HERE IS THE LATEST –
- Vice President JD Vance said Thursday he was “extremely skeptical” that the U.S. hit a wedding party while carrying out strikes on Iran that Tehran claims killed at least 18 people throughout the country. Asked if the war would be over by November’s midterm elections, Vance said, “I wouldn’t call it a war.”
- A U.S. official confirmed to CBS News that no military facilities in the Middle East where Americans are based were impacted after Iran claimed it targeted U.S. forces in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates in retaliation for the strikes.
- President Trump warned Wednesday that the U.S. was prepared to launch more strikes on Iran “anytime we want,” a day after what he called a “very heavy attack” on the Islamic Republic’s military.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday voiced confidence that Iran’s regime could soon fall, saying it was weaker than ever as the United States resumed attacks.
Vance says he’s “extremely skeptical” that U.S. hit Iran wedding party
Vice President JD Vance said he was “extremely skeptical” of Iranian allegations that the U.S. hit a wedding party during American strikes earlier this week.
Iranian officials said four civilians were killed and dozens more were wounded in the attack. The U.S. military said it was looking into the allegations.
Will the war be over by the midterms? “I wouldn’t call it a war,” Vance says
Asked if the war would be over by November’s midterm elections, Vice President JD Vance disputed whether the conflict was still a war.
“I wouldn’t call it a war,” Vance said during a White House news briefing. “Right now, there is no active shooting. I recognize there have been places where this has flared up.”
The vice president also said major combat operations ended after about six weeks.
“When you ask, ‘When will this end?’ You’re asking me a question like, ‘When will the Iranians stop shooting at ships?’ I think the reality is I don’t know the answer to that question. You would have to ask the Iranians,” Vance said.
Vance says no Iran negotiations until Strait of Hormuz attacks stop
Vice President JD Vance said the U.S. wouldn’t negotiate with Iran while attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz continue.
“The president’s been very clear: We’re not talking to them, and we’re not going to talk to them unless they stop shooting at commercial shipping,” Vance said during a White House news briefing.
Iran’s latest attacks didn’t impact military facilities used by U.S., official confirms
A U.S. official confirmed to CBS News on Thursday that Iran’s attacks overnight didn’t impact any military facilities in the Middle East where U.S. forces are based, including in Kuwait, which was targeted by Iranian forces.
Damage to a residential building following what Kuwaiti authorities said was an Iranian drone attack is seen in Kuwait City, Sept. 3, 2026.AFP via Getty Images
Iran-backed Houthis attack Yemen’s western coast
Iran-backed Houthi military forces intensified missile and artillery attacks on areas along Yemen’s western coast early Thursday, according to media affiliated with government forces and local sources.
Yemen’s western coast sits on the Red Sea, another key trade route in the Middle East, like the Strait of Hormuz off the Iranian coast.
The media arm of the National Resistance, which is part of the Saudi-backed Yemeni military, said the Houthis launched 14 ballistic missiles Thursday toward rural areas around Mokha in Taiz province and south of the city of Khokha in Hodeidah province.
Local residents reported hearing explosions early Thursday in Taiz and Ibb provinces, which they believed were caused by ballistic missiles launched from Houthi-controlled areas toward Yemen’s western coast.
Iran says 3 military pilots, 3 other troops among those killed in latest U.S. strikes
At least six Iranian military service members were killed in the U.S. airstrikes carried out Tuesday night, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News agency said Thursday, including three it identified as pilots.
It was not clear if the six were among the 18 people Iran’s health ministry said had been killed in the U.S. attacks on Tuesday in a statement issued Wednesday night.
Iranian authorities had said previously that those U.S. strikes killed at least four civilians attending a wedding in the Hormozgan Province, as well as four members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard’s Aerospace Force, two members of the country’s navy and one member of the Basij paramilitary unit.
Trump, correcting Lutnick on U.S. war casualties, says 18 “killed in Iran”
President Trump appeared Thursday to contradict the U.S. military’s classification of American casualties during the Iran war in a brief social media post aimed at correcting remarks by Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
Speaking Wednesday on CNBC, Lutnick lauded Mr. Trump’s approach to the war and said “there haven’t been American deaths. It’s really just an economic choke-out, which the administration is now executing more broadly, and I think it’ll be very effective.”
In his post Thursday, Mr. Trump said Lutnick “had Venezuela on his mind when he said nobody was killed. 18 people were killed in Iran!”
