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Summary: Iran has denied Turkey's claim that it fired a missile toward Turkish airspace, an event that could have triggered a major escalation by activating NATO's mutual defense clause. Separately, a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian frigate in the Indian Ocean, which Iran condemned as an "atrocity," while U.S. and Israeli forces continue strikes within Iran and the region. The conflict, which began with U.S.-Israeli strikes six days earlier, is causing regional evacuations, market volatility, and political debate over war powers in Washington.

Main Topics Covered: 1. The diplomatic and military tensions between Iran and Turkey/NATO over the alleged missile incident. 2. The escalation of direct U.S.-Iran naval conflict in the Indian Ocean. 3. Continued military strikes by U.S. and Israeli forces within Iran and the broader Middle East. 4. The regional and global repercussions, including evacuations, market reactions, and domestic political debates.

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https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03/05/world/iran-war-israel-trump/here-is-the-latest

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2026-03-05 08:04

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2026-03-05 06:00

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Live Updates: Iran Denies Firing Missile at Turkey as Crisis Spills Beyond Middle East
The assertion came after Turkey, a member of NATO, said that the alliance shot down a ballistic missile headed toward Turkish airspace.
- Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times
- Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times
- Video Obtained By Reuters
- Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times
- Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times
- Eranga Jayawardene/Associated Press
- Ariel Schalit/Associated Press
- Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
- Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times
- Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times
- AFP
- Fadel Senna/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
- Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times
- Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times
Iran on Thursday denied Turkey’s claim that it had fired a missile toward Turkish airspace, as countries in the region and beyond grappled with a widening conflict that began with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran six days earlier.
On Wednesday, Turkey said that NATO shot down a missile that was heading toward Turkish airspace.
An attack on Turkey, a NATO member that shares a 300-mile border with Iran, could mark a major escalation and could activate the alliance’s mutual defense clause, potentially drawing its 32 member states into the war. So far the United Kingdom, France and Greece have said they are deploying military assets to the region only to defend their citizens and interests.
Separately, a torpedo launched from a U.S. Navy submarine sank an Iranian frigate in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka on Wednesday, marking the first time a U.S. submarine had fired a torpedo at an enemy ship in combat since World War II, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said. Sri Lankan officials said on Thursday that their navy had rescued more than 30 people, recovered more than 80 bodies and was still searching for dozens of people.
Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, on Thursday accused the United States of an “atrocity at sea,” saying on social media that the Iranian frigate had been struck in international waters without warning. “Mark my words: The U.S. will come to bitterly regret precedent it has set,” he said.
In Washington, the House was expected on Thursday to vote down a motion to rein in President Trump’s war powers, a day after the Senate rejected a similar measure in a vote split almost entirely along party lines.
Mr. Hegseth told reporters on Wednesday that American and Israeli warplanes would soon gain total control of Iranian airspace, allowing them to pick off targets and deliver “death and destruction all day long.”
Overnight, the Israeli military announced a another wave of strikes on Tehran and on Hezbollah in Lebanon. Officials in Qatar said residents who lived near the U.S. Embassy in Doha were being evacuated as a precautionary measure, and Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said its forces intercepted and destroyed several drones over the country.
Here’s what else we’re covering:
Supreme leader: Iran’s top clerics are considering their choice to replace the country’s slain supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an airstrike on Saturday. Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, appears to be a front-runner to succeed his father. Read more ›
Market rally: Stocks across most of Asia rallied on Thursday, a day after tumbling over fears around the region’s heavy reliance on imported oil and gas. The turnaround illustrates the hair-trigger reactions of investors around the world who are trying to assess the immediate and possible long-term effects of the strikes on Iran and the repercussions around the Persian Gulf, where much of the world’s oil and gas is produced. Read more ›
China’s oil exports: Officials from China’s top economic policy agency told Chinese companies on Thursday to suspend exports of refined oil, according to Guo Shiying, a senior executive at a state-owned investment firm. China, the largest buyer of Iranian oil, will send a special envoy to the Middle East to help conduct conflict mediation efforts, its foreign ministry earlier said.
Americans killed: Six U.S. service members have been killed in the conflict. The Defense Department on Wednesday night released the name of a fifth American killed in an Iranian attack on Sunday, and released the name of another soldier believed to have died in the same incident. The department on Tuesday had released the names of the other four killed. Read more ›
Evacuations: The White House press secretary said that 17,500 Americans had returned safely since the start of the war, and the U.S. State Department ordered more employees to leave their posts at embassies and consulates in four countries, after facing criticism for not doing enough to facilitate evacuations.
