WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that the war with Iran began because that country was starting work on a new site for developing material for nuclear weapons. Trump also told reporters at a news conference that Iran was “going to take over the Middle East” if he hadn't acted and that he was disappointed with the selection of Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Iran’s supreme leader. Ali Khamenei was killed in U.S. and Israeli strikes. Trump also had a call on Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the war and other issues. The Kremlin says the two leaders had a “frank and businesslike” conversation that lasted about an hour.

1. Heavy U.S. and Israeli bombardment of Iran has been going on for more than a week, while Iran has launched more attacks on Israel and Gulf countries. Israel is striking Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, while the militant group fires rockets into Israel.

2. Iranian state TV announced early Monday that Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei was named supreme leader, in defiance of threats by Trump. Khamenei is seen as even more hard-line than his father, the supreme leader killed on the first day of the war. He will now be in charge of Iran’s armed forces and any decision about Tehran’s nuclear program.

3. U.S. stocks closed higher following a remarkable reversal as oil prices fell from nearly $120 per barrel below $90.

4. A 26-year-old Army staff sergeant from Kentucky was identified as the seventh U.S. service member killed during the Iran war, after being wounded on a base in Saudi Arabia on March 1. The first six deaths were Army reservists killed the same day at a Kuwaiti port.

5. New footage has raised the likelihood that the U.S. military struck an Iranian elementary school where a blast killed at least 165 people, mostly children.

Senate Democrats demand public hearings on Iran war
A handful of Senate Democrats are threatening to impede the Senate’s work unless the Trump administration provides public hearings on the war with Iran.

A vote on a war powers resolution, which would have required congressional approval for any further attacks on Iran, failed last week mostly along party lines. But a group of Democratic senators has filed several similar pieces of legislation and could potentially force repeated votes on them if they choose.

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker said they were going to “use every lever that we have to stop business as usual” unless there is an agreement from Republicans.

The tactic showed how Democrats are desperate to force a debate on the Iran war, but because