About 2,500 US Marines are being deployed to the Middle East as American and Israeli strikes keep pounding Iran and the Islamic Republic keeps attacking Persian Gulf shipping and energy infrastructure. As Iranian threats choke global oil shipments, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said “we have been dealing with it and don’t need to worry about it.”
A large explosion rocked a square in Tehran that was filled with people for annual Quds Day demonstrations in support of the Palestinians, Iranian state television reported. Thousands chanted “death to Israel” and “death to America.”
More than 100 children are among the 773 people killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon, the Lebanese Health Ministry said Friday. Iranian authorities say more than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran, and Israel has reported 12 deaths. All six crew members aboard a KC-135 refueling aircraft that crashed in western Iraq are dead, raising the US military death count in Operation Epic Fury to at least 13.
Israel said Friday its strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon are “continuing and intensifying. Hezbollah’s leader said his gunmen “will fight until the end.” US President Donald Trump said the war would end “when I feel it in my bones.”
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