Early Edition: March 10, 2026

A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:

IRAN WAR 

U.S.-Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 1,332 Iranian civilians since the war began at the end of February, Iran’s U.N. ambassador said yesterday. In Lebanon, the death toll reached almost 500 people yesterday following another day of Israeli airstrikes. UNICEF said yesterday that the escalating hostilities have forced nearly 700,000 people, including 200,000 children, in Lebanon to flee their homes. Parisa Hafezi, Enas Alashray, and Kanishka Singh report for Reuters; Ahmed Al Kerdi and Maayan Lubell report for Reuters.

Iranian airstrikes on Bahrain wounded more than 30 people and sparked a fire near a petroleum refinery yesterday, according to the Bahraini authorities. Raja Adbulrahim reports for the New York Times.

Turkey yesterday accused Iran of targeting it with a ballistic missile for the second time in a week. NATO defenses downed the missile, the Turkish defense ministry said, adding that debris from the missile fell near the city of Gaziantep. Ben Hubbard reports for the New York Times.

Artillery shells fired from Lebanon overnight landed near Damascus, according to a statement from the Syrian military this morning. The statement accused Hezbollah of targeting Syrian army positions and said military officials had observed Hezbollah reinforcements arriving along the Syrian-Lebanese border. Syria warned it would respond to any attack on its territory. Ephrat Livni reports for the New York Times.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said today that it would not let any oil be shipped from the Middle East if the U.S.-Israeli attacks continue. Trump told reporters that U.S. attacks would increase sharply if Iran sought to block tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Earlier on Monday, Trump said that the war in Iran would go on for at least another week, saying “we’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough.” At another news conference, Trump said the war would be over “very soon,” claiming major U.S. military successes after 10 days of fighting, but noted again it would not end this week. Several U.S. officials said such comments were aimed at calming energy markets. Parisa Hafezi, Enas Alashray, and Kanishka Singh report for Reuters; Luke Broadwater reports for the New York Times; Barak Ravid reports for Axios.

Internal deliberations over the timing and conditions for a U.S. Navy escort operation in the Strait of Hormuz have been a central focus for the Trump administration in the last week, several sources told CNN. Officials are focused on analyzing the risk of sending U.S. naval assets into an active conflict zone, with one source calling the strait “Death Valley.” U.S. intelligence suggests that Iran is unlikely to strike tankers entering the Gulf, but is expected to target them on the way out, once fully laden. Phil Mattingly and Zachary Cohen report.

Pakistani warships have begun escorting merchant vessels in the Middle East to ensure Pakistan’s access to energy supplies, the Pakistani government announced yesterday. Qasim Nauman reports for the New York Times.

The United States has intercepted encrypted communications believed to have originated in Iran that may serve as “an operational trigger” for “sleeper assets” outside of Iran, according to a federal government alert reviewed by ABC News. The alert said a transmission was relayed across multiple countries shortly after the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The transmission was encoded and appeared destined for “clandestine recipients” who possess the encryption key. Aaron Katersky and Josh Margolin report.

Missile fragments purporting to be from the deadly strike that hit a naval base and girls’ school in southern Iran on Feb. 28 bear the markings of a U.S. cruise missile, according to analysis by the New York Times. Photos of the fragments were posted online by Iran’s state broadcaster and characterized as showing “the remains of the American missile that landed on the children of Minab school.” It is not clear where or how the fragments were recovered, but they do contain serial numbers and other details consistent with how the Pentagon categorizes and labels munitions. Christiaan Triebert, Malachy Browne, and John Ismay report.

The U.S. military used $5.6 billion worth of munitions during the first two days of its assault on Iran, according to three U.S. officials. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine said last week that the campaign will shift away from using precision munitions towards cheaper laser-guided bombs, while the United States also moves air-defense systems and weapons from other regions to the Middle East to sustain the conflict. Noah Robertson reports for the Washington Post.

IRAN WAR – POLITICAL RESPONSE 

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said yesterday the United States is considering coordinating sales of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve with releases from other countries. Wright also said there are “some other options” on allowing more sales of Russian oil held in tankers. Liz Hampton reports for Reuters.

Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday discussed the war with Iran and efforts to end the war in Ukraine during a phone call, the Kremlin said. The call came within hours of Putin’s remarks that the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran had triggered a global energy crisis. Three sources told Reuters that the Trump administration is considering reducing oil sanctions on Russia, with an announcement possible in the coming days. Guy Faulconbridge, Vladimir Soldatkin, and Jarrett Renshaw report.

