NPR News: 02-28-2026 7PM EST
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What recent events have occurred regarding President Trump and Iran?
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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst. President Trump says Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, is dead, though Iran hasn't confirmed this. NPR's Daniel Kurtzleben reports Trump also announced that the U.S. will be bombing Iran indefinitely in a Saturday afternoon social media post.
In his post, Trump called Khamenei, quote, one of the most evil people in history and touted the U.S. intelligence and technology that had led to Khamenei's death. Earlier today, Trump had urged Iranians to, quote, take over your government. Trump, in his post, said he hopes the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iranian police will join the people in that. He added that the U.S. bombing campaign, quote, will continue uninterrupted throughout the week or as long as necessary to achieve our objective of peace throughout the Middle East and, indeed, the world. In an interview with Iran's state news agency today, Red Crescent has said that more than 200 people have been killed and more than 700 wounded thus far in the strikes.
Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR News.
Iran's been striking Gulf Arab bases hosting U.S. troops in response to deadly Israeli and U.S. attacks on the country. Avirzai Batraoui reports civilian areas in the Gulf have also been targeted, including Dubai Airport, the world's busiest for transit.
Dubai is billed as a safe haven, a playground for the rich. It has no bomb shelters or bunkers. But on Saturday, people's phones here beeped with the sound of national emergency alerts telling them to seek shelter in, quote, secure buildings due to missile threats. In a first for this emirate, fighter jets flew overhead. An interceptor shot down Iranian missiles targeting Dubai throughout the day and past midnight. Debris fell near the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower. The Fairmont Hotel on Dubai's iconic Palm Island was also hit, possibly by a drone or debris, catching fire and wounding people. Nearby Abu Dhabi says a person there was killed by fallen debris as upscale parts of that emirate also saw fiery debris falling.
Meanwhile, Kuwait's airport was hit and a residential tower in Bahrain was struck by an exploding Iranian drone. Aya Batrawi, NPR News, Dubai.
Russia's condemning the strikes, warning they risk destabilizing the wider Middle East, NPR's Charles Maynes reports.
The foreign ministry statement called the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran a pre-planned and unprovoked act of aggression and demanded an immediate return to diplomatic talks. The ministry also accused Washington and Tel Aviv of falsely hyping threats surrounding Iran's nuclear program to pursue regime change. and war in the Middle East was in danger of plunging into a cycle of uncontrolled escalation. The Russian response was in line with its objections to recent U.S. military pressure against Kremlin allies in Venezuela, Cuba, and elsewhere in the Middle East. Yet Moscow has thus far stepped back from taking more forceful actions, with the vast majority of its military resources devoted to the war in Ukraine.
Charles Mainz, NPR News, Moscow.
Russia has been a key trade partner for Iran. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. The Library of Congress has found and restored a long-lost film by the pioneering 19th century French filmmaker Georges Melia. And Pierce Chloe Velbin reports experts are saying this is likely the first instance of a robot ever captured in a moving image.
The 45 second long silent film Gugus i l'Automate, or Gugus and the Automaton, is nearly 130 years old. But the subject matter feels very timely. A child-sized robot clown grows to the size of an adult and then attacks a human clown with a stick. The human then destroys the machine with a hammer. In an Instagram post, Library of Congress Moving Image curator Jason Evans-Groff says the film arrived in a box from a donor in Michigan, Bill McFarland.
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