Cecilia Lei

And what drove Alabama's governor to dramatically commute an execution at the last minute?

It's Wednesday, March 11th.

I'm Cecilia Ley, and this is Apple News Today.

The pressure on Iran, as it has been for days now, is unrelenting.

That's the sound of a man in his car as shockwaves from explosions near the Capitol shatter his window.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said yesterday that it would be the most intense day of bombing since the war began.

Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt also repeated President Trump's suggestion that the administration was ahead of schedule.

Late Tuesday night, Iran said it was beginning its own new wave of attacks on U.S.-Israeli military bases nearby.

The consequences of this conflict is spilling far beyond military targets and into ordinary people's lives.

Reuters reported that doors and windows have blasted out of residential buildings and that residents in Iran's capital described it as a night like hell, with bombing in every part of Tehran.

The BBC heard from one Iranian woman who had crossed the border into Turkey.

Siavash Ardalan is a reporter from the BBC's Persian service.

He told the broadcaster that the bombings would inevitably impact the wider population.

Iran officials put the death toll there at over 1,300, a figure that includes many civilians.

At his press conference yesterday, Hegseth claimed the U.S.

took more precautions to avoid casualties than any other country and suggested Iran's own actions could be increasing civilian deaths.

The strikes are causing more civilians to flee their homes.

The UN estimates that the war has displaced nearly 700,000 people in Lebanon.

The country has become a primary target for Israel as they strike the heartlands of Hezbollah, Iran's most powerful proxy based there.

There were fresh waves of attacks on its capital, Beirut, last night.