ISRAEL-GAZA WAR 

Disarmament talks to advance Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza have been on hold since the U.S-Israeli joint attack on Iran began, three sources said. One source said the pause was due to flight disruptions in the Middle East preventing mediators from travelling around the region. Another source said Hamas had been expected to hold talks with mediators on the day the war erupted, but the meeting was scrapped, and no new date was set.  A White House official denied there has been any pause in the talks, saying “Discussions on disarmament are ongoing and positive.” Rami Ayyub, Nidal al-Mughrabi, and Alexander Cornwell report for Reuters.

OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS 

Drones operated by Haitian security forces and private contractors have killed at least 1,243 people and injured 738 others between March 1, 2025, and Jan. 21, 2026, according to a report published yesterday by Human Rights Watch. Danica Coto reports for AP News.

U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

The State Department yesterday designated Afghanistan as a state sponsor of wrongful detention. With the designation, Afghanisation joins Iran as a country singled out by the United States for its practice of detaining U.S. citizens in the hope of extracting policy concessions. Iran was given an identical designation on Feb. 27. Eric Tucker and Edith M. Lederer report for AP News.

U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Mike Walz said yesterday that international assistance to Afghanistan should be evaluated, given the Taliban government’s intransigence. Waltz noted that the budget for the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) is the largest of any special U.N. mission in the world. UNAMA interim chief Georgette Gagnon said that Afghanistan had urgent humanitarian needs, adding that agencies aimed to assist 17.5 million Afghans in 2026 through an appeal for $1.71 billion, but this was currently only 10% funded. David Brunnstrom reports for Reuters.

U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS 

At least 11 immigrants have died in ICE custody from January 2026 through early March, according to ICE. Ted Hesson reports for Reuters.

A federal judge yesterday ordered the Homeland Security Department to provide written justification for the detention of Nashville journalist Estefany Rodriguez Florez. Mariah Timms reports for the Wall Street Journal.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS

The Trump administration has subpoenaed records related to the 2020 election in Maricopa County, Arizona, Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen (R) said yesterday, adding that the FBI now has the records. Jacob Wendler and John Sakellariadis report for POLITICO.

The White House is preparing an executive order formally instructing the federal government to remove Anthropic’s AI from its operations, sources told Axios. One source said the order could be issued this week. Maria Curi reports.

The U.S Agency for Global Media failed to cooperate with a required annual audit of its finances, according to an audit report dated Feb. 27. This is the first time in 20 years that the agency has failed to receive a clean audit report. The agency denied that it had blocked auditors from doing their work, with Kari Lake declining to address questions on the audit. Minho Kim reports for the New York Times.

“We probably have some skills we now need to hire back, quite frankly,” Scott Kupor, the head of the Office of Personnel Management, said in an interview. The Trump administration cut more than 387,000 federal jobs in its first year, while hiring about 123,000 in the same period. It is now increasing hiring under new rules that centralize recruitment and allow greater White House influence over the federal civilian workforce. Emily Davies and Meryl Kornfield report for the Washington Post.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION 

A federal judge ruled late on Sunday that the Trump administration could not immediately overhaul the process by which migrants can appeal rulings by immigration judges, pausing major changes that were set to take effect yesterday. Zach Montague and Mattathias Schwartz report for the New York Times.

A federal judge yesterday ruled that Attorney General Pam Bondi had illegally appointed a three-person leadership team to oversee the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey. The judge said that Trump’s insistence on handpicking U.S. attorneys showed that the White House cared more about personal control than public safety. Kyle Cheney, Matt Friedman, and Erica Orden report for POLITICO; Jonah E. Bromwich and Tracey Tull report for the New York Times.

Anthropic filed a lawsuit yesterday against the Trump administration for declaring the company a risk to the Defense Department’s supply chain. Brendan Bordelon and Kyle Cheney report for POLITICO.

A group of international tech experts filed a lawsuit yesterday challenging a Trump administration policy that denied visas and threatened deportation for foreign researchers who advocate stronger social-media regulation. Zach Montague reports for the New York Times.

Two advocacy groups and four Somalis filed a lawsuit yesterday seeking to stop the Trump administration from ending Temporary Protected Status for Somali immigrants next week. Nate Raymond reports for Reuters.