Odaily News On March 2, the situation in the Middle East continued to escalate. Regarding casualties, Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei and former President Ahmadinejad were killed in an attack. The Iranian presidential office stated that President Ebrahim Raisi is safe. Trump claimed that 48 members of the Iranian leadership were killed and that three U.S. military personnel lost their lives; Iran stated the attack resulted in 560 U.S. military casualties.

The U.S. side claimed to have destroyed the headquarters of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), striking over 1,000 targets, and utilized B-2 bombers to attack missile facilities. Iran stated it had launched multiple rounds of strikes against U.S. and Israeli targets and appointed Ahmad Vahidi as the new commander-in-chief of the IRGC. Israel claimed to have eliminated several senior Iranian leaders and intensified its strikes. The UK, France, and Germany issued a joint statement concerning defensive action arrangements. Shipping and financial markets in multiple countries were affected. (Jin10)

Odaily According to U.S. President Trump, Iran has just announced it will launch a "massive and unprecedented attack" today, and he warned Iran "better not do that." Trump stated that if Iran takes such action, the U.S. will strike back with unprecedented force. (Jin10)

Odaily News U.S. President Trump stated that he believes the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei were effective and could create opportunities for diplomatic channels. "Obviously, it's much easier now than it was a day ago," Trump said when asked about the possibility of resolving the crisis through diplomacy, "because they were hit hard." Trump expressed confidence in the results achieved so far. (Jin10)

Odaily According to four informed sources, US President Trump launched a large-scale airstrike on Iran on Saturday, which was preceded by weeks of lobbying from two unusual Middle Eastern allies—Israel and Saudi Arabia. The sources indicated that although Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman publicly supported a diplomatic resolution to the Iran issue, he privately called Trump multiple times over the past month, strongly advocating for a US airstrike. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued to publicly lobby the US to strike Iran, viewing Iran as an "existential enemy" of Israel. Under combined pressure from various parties, Trump ordered a large-scale airstrike on Iran's leadership and military. Despite US intelligence assessments suggesting that the Iranian military is unlikely to pose a direct threat to the US mainland within the next decade, the attack proceeded nonetheless. (The Washington Post)

Odaily News U.S. President Trump posted on a social platform, stating, "Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei, one of the most evil people in history, is dead. This is justice not only for the Iranian people but also for all great Americans and for the people of all nations who were killed or maimed under Khamenei and his bloodthirsty gang of thugs. He could not escape our intelligence and highly sophisticated tracking systems, nor the close cooperation between the United States and Israel; he and the other killed leaders were powerless. This is the greatest opportunity for the Iranian people to take back their country. We hear that their Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, military, and other security and police forces no longer want to fight and are seeking our protection. As I said last night: 'Now they can get protection; later they will only get death!' I hope the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and police can peacefully merge with Iranian patriots, working together as one to restore the country to its rightful greatness. This process should begin very soon because not only has Khamenei perished, but the country has also suffered severe damage, even complete destruction, in just one day. However, precision bombing will continue uninterrupted until we achieve our goals of peace in the Middle East and throughout the world!"