Death toll: The Red Crescent Society, Iran’s main humanitarian relief organization, said the death toll had risen to 787 since the start of the U.S.-Israeli attacks. The bombing of a girls’ elementary school in Iran killed at least 175 people. Dozens of people in Lebanon also have been killed, according to the Lebanese health ministry, in Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah. Read more ›
Iranian missiles struck the camp of an Iranian Kurdish force based in neighboring Iraq on Thursday morning, according to an official from the Komala Party who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Several missiles struck the camp, he said, but no one was injured. Komala is one of several Iranian Kurdish groups that have said they were readying, with some U.S. backing, to enter Iran to try to launch an insurgency.
U.S. gasoline prices continue to climb, rising another five cents per gallon on Thursday, according to the AAA motor club. The average price of unleaded gasoline hit $3.25 a gallon, the highest level since April last year. At the start of the week, it was $3 per gallon.
Oil prices resumed their rise after taking a breather yesterday, and the downstream effect on gasoline prices has been quicker than many analysts anticipated. The price of Brent Crude oil, the international benchmark, reached $84 per barrel, up sharply from around $72 a barrel before the U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran began to disrupt shipping in the Persian Gulf, a crucial source of the world’s oil, gas and related energy products.
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SKIP ADVERTISEMENTAustralia deployed military assets to the Middle East as a contingency measure earlier in the week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told parliament on Thursday. He did not provide further details.
Iran’s military denied on Thursday launching a missile at neighboring Turkey. A statement published by the state news broadcaster said “the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran respect the sovereignty of the neighboring and friendly country, Turkey, and deny any missile launch toward that country’s territory.”
NATO forces intercepted the missile on Wednesday, and the potential attack was believed to have originated from Iran.
Sri Lankan security forces on Thursday patrolled the Galle National Hospital, one of the country’s largest hospitals, where 32 sailors rescued from the IRIS Dena, the Iranian warship torpedoed by the United States, are recovering. The survivors are being kept in the hospital’s emergency ward on the third floor after being treated for burn injuries as well as cuts and scrapes. Only one survivor is in critical condition, according to a hospital official. As of Thursday, 84 bodies have been recovered, while the Sri Lanka Navy was still searching for 64 sailors.
Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, accused the United States of committing an “atrocity at sea” after an American submarine torpedoed an Iranian frigate near Sri Lanka on Wednesday. In a post on X, he said the vessel was “a guest of India’s Navy carrying almost 130 sailors” and was “struck in international waters without warning.” Sri Lanka had previously reported that the frigate’s crew numbered 180 people. “Mark my words: The U.S. will come to bitterly regret precedent it has set,” Araghchi said.
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SKIP ADVERTISEMENTSaudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said early Thursday that its forces had destroyed several drones that were flying over the country. One was intercepted east of the northern region of Al-Jawf and three others east of the Al-Kharj governorate, southeast of Riyadh, the ministry said on social media. It did not say where the drones came from.
An oil company in Oman said early Thursday that it suspended operations at one of its fuel storage tanks after it suffered minor physical damage in an “incident.” Oman Oil Marketing Company did not provide details about the incident in its statement posted to the Muscat Stock Exchange.
Officials from China’s top economic policy agency told Chinese companies to suspend exports of refined oil, according to a senior executive at a state-owned investment firm. The officials made the order verbally, the executive, Guo Shiying, the deputy general manager of the firm First Futures Co., said on his verified social media account. Oil prices are rising as fighting in the Persian Gulf widens and concerns grow about the supply of crude oil.
Even as the U.S.-Israeli air campaign diminishes Iran’s ability to fire ballistic missile strikes, Tehran has warned that it has yet to deploy its most advanced weaponry.
“We do not intend to deploy all our advanced weapons in the first days,” Reza Talaei-Nik, Iran’s defense ministry spokesman, told the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency on Tuesday.
While Mr. Talaei-Nik did not provide details, he could have been referring to Iran’s hypersonic missiles, which the country has flaunted since 2023, when IRNA reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps had unveiled the first domestically produced model of the weapon.
The government claims it has developed hypersonic missile technology as part of its Fattah missile series, and that its version can travel many times faster than the speed of sound, with a range of about 870 miles. At such high speeds, the missile can render traditional air defense systems futile.
But many security experts doubt that the missiles have hypersonic capacity, and there has yet to be independent verification of their capabilities.
