 48 hours, the U.S. Embassy in Iraq’s capital warned.

“They may intend to target U.S. citizens, businesses, universities, diplomatic facilities, energy infrastructure, hotels, airports, and other locations perceived to be associated with the United States, as well as Iraqi institutions and civilian targets,” the embassy said in a post on X. 

“U.S. citizens should leave Iraq now,” it added. 

On Tuesday, American journalist Shelly Kittleson was kidnapped in Iraq by suspected Iran-backed militants, according to the State Department and the country’s Interior Ministry.

The United Kingdom is hosting a virtual meeting today of foreign ministers from more than 30 countries to discuss how to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil trade route that Iran has effectively shut down.

Oil tankers and high speed crafts sit anchored at Muscat Anchorage, Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. Elke Scholiers / Getty Images

The U.S., which relies on the strait for only a small percentage of its energy imports, is not among the countries attending. Trump, who previously told U.S. allies to “go get your own oil,” said in his speech last night that the strait would open up “naturally” once the conflict ends, a claim that was met with skepticism.

Further meetings are expected to hammer out the details, with military planners looking at how to coordinate the naval assets of countries that could join the coalition.

Oil rose more than 6% and Asian stocks fell after Trump said in his first national address since the Iran war began that the U.S. will continue to hit Iran very hard.

South Korea’s benchmark Kospi lost 4.5% today, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed down 2.4%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.3%, and the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.9%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1.1%, Taiwan’s Taiex was trading 1.8% lower, and India’s Sensex lost 1.9%. U.S. futures were down more than 1.2%.

Oil prices were sharply higher following Trump’s remarks. Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 6.9% to $108.15 per barrel. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 6.4% to $106.55 a barrel.

An NBC News freelance producer in Tehran describes the aftermath of an explosion in the Iranian capital:

I had been out shopping when I realized I was passing through an area where a building had been hit moments before. The building belongs to a private bank called Pasargad. 

Security forces and firefighters had already arrived at the scene, and locals described a massive blast at the moment of impact. 

The surrounding area appeared largely undamaged, though the street had been closed off.

Under the full moon, missile trails were clearly visible across the skies of Tehran, as Iran had been launching missiles since the afternoon.

Far-right Israeli politicians celebrated the passage through parliament of a new law that allows execution by hanging, but effectively only for Palestinian prisoners. The law de facto excludes Israelis who kill Palestinians.

Palestinians protest Israel’s new death penalty law

01:27

The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran could trigger a new food price shock pushing tens of millions into acute hunger if it drags on, officials across the world are warning.

A farmworker tends to a field in Morocco's Kenitra province Saturday. Abdel Majid Bziouat / AFP via Getty Images file

Rising energy, shipping and fertilizer costs fueled by Tehran’s stranglehold on the crucial Strait of Hormuz trade route are already being felt in the United States, but the sharpest consequences are expected to fall on poorer, import-dependent countries unable to absorb the higher costs.

Read the full story here.

Trump said in his address to the nation last night that regime change has occurred in Iran because all of the country’s original leaders are dead.

But there is no indication that the authoritarian government has lost its grip on power or that successors to assassinated leaders have made a break with the Islamic Republic’s ideology, according to multiple Western officials, U.S. intelligence assessments and regional analysts.

Read the full story here.

Trump risks turning America into a “rogue state,” a former U.S. ambassador for war crimes issues warned yesterday after the president threatened to bomb power stations and desalination plants in Iran.

Stephen J. Rapp, who served as U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues from 2009 to 2015, said he was disturbed by Trump’s threats to Iran if it does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz and agree to end the war the United States and Israel launched a month ago.

“It makes us a rogue state,” said Rapp, who served as chief of prosecutions at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda from 2001 to 2007 and the chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone from 2007 to 2009. He and two other experts in international law who spoke to NBC News said Trump’s threats alone could represent a possible war crime.

Read the full story here.

Trump hailed the U.S. military’s “unstoppable” prowess in the war with Iran, telling Americans in a prime-time address last night that the conflict, now entering its second month, will end “shortly” without offering a definite timeline.

Delivered on Day 32 and framed as an operational update, Trump’s speech offered the clearest public case yet for the conflict, arguing it is necessary for the security of the free world and laying out a framework that he said would measure American success.

“Thanks to the progress we’ve made, I can say tonight that we are on track and the country has been eviscerated and essentially is really no longer a threat,” Trump said. “This is a true investment in your children and your grandchildren’s future. The whole world is watching.”

Still, he said the conflict would continue until the military objectives were “fully achieved.” “We’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks,” he said. “We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong. In the meantime, discussions are ongoing.”

Read the full story here.

• Trump makes his case for Iran war, saying it will end ‘shortly’ but more strikes are ahead
• Trump’s Iran threats alarm war crimes experts
• Despite Trump’s claims, there’s no indication Iran’s regime has lost power, Western officials and experts say
• How the Iran war could shatter global food security
• Polls show consistent majorities opposing military action in Iran after a month of war
• Israeli death penalty law targeting Palestinians sparks global outcry as far right celebrates