The Israel Defense Forces said its aircraft overnight “struck and dismantled facilities within the leadership compound of the Iranian terrorist regime in the heart of Tehran.” The IDF said numerous munitions were dropped on the Presidential Office and the building of the Supreme National Security Council, and that the gathering site of the regime’s most senior security decision-making forum, an institution for training Iranian military officers and additional key regime infrastructure were targeted. The IDF called the compound the regime’s most central headquarters and said the strike degrades its command-and-control continuity. (Photo caption: Plumes of smoke rise following reported explosions in Tehran early on March 3, 2026. — Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)
The Iranian Red Crescent Society said at least 787 people had been killed by U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran since Saturday, according to semiofficial ISNA. (Photo caption: Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, March 3, 2026. — The Associated Press)
The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh said it would be closed Tuesday after Iranian drone strikes on the facility overnight. A shelter-in-place order remained in effect for Jeddah, Riyadh and Dhahran, and the embassy urged Americans throughout Saudi Arabia to stay inside. Tens of thousands of Americans live in Saudi Arabia, according to recent estimates. (Photo caption: A security vehicle patrols in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on March 3, 2026. — Stringer/Reuters)
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz posted on X that the “combined Israeli-American attack on Iran” is intended in part to “create the conditions for the Iranian people to act and remove” Tehran’s government. “We have severed the head of the Iranian octopus and we are now working to crush and sever the octopus’s tentacles,” Katz wrote, saying the campaign is “unprecedented in its scope, precision, and power” and aims to crush the regime’s capabilities, protect Israel and U.S. forces, prevent Iran’s nuclear or mass-missile production, and help Iranians topple the regime. He said the operation “will continue with full force for as long as required.” (Photo caption: Plumes of smoke rise following reported explosions in Tehran early on March 3, 2026. — Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)
— ABC News contributions reported by Morgan Winsor, Jordana Miller, Somayeh Malekian, Marcus Moore, Dada Jovanovic, Colm O’Molloy and others.