Iranian politician says “dark months await” U.S. economy, warns of shift to “asymmetric” tactics
Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref warned Thursday that “dark months await” the U.S. economy. He urged Americans to stockpile fuel, claiming Iran had decided to shift to “asymmetric” and “multilayered” tactics to retaliate for “new crimes of the United States against the Iranian people.”
In a likely reference to the U.S. airstrike that Iranian officials say killed at least four civilians at a wedding celebration on Tuesday night in Hormozgan Province, Aref said in a social media post that U.S. actions had “changed our security calculations and defense doctrine.”
“From now on, our response will be ‘asymmetric,’ ‘multilayered’ and ‘depriving the aggressor of security.’ Americans should think about stockpiling gasoline and fuel; dark months await the U.S. economy,” he said, without offering any further detail.
The U.S. military said Wednesday that it was looking into the reports of the alleged strike hitting the wedding party. Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins stressed repeatedly that the “U.S. military never targets civilians,” which he accused Iran’s military forces of doing.
- Vice President JD Vance said Thursday he was “extremely skeptical” that the U.S. hit a wedding party while carrying out strikes on Iran that Tehran claims killed at least 18 people throughout the country. Asked if the war would be over by November’s midterm elections, Vance said, “I wouldn’t call it a war.”
- A U.S. official confirmed to CBS News that no military facilities in the Middle East where Americans are based were impacted after Iran claimed it targeted U.S. forces in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates in retaliation for the strikes.
- President Trump warned Wednesday that the U.S. was prepared to launch more strikes on Iran “anytime we want,” a day after what he called a “very heavy attack” on the Islamic Republic’s military.
Netanyahu says toppling Iran’s regime is “within reach”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday voiced confidence that Iran’s regime could soon fall, saying it was weaker than ever as the United States resumed attacks.
“This regime is currently teetering. It is weaker than ever. It is fighting for its survival,” Netanyahu said at an event with Israeli military leaders.
“I am convinced that we can remove this threat once and for all, that is, to overthrow this regime. That is the central task that still lies ahead of us, but it is close. It is not impossible. It is within reach,” he said.
Netanyahu’s remarks come ahead of the Oct. 27 general elections in which some polls show him trailing as opposition leaders accuse him of failing on Iran.
“If they’re not attacking us, it is not by chance. They attack everyone, but not us,” Netanyahu said of Iran. “… They know our power, the strength of our arms, and our determination.
Lebanon receives first detainee of 5 to be freed by Israel
Israel announced Thursday the release of five civilians captured in southern Lebanon, where it is at war with the pro-Iranian Hezbollah group, with one man already handed over to the Lebanese army.
Lebanon said its army had received a man returned by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the first since Beirut called in August talks for the release of an initial group seized since the start of a 2024 Israel-Hezbollah war.
“After their interrogation was completed, it became clear that they are civilians who are not members of any terrorist organization, have not engaged in terrorism, and there is no reason to continue holding them in Israel,” the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
Netanyahu’s office said the decision followed “extensive efforts” by Israel and Lebanon to locate and return the bodies of leaders of Lebanon’s Jewish community abducted and killed in the 1980s during the country’s 15-year civil war.
Iran-backed Houthis attack Yemen’s western coast
Iran-backed Houthi military forces intensified missile and artillery attacks on areas along Yemen’s western coast early Thursday, according to media affiliated with government forces and local sources.
Yemen’s western coast sits on the Red Sea, another key trade route in the Middle East, like the Strait of Hormuz off the Iranian coast.
The media arm of the National Resistance, which is part of the Saudi-backed Yemeni military, said the Houthis launched 14 ballistic missiles Thursday toward rural areas around Mokha in Taiz province and south of the city of Khokha in Hodeidah province.
Local residents reported hearing explosions early Thursday in Taiz and Ibb provinces, which they believed were caused by ballistic missiles launched from Houthi-controlled areas toward Yemen’s western coast.
Iran says 3 military pilots, 3 other troops among those killed in latest U.S. strikes
At least six Iranian military service members were killed in the U.S. airstrikes carried out Tuesday night, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News agency said Thursday, including three it identified as pilots.
It was not clear if the six were among the 18 people Iran’s health ministry said had been killed in the U.S. attacks on Tuesday in a statement issued Wednesday night.
Iranian authorities had said previously that those U.S. strikes killed at least four civilians attending a wedding in the Hormozgan Province, as well as four members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard’s Aerospace Force, two members of the country’s navy and one member of the Basij paramilitary unit.