There have been indications that Iran has previously deployed versions of the Fattah missile against Israel, but Tehran’s claims about the weapon are likely “hyperbolized,” said Behnam Ben Taleblu, the senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a think tank.
“They have a history of thumping their chests about what they have,” said Admiral William J. Fallon, a former commander of U.S. Central Command. “I doubt they have many, if any, that are real hypersonic.”
Both experts said efforts to destroy the Fattah missile series would advance the U.S. objective of crippling Iran’s ballistic missile capacity. The U.S. military has focused its assaults on mobile missile launchers and underground facilities where officials believe Iran stores its ballistic missiles.
Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Wednesday that the number of ballistic missiles fired by Iran is down 86 percent from the first day of fighting.
Government reports from some Persian Gulf states also indicate that Iran has scaled back its ballistic missile attacks. The United Arab Emirates’ defense ministry said that Iran had fired 174 ballistic missiles toward the country during the first three days of war, but only three in the last 24 hours.
“What the Americans and Israelis are doing is going after the launchers of these bases,” Mr. Taleblu said. “That way, you can multiply the effect of the mission in Iran.”
The United States has said it has struck more than 2,000 targets in Iran, though the status of Iran’s stockpile of ballistic missiles is unclear. Before Israel launched a 12-day air attack on Iran last summer, Israeli intelligence had estimated Iran’s missile capacity stood at roughly 3,000 missiles, but intelligence reports suggested the Iranians planned to produce as many as 8,000 missiles by 2027.
The Alma Research and Education Center, an Israeli security nonprofit, published a blog post on Wednesday citing Israeli military estimates that, as of last month, Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal had grown to approximately 2,500 missiles.
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SKIP ADVERTISEMENTPro-American, Iranian Kurdish forces based in Iraq are preparing armed units that could enter Iran, creating a potential new front in an already expanding conflict, according to Iraqi officials and senior members of Iranian Kurdish groups.
The C.I.A. has previously given small arms to the Iranian Kurdish forces as part of a covert program to destabilize Iran, an effort that began before the current war, according to people familiar with the effort.
But in a briefing on Wednesday, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said reports that President Trump had agreed to any plan for the Kurds to launch an insurgency in Iran were “completely false.”
The U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran that began on Saturday has killed the country’s supreme leader and other top officials. It has also targeted government and security facilities around the country, including on the Iran-Iraq border. American officials are debating the utility of a Kurdish incursion as fighting intensifies, according to the people briefed on the situation.
Any U.S. effort to assist the Kurds in beginning an incursion into Iran, or any sort of insurgency there, would be a surprising twist in the war. If large enough, the incursion could force Iranian army units to respond, allowing American or Israeli planes to target them.
The United States has a long history of working with Kurdish militia forces in Iraq and Syria. But America also has a reputation of abandoning the Kurds, an ethnic group that stretches across parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. After the 1991 Persian Gulf war, the United States encouraged a Kurdish uprising in Iraq, but then stood by as the Iraqi army slaughtered Kurdish forces.
Some people familiar with the planning for any potential Kurdish incursion into Iran voiced a note of caution. There is no way that any Kurdish force could topple the Iranian government, they say, or even significantly influence who might take power. The C.I.A. has provided only small arms to the Kurdish forces, which do not have tanks or heavy weaponry to launch an invasion or to plausibly threaten the theocratic government in Tehran.
Former officials also said Iran’s Persian majority would not welcome an armed Kurdish incursion. There are an estimated 6 million to 9 million Kurds in the country of 90 million people.
The people familiar with the deliberations echoed Ms. Leavitt, saying the White House had not yet decided whether to send the Kurds into Iran. And some of the people said the decision may not be up to Israel or the United States, and the Kurdish leadership might make its own call.
Iran has been pressuring Iraq to prevent the Kurdish fighters from crossing the border, the Iraqi officials and Iranian Kurdish leaders said.
This week, Mr. Trump asked two Iraqi Kurdish leaders, Massoud Barzani and Bafel Talabani, to enable Iranian Kurdish fighters based in Iraq to move into Iran, according to two Iranian Kurdish leaders and two Iraqi security officials.
One of the Iranian Kurdish officials said Mr. Trump had a separate call on Tuesday to discuss sending forces over the border with the head of one of those Kurdish groups, Mustafa Hijri, of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran. All the officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Neither the security officials nor the group members elaborated on what form the U.S. support might take.
Ms. Leavitt said that she would not comment on Mr. Trump’s calls with foreign officials but that the president “did speak to Kurdish leaders with respect to our base that we have in northern Iraq.”
