Iran launches ‘most intense’ strikes yet as Israel targets Tehran, Hezbollah
Iran claimed Wednesday morning it has launched its “most intense and heaviest operation” yet in the ongoing war in the Middle East.
Interceptions and air raid sirens were reported in Israel and across the Gulf overnight Tuesday into Wednesday. Video released by Iran’s state-run news agency shows what it said are missiles being launched.
The United Arab Emirates said its air defenses were attempting to intercept incoming Iranian fire Wednesday morning.
In Dubai, officials said four people were injured when two drones fell near Dubai International Airport — the world’s busiest airport for international travel. That notice came around the same time the Iranian joint command announced banks and financial institutions are now among the targets in the Middle East.
Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are home to many international financial institutions.
Israel continues strikes on Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon
Meanwhile, Israel said it has begun an “additional wave” of strikes targeting Tehran. Explosions were reported near Mehrabad International Airport, with major nighttime air raids also reported in northern Iran.
Israel has also continued strikes against the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Israeli strikes in eastern and southern Lebanon killed 14 people and wounded more than two dozen others between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. The ministry also said an Israeli strike on an apartment building in central Beirut early Wednesday wounded four people.
Israel’s military announced Wednesday it is repositioning troops to reinforce its northern border with Lebanon. The military said there are currently no plans to evacuate communities there, though.
Since the latest round of Israel-Hezbollah fighting began on March 2, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said the death toll has risen to 570, including 86 children and 45 women.
The ministry said 1,444 people have been wounded.
Trump administration facing scrutiny
Here in the U.S., the Trump administration faces heavy scrutiny over the war.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday the administration’s war objectives are quickly being met, and claimed that Iran’s missile launch capacity had been degraded by 90%. Hegseth said Iranian leaders are “desperate, scrambling” and that the U.S. and its allies are “winning” the war.
Still, with no end to the war in sight as far as the American people can tell, questions are being raised over the cost of the fighting.
A Pentagon official told CBS News the cost of munitions used during the first two days of the war alone was $5.6 billion.
Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., the ranking minority member on the House Budget Committee, asked the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) last week to analyze the war’s operational and sustainment costs, along with additional categories such as diplomatic operations and foreign aid. Boyle asked CBO to model scenarios in which the war lasts longer than four to five weeks — President Donald Trump’s estimate — and scenarios involving U.S. troops on the ground.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., criticized the Trump administration Tuesday after a closed-door briefing on the war, saying their war plans are “incomplete.”
I was in a 2 hour briefing today on the Iran War. All the briefings are closed, because Trump can’t defend this war in public.
I obviously can’t disclose classified info, but you deserve to know how incoherent and incomplete these war plans are.
1/ Here’s what I can share:
— Chris Murphy
(@ChrisMurphyCT) March 11, 2026
Murphy said he’s learned the goals are not to destroy Iran’s nuclear weapons or force a “regime change.”
“They confirmed ‘regime change’ is also NOT on the list,” Murphy said in a string of posts on X. “So, they are going to spend hundreds of billions of your taxpayer dollars, get a whole bunch of Americans killed, and a hardline regime — probably a MORE anti-American hardline regime — will still be in charge.”
Murphy also said the goals seem to be “primarily, destroying lots of missiles and boats and drone factories.”
He added, “But the question that stumped them: what happens when you stop bombing and they restart production? They hinted at more bombing. Which is, of course, endless war.”
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