Trump, correcting Lutnick on U.S. war casualties, says 18 “killed in Iran”
President Trump appeared Thursday to contradict the U.S. military’s classification of American casualties during the Iran war in a brief social media post aimed at correcting remarks by Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
Speaking Wednesday on CNBC, Lutnick lauded Mr. Trump’s approach to the war and said “there haven’t been American deaths. It’s really just an economic choke-out, which the administration is now executing more broadly, and I think it’ll be very effective.”
In his post Thursday, Mr. Trump said Lutnick “had Venezuela on his mind when he said nobody was killed. 18 people were killed in Iran!”
In July, the Pentagon website where the number of U.S. dead and wounded in military conflicts is reported listed four service members killed in Jordan and Iraq in July under “Overseas Operations Casualties” — separate from 14 other service members who have been killed during the war with Iran.
The other 14 appear in the database as casualties of Operation Epic Fury, the Defense Department’s previous name for the conflict. The four service members killed in Jordan and Iraq in July had previously also appeared on that list, but their names were removed, lowering the official Pentagon number on those killed in the war with Iran to 14 from 18.
All 18 of the U.S. forces killed during the Iran war have died outside of Iran during operations against the Islamic Republic. No U.S. forces are known to have been killed in Iranian territory.
Oil prices jump again as Iran continues launching attacks on U.S. Gulf allies
Oil prices jumped again Thursday as Iran claimed new strikes targeting U.S. forces across the Middle East, but bond yields eased and stock markets traded steadier after recent volatility.
Crude futures had dropped briefly, after President Trump suggested U.S. attacks against Iran would likely be short-lived, but with Iran’s retaliation continuing, and likely to draw further American strikes, oil prices continued the general upward trend on Thursday that has been seen for a week, since hostilities resumed.
Iran said it had attacked military bases used by U.S. forces in Kuwait and the UAE on Thursday, despite Mr. Trump threatening further strikes in a fresh flare-up six months into the war.
International benchmark Brent crude was trading Thursday morning at over $97 a barrel, its highest price point since July 23.
U.S. crude was also selling at its highest price in more than a month at over $92 a barrel early Thursday.
Before the U.S. and Israel jointly launched the war with Iran on Feb. 28, Brent had hovered for months around the $65 a barrel mark. The rise in global fuel prices has pushed consumer gas prices in the U.S.up, with the average cost of a gallon of regular gas across the country hitting $4.12 on Wednesday, nearly a dollar more than one year ago, according to AAA.
Iranian politician says “dark months await” U.S. economy, warns of shift to “asymmetric” tactics
Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref warned Thursday that “dark months await” the U.S. economy. He urged Americans to stockpile fuel, claiming Iran had decided to shift to “asymmetric” and “multilayered” tactics to retaliate for “new crimes of the United States against the Iranian people.”
In a likely reference to the U.S. airstrike that Iranian officials say killed at least four civilians at a wedding celebration on Tuesday night in Hormozgan Province, Aref said in a social media post that U.S. actions had “changed our security calculations and defense doctrine.”
“From now on, our response will be ‘asymmetric,’ ‘multilayered’ and ‘depriving the aggressor of security.’ Americans should think about stockpiling gasoline and fuel; dark months await the U.S. economy,” he said, without offering any further detail.
The U.S. military said Wednesday that it was looking into the reports of the alleged strike hitting the wedding party. Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins stressed repeatedly that the “U.S. military never targets civilians,” which he accused Iran’s military forces of doing.
Iran’s army claims new attacks targeting bases used by U.S. forces in Kuwait and UAE
Iran’s army claimed Thursday to have launched new attacks targeting military bases used by U.S. forces in both Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
Kuwaiti authorities said Iran had targeted the country with unspecified weapons early Thursday morning, without saying whether they were intercepted or caused any damage or casualties.
Iran’s army, in a statement, claimed it hit U.S. satellite installations, warehouses and fighter jet hangars at the Ahmed Al-Jaber Air Base in Kuwait “with missiles and attack drones,” calling the purported attacks “retaliation for the pure blood of innocent people and brave members of the armed forces” killed in American strikes this week.
It claimed the strikes “caused damage to the communications systems and fighter aircraft hangars,” but offered no evidence.
Iran’s army said radar systems and “locations where [American] forces were stationed” at the UAE’s Al Minhad Air Base were also attacked with missiles and drones, though the statement did not claim to have inflicted any specific damage with the strikes.
There was no immediate word from the U.S. military on any Iranian weapons impacting American facilities in the Mideast on Thursday.
CBS