The C.I.A. declined to comment on the effort to support the Kurds.
It is not clear precisely when the C.I.A. began arming the Kurds, but it is part of a long-term covert campaign by the agency to destabilize the Iranian government, according to those familiar with the effort. Former officials said it was never meant to topple the government in Tehran, but aimed at distracting leaders or potentially creating a security crisis.
The C.I.A. effort to arm the Kurdish forces was earlier reported by CNN. Axios reported on a call between Kurdish leaders in Iraq and Mr. Trump to discuss the war in Iran.
Since the beginning of the joint U.S.-Israeli war campaign, bombs and missiles have struck targets in western Iran, apparently focused on Kurdistan Province, according to an analysis by The New York Times. It is unclear from imagery if the United States, Israel or both forces have hit those targets.
Several Iranian Kurdish leaders described the strikes in western Iran as part of an effort to support an infiltration from Iraq.
The strikes have hit Islamic Revolutionary Guards facilities, police stations and, critically, border guard posts and communications towers. The strikes also have hit civilian administrative buildings, and damaged nearby residential areas.
An analysis of video footage and satellite imagery shows that the strikes have been concentrated on locations near highways that run from the Iraq-Iran border into Iran. The bombardments have come at a huge cost to civilian lives in the area, Iranians who have relatives there told The Times.
Where strikes hit along the Iran-Iraq border
The bombing campaign would make any incursion by Iranian-Kurdish forces from Iraq easier, reducing the strength of Iranian forces that could seek to stop the invasion.
In Sanandaj, the provincial capital of Iran’s Kurdistan region, the strikes flattened security facilities and administrative offices. One verified video captured a large explosion at a police headquarters already surrounded by smoke, with later images showing the destroyed complex, including a broadcast tower.
In Marivan, a smaller city closer to Iraq’s border, a prison and adjacent jail were heavily damaged, satellite imagery and video posted online show. Other targeted locations included Baneh, where a video verified by The Times showed extensive destruction in the city’s center.
Since the opening salvos of the war on Saturday, Mr. Trump has framed the attacks as a “historic opportunity” for Iranians to overthrow their authoritarian clerical rulers.
Iran’s Kurds have often faced the brunt of the authoritarian government’s repression. Their political leaders have long sought to create a national homeland, either as a state or through self-governing federal regions within their current countries.
“We are fighting for freedom and of course we are fighting against the military that is harming our people,” said Siamand Moani, a veteran leader of the Kurdistan Free Life Party, one of the Iranian Kurdish groups in Iraq that officials say plan to send fighters into Iran. Mr. Moani would not confirm nor deny that effort, but said the militants had “broadened” their operations.
Since the war began, proxy militias aligned with Iran have struck a U.S. base in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region. They have also hit the region’s international airport, oil and gas facilities, and at least two bases used by Iranian Kurdish fighters there.
Iraq’s central government, which has close ties to Iran, has ordered officials in the Iraqi Kurdistan region not to allow Iranian Kurdish militants to cross the border, according to two senior Iraqi officials. Regional officials in Iraqi Kurdistan seem to have complied with the request, the officials said.
On Tuesday, the deputy prime minister of Iraqi Kurdistan, Qubad Talabani, said in a statement that he had stressed in a security meeting that the region “is not a part in the regional conflict, and adopts a neutral stance.”
Some Iranian Kurdish leaders said they were hesitant to work with the United States to launch operations in Iran, given the potential costs to their people if the effort failed.
Still, one of those officials said that some Iranian Kurdish forces based in Iraq have decided to go forward with a plan to send forces into Iran.
Their hope is that once an insurgency is launched, local residents will join them — though there is no guarantee of that, as many Kurds in the region are not loyal to these groups.
Iranian Kurdish regions, however, were some of the most restive during a nationwide protest movement against Iran’s government in January, which authorities crushed in a deadly crackdown.
Michael Crowley and Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington, and Natan Odenheimer from Jerusalem.
An earlier version of this article misstated the location of targets struck in Iran by the U.S.-Israeli campaign, apparently focused on Kurdistan Province. It is in western, not eastern, Iran.
When we learn of a mistake, we acknowledge it with a correction. If you spot an error, please let us know at corrections@nytimes.com.Learn more
Top Trump administration officials said on Wednesday that they were still investigating whether it was a U.S. airstrike that hit a girls elementary school in Iran on the opening day of the war.
The strike was one of the deadliest attacks of the American-Israeli campaign against Iran so far, killing at least 175 people, most of whom were likely children, according to state media and health officials.
It is not clear why the school was hit, or which country’s forces fired at it.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, was asked at a briefing Wednesday afternoon if the United States had conducted the airstrike on the school. “Not that we know of,” she responded. “The Department of War is investigating this matter.”
Asked again several minutes later if there was any evidence that it was not a U.S. strike, or, conversely, if there had been any assessment as to whether Israel had played a role in the attack, she said: “Again, the Department of War is currently investigating this matter.”
During his press briefing at the Pentagon on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also was asked about the strike.
“All I can say is that we’re investigating that,” Mr. Hegseth said. “We of course never target civilian targets, but we’re taking a look and investigating that.”
The strike occurred on Saturday, the first day of the war. Given that several days had passed, wouldn’t there be some clarity by now about who was responsible, Mr. Hegseth was asked. “We’re investigating it,” he repeated.
The school that was hit was called Shajarah Tayyebeh. It was in a small town in the south called Minab. Thousands of mourners filled the town’s streets on Tuesday for funerals. According to video footage verified by The New York Times, rows of graves were dug by workmen at a nearby cemetery, about five miles from the elementary school.
The United Nations cultural and education agency, UNESCO, wrote in a statement on social media that “the killing of pupils” at the school constituted a “grave violation of the protection afforded to schools under international humanitarian law.”
When Ms. Leavitt was asked about the attack at the briefing on Wednesday, she said that “the United States of America does not target civilians, unlike the rogue Iranian regime that targets civilians, that kills children, that has killed thousands of their own people in the past several weeks.”
She said that the Iranian regime “uses propaganda quite effectively,” and that many of the reporters in the White House briefing room “have fallen for that propaganda.”
“So I would caution you from pointing a finger at the United States of America when it comes to targeting civilians,” she added, “because that’s not something that these armed forces do.”
Malachy Browne and Pranav Baskar contributed reporting.
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SKIP ADVERTISEMENTRepublicans on Wednesday blocked a measure that would limit President Trump’s power to continue waging war against Iran without congressional authorization, turning back a bid by Democrats to insist that Congress weigh in on a sweeping and open-ended military campaign.
The 53-to-47 vote against taking up the measure was almost completely along party lines, reflecting a deep partisan divide on the Iran war as the Senate delivered the first clear test of congressional resolve since the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes, Operation Epic Fury, began across Iran four days ago.
Senators Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, and Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, tried to force action on the measure. They invoked a provision of the 1973 War Powers Act, which requires that resolutions to terminate offensive hostilities be considered under expedited procedures.
Mr. Paul was the only Republican leading the effort, and no other G.O.P. senators joined him in support of the measure.
Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat to break with his party and vote against the resolution, in keeping with his vocal stance in support of Israel and reluctance to place limits on the president’s authority to act in its defense.
The measure’s failure came as the administration offered varying and at times conflicting explanations for the war, raising questions about its legality and posing a dilemma for some lawmakers as they were called upon to register a position on a conflict that has already cost American lives. It also comes only months before the midterm elections and as polls show the conflict is deeply unpopular.
“Americans want President Trump to lower prices, not drag us into unnecessary forever wars,” Mr. Kaine said ahead of the vote. “Yet he has unilaterally launched strikes at Iran without congressional authorization.”
Mr. Kaine introduced the resolution with Mr. Paul in January as the president was directing the largest military buildup in the Middle East since the war in Iraq and shortly after Mr. Trump said that the United States was “locked and loaded and ready to go” ahead with military action against Iran in response to a violent crackdown on protesters there.
Republicans have largely praised Mr. Trump’s decision to launch the military campaign, which has killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, along with a number of his deputies and senior advisers. They argue that the action was justified given Iran’s decades of targeting Americans through its own forces and proxy terror groups throughout the region.
Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the Republican chairman of the Armed Services Committee, on Wednesday said that he grieved “the six American servicemen and women who’ve died in the fighting” and added that he was also mourning “the thousands of Americans that have died over the last 47 years at hands of the brutal Islamists.”
The president understands “the weight of war,” Mr. Wicker added, lauding his decision to begin strikes as “profound, deliberate and correct.”
Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, spoke in favor of the military campaign, saying during a speech on the Senate floor that “the Islamic Republic of Iran was, quite literally, founded on the premise of existential war against America and against Israel. And over and over again, it has escalated the war, exported more terror, spilled more blood and destabilized an entire region.”
But he cautioned that his support for executive authority was not boundless, adding that the president has a responsibility to make sure the use of his authority is “judicious, rooted in core national interests and broadly supported by the American people.”
