Iran’s Escalating Retaliation, and Takeaways From the Clintons’ Epstein Testimony
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We gave Times employees a preview of Crossplay from New York Times Games. And here's what they had to say. I can finally play with other people. I'm pretty competitive. It's fun to beat friends and coworkers. I have a J for 10 points. I'm guessing tanga is not a word. Let's see. Tanga is a word. Oh. As an English as a second language speaker, I like to learn new words. Crossplay, the first two-player word game from New York Times Games. Download it for free today. From The New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Traci Mumford. Today's Tuesday, March 3rd. Here's what we're covering. As of this morning, the U.S. State Department has closed its embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait after drone attacks, and it's urging Americans to immediately leave from 14 Middle East countries as Iran expands its retaliatory strikes.
Explosions have been reported in several countries where there are American military bases, including Iraq and the UAE. There have also been attacks against Dubai's international airport and other infrastructure. Amazon's cloud computing business said two of its facilities in the UAE have also been hit. The attacks come as the Trump administration says it is sending more forces to the Middle East. As the president warned, an effort of this scope will include casualties. War is hell and always will be. Yesterday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the toll on U.S. forces could rise. Six U.S. service members have been killed so far. To the media outlets and political left screaming, endless wars. Stop.
This is not Iraq. This is not endless. Hegseth said the U.S. would continue hitting Iran, quote, surgically, and insisted this would not spiral into a long-term entanglement like other U.S. conflicts in the region. Some U.S. lawmakers have expressed skepticism about the administration's rationale for launching the operation. While the president has broad authority to respond to specific, time-sensitive threats, going to war requires congressional approval. This week, both the House and Senate are set to weigh in with votes seeking to limit Trump's power to continue to use force against Iran. Meanwhile, The Times has learned new details about the lead-up to Trump's decision to launch the attacks. The prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, had been pushing Trump for months to strike a decisive blow.
The two leaders talked about it at the White House in February for hours, even about possible dates for an attack. Trump also talked about it extensively with his own inner circle of advisers, and there was not much opposition.
What recent events have escalated tensions between the U.S. and Iran?
Even Vice President J.D. Vance, a longtime skeptic of American military intervention in the Middle East... said if the U.S. was going to hit Iran, it should, quote, go big and go fast, according to people familiar with the conversation. And while Trump sent a team to negotiate with Iran, his special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, they left the talks last week telling Trump they did not think a deal could be reached on the country's nuclear program. The next day, Trump gave the go-ahead for the strikes. Quote, Operation Epic Fury is approved. No aborts. Good luck. Now, two more updates on the Trump administration. Today, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
It's the first time she'll face questions in Congress since her department launched its aggressive immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota, which resulted in widespread outrage after agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens. Democrats are expected to press Noem on that. Funding for her department lapsed more than two weeks ago, in part because Democrats have refused to pass a spending bill without new restrictions on DHS agents. Republicans, meanwhile, are pointing to the heightened risk of terrorist threats in the U.S. following the attacks on Iran and saying Democrats should relent and agree to funding. Noem will also face questions from lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee tomorrow.
And a new Times analysis of the Department of Veterans Affairs has found that the agency has cut thousands of medical positions, even as many of its facilities face a severe shortage of doctors and nurses.
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