Some other Republicans who opposed the resolution also suggested their position could shift if the military action expanded or dragged on.
Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, said on Wednesday that his support for the operation could flag if it were to expand beyond aerial strikes.
“I’ve always drawn a line at ground troops,” he said, adding that if Mr. Trump sought to deploy them, that would “require some sort of authorization.” He has also emphasized the need for continued briefings as the campaign continues to unfold and widen in scope.
Hours before the vote, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the U.S. military was overwhelming Iran with aerial strikes and that a more intense phase of the campaign had begun as more bombers arrived on Wednesday.
Iranian leaders, Mr. Hegseth said, were looking up at the skies “and seeing only U.S. and Israeli air power, every minute of every day until we decide it’s over. And Iran will be able to do nothing about it.
“Death and destruction from the sky, all day long.”
General Caine said that the campaign had devastated Iran’s ballistic missile program and its naval fleet, and that it continued to make “steady progress” with plans to “expand inland, striking progressively deeper into Iranian territory.”
The conflict has, so far, resulted in the deaths of at least six American service members, a sobering reminder that this conflict is remarkably different than other military actions Mr. Trump has undertaken since his return to office, which allies on Capitol Hill have praised as limited in scope and resulting in no American casualties.
Wednesday’s vote marked the latest in a series of failed war powers resolution efforts in both the House and Senate since Mr. Kaine began a series of challenges after Mr. Trump carried out a series of strikes against nuclear sites in Iran last summer. Since then Democrats have tried, and failed, repeatedly to rein in the president’s ability to act without consulting with Congress.
While the Constitution grants Congress the power to declare war, it has not done so since World War II, and the president has authority to act in defense of the nation. Over the last several decades, Congress has approved authorizations for the use of military force, which confer the executive with powers to direct military action without an immediate need to consult with the legislative branch. During his first term, Mr. Trump cited a Bush-era authorization that was used to justify a wide range of military actions over many years as legal grounds for a drone strike that killed Iran’s Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani in Baghdad in 2020.
This time, the president’s letter to Congress did not point to any previous authorization as justification and instead referenced the president’s “responsibility to protect Americans and United States interests both at home and abroad” without citing any specific or imminent threat.
A similar measure is expected to receive a vote on Thursday in the House, where it is also expected to fail.
Some Republicans who said Congress should have had a greater role in the decision to go to war against Iran nonetheless argued that removing U.S. forces at this stage would place American lives at risk.
“I will say very clearly: Yes, I wish I would have been consulted. I wish my vote would have been asked for before this,” said Senator John Curtis, Republican of Utah. “But the president did act within his legal bounds to do what he has done.”
Voting to halt the operation, he added, “is not the right answer to this.”
But the Democrats insisted that even if the mission was worthy, Congress had to step up and reassert Congress’s constitutional prerogatives on matters of war.
“I believe the founders’ worst fears have come to pass,” Senator Adam B. Schiff of California, one of the Democrats who cosponsored the resolution, said ahead of the vote. “Donald Trump has become too fond of going to war, and has done so again without congressional authorization.”
Megan Mineiro contributed reporting.
The Spanish government on Wednesday categorically denied an assertion by the White House that the country had reversed its opposition to the war on Iran and was now cooperating with the U.S. military.
It was the latest twist in the back and forth between the United States and Spain’s left-wing government, which has been the Trump’s administration’s most vocal European critic and which has staked out an unequivocal antiwar position. In contrast, Britain, France and Germany have issued a joint statement promising to help in defensive actions against Iran.
On Sunday, Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, condemned the attack on Iran as a violation of international law, calling it “an unjustified and dangerous military intervention.” His government banned American warplanes involved in the attacks from using Spanish bases.
On Tuesday, President Trump, visibly furious, threatened to cut off trade with Spain and suggested America could use the bases anyway.
That led Mr. Sánchez to address the nation on Wednesday morning. “We are not going to be accomplices to something that is bad for the world and contrary to our values and interests, simply because of fear of reprisals from some,” he said.
He added that Spain would keep “demanding the end of hostilities,.”
Spain had joined the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, which Mr. Sánchez said had “provoked a drastic increase in jihadist terrorism, a severe migration crisis in the eastern Mediterranean.” He added, “Another American administration dragged us into a war in the Middle East.”
Later on Wednesday, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, suggested that Spain had changed course. “I think they heard the president’s message yesterday loud and clear,” she said. “It is my understanding over the past several hours they’ve agreed to cooperate with the US military.”
Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, swiftly rejected the White House assertion. “That’s not true,” he said on a radio show that was disseminated Wednesday evening by the Spanish government. “We categorically deny it. Spain’s position has not changed.”
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SKIP ADVERTISEMENTIran’s military denied on Thursday that it fired a ballistic missile toward Turkey, after the Turkish defense ministry said NATO defenses in the Mediterranean had intercepted the missile.
Turkey’s defense ministry said on Wednesday that the missile was detected to have been launched from Iran, directed toward Turkish airspace, and flew over Iraq and Syria.
A statement published by Iran’s state news broadcaster said “the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran respect the sovereignty of the neighboring and friendly country, Turkey, and deny any missile launch toward that country’s territory.”
A senior U.S. military official and a Western official said it was aimed at the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, a NATO member that hosts American troops and those from other allied countries. Incirlik hosts a sizable U.S. Air Force contingent, but Turkey has said that it would not allow its airspace to be used for attacks on Iran.
Both officials said the Iranian missile was shot down by an interceptor missile fired from a U.S. warship in the eastern Mediterranean. The senior U.S. official added that it had been shot down shortly before midnight Eastern Standard Time Tuesday by an SM-3 interceptor launched from the U.S.S. Oscar Austin.
Remnants of the interceptor fell in Turkey’s south-central province of Hatay, near the border with Syria, injuring no one, the Turkish ministry statement said.
Iran has launched missiles and drones at neighboring countries that host U.S. military facilities and personnel in retaliation for the American and Israeli air campaign against Tehran.
An attack on Turkey, which shares a 300-mile border with Iran, would mark a major escalation and could activate NATO’s mutual defense clause, potentially drawing the alliance’s 32 member states into the war.
In a statement, Allison Hart, a NATO spokeswoman, said the alliance condemned the targeting of Turkey.
“NATO stands firmly with all allies, including Turkey, as Iran continues its indiscriminate attacks across the region,” the statement said. “Our deterrence and defense posture remains strong across all domains, including when it comes to air and missile defense.”
A strike on Turkey could also alter Turkey’s relationship with Iran. The two countries have longstanding diplomatic and trade relations, and Turkey was heavily involved in recent diplomatic efforts aimed at preventing the current war.
Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, spoke by phone with his Iranian counterpart about the missile and said that any action that could cause the conflict to spread should be avoided, Turkey’s foreign ministry said in a statement. The foreign ministry also summoned the Iranian ambassador to Ankara to convey its “concern and strong protest,” according to the state-run news agency Anadolu.
The Turkish defense ministry said it would consult with its NATO allies and protect the country from any attacks. “All necessary steps to defend our territory and airspace will be taken resolutely and without hesitation,” it said.
A father who dreamed of opening a martial arts studio. A mother who wanted more time with her teenage son and 9-year-old daughter. A college sophomore with a bright future ahead.
Since the United States and Israel launched coordinated attacks on Iran on Saturday, at least six American service members have been killed, and details of who they were outside their roles in the military have emerged as family and friends mourn their deaths.
The war has pressed forward, expanding across the Middle East and yielding hundreds of casualties, including among Iran’s top leadership. The Trump administration has said the conflict could last for weeks and that more U.S. deaths are expected.
Four of the U.S. victims were identified on Tuesday evening as Army Reserve members
Capt. Cody A. Khork and Sgts. Nicole M. Amor, Declan J. Coady and Noah L. Tietjens. A fifth deceased service member was identified Wednesday evening as Maj. Jeffrey R. O’Brien, and the Department of Defense said it believed the sixth individual was Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan.
All of them were killed Sunday during an unmanned aircraft system attack in the Shuaiba port in Kuwait. The attack is under investigation. They had been assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command in Des Moines, which provides food, water and ammunition to troops and transports equipment and supplies.
“Their sacrifice, and the sacrifices of their families, will never be forgotten,” Lt. Gen. Robert Harter, the chief of Army Reserve and the commanding general of U.S. Army Reserve Command, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Noah L. Tietjens, 42
Raised in a military family, Sgt. First Class Noah L. Tietjens joined the Army in the early 2000s and had completed at least four tours in countries including Kuwait and Iraq, said his twin brother, Nicholas.
He had proven himself to be a “great leader,” Nicholas said, and was three months away from wrapping up his deployment in Kuwait. “He just wanted to get there, and get it over with, and get back,” his brother said.
Sergeant Tietjens left behind a wife, Shelly, and a teenage son, Dylan. The three had taken up martial arts together and were constant figures at Martial Arts International in their hometown, Bellevue, Neb. Sergeant Tietjens had become certified as an instructor and dreamed of opening his own studio one day.
Julius Melegrito, the owner of Martial Arts International, said Sergeant Tietjens was calm, confident and soft-spoken, traits of a great teacher.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Sergeant Tietjens was invaluable in helping the martial arts studio handle social distancing, said Mr. Melegrito’s wife, Faith.
“He has this commanding presence and friendly aura around him,” Ms. Melegrito said. “Since then, whenever we would have events or he would be at the school, I would always feel more calm when he’s around, because I knew he would look at what’s needed and he would take care of it.”
Sergeant Tietjens was also a doting father, making sure to cheer on Dylan at his black belt ceremony. When Dylan accepted a special award that night, he asked his father to come onstage so he could dedicate it to him.
In Nebraska, flags have been ordered to fly at half-staff in honor of Sergeant Tietjens, said Gov. Jim Pillen. “Noah stepped up to serve and defend the American people from foreign enemies around the world — a sacrifice we must never forget,” Mr. Pillen said in a statement.
Cody A. Khork, 35
From an early age, Capt. Cody A. Khork “felt a calling to serve his country,” his family said in a statement. Captain Khork, a resident of Lakeland, Fla., enlisted as a multiple launch rocket system/fire direction specialist in the National Guard in 2009.
“He was deeply patriotic and took great pride in serving something greater than himself,” the family said. “He lived with purpose, loved deeply, and served honorably. His legacy will endure in the lives he touched, the example he set, and the love of country and family that defined him.”
The Department of Defense said Captain Khork commissioned as a military police officer in the Army Reserve in 2014. He deployed to Saudi Arabia in 2018, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in 2021, and Poland in 2024.
He had been honored numerous times over the years for his achievements, earning multiple awards, including the Meritorious Service Medal and Army Commendation Medal.
Nicole M. Amor, 39
Sgt. First Class Nicole M. Amor’s recent deployment to Kuwait, after nearly 20 years in the military, was likely going to be her last, her brother Derek Hoff said on Tuesday.
Sergeant Amor, a resident of White Bear Lake, Minn., seemed to be at a crossroads before she left in August, her brother said. Her 18-year-old son was graduating high school, and she didn’t want to miss more of her 9-year-old daughter’s childhood.
“She knew what she signed up for, and she did it because she had a job and a duty,” said Mr. Hoff, 42, of Eau Claire, Wis.
After joining the National Guard as an automated logistics specialist in 2005, she transferred to the Army Reserve a year later, and then was deployed to Iraq in 2019 and later Kuwait, where her duties revolved around logistics. Mr. Hoff said his sister was close to moving on to her next chapter, possibly retiring from the military to spend more time with her children.
“She just missed them,” Mr. Hoff said. “It was a yearning for her kids.”
Sgt. Declan J. Coady, 20
Sgt. Declan J. Coady (posthumously promoted from specialist) grew up in Iowa and was a sophomore at Drake University in Des Moines when he died. In a statement shared with The New York Times, his family said he was an Eagle Scout and fencer who loved gaming and going to the gym.
He was often a man of few words, his sister, Keira Coady, wrote. “But if you ever had the chance to talk to him about something he was passionate about,” she added, “you were lucky.”
“He was so smart and could just talk your ear off for hours about what he loved,” she said. Ms. Coady said her brother was “just a baby” when he died, with his 21st birthday coming up in May. He was a rock for his parents and three siblings, she said.
Sergeant Coady enlisted in the Army Reserve in 2023 as an Army information technology specialist and had been awarded the Army Service Ribbon, National Defense Service Ribbon and the Overseas Service Ribbon.
At Drake, he was “a well-loved and highly dedicated” student who “had an incredibly bright future ahead of him,” the university said in a statement.
Maj. Jeffrey R. O’Brien, 45
Maj. Jeffrey R. O’Brien was an Army Reserve soldier who resided in Waukee, Iowa, according to the Department of Defense. He commissioned in the Army Reserve as a signal corps officer in 2012 and deployed to Kuwait in 2019.
During his military career, he received several accolades, including the Army Achievement Medal, Meritorious Unit Commendation and Army Superior Unit Award.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan, 54
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan of Sacramento was at the scene of the attack in Kuwait on Sunday, which killed six service members, and was believed to be among those who died, but a medical examiner will confirm, the Department of Defense said.
Ann Klein contributed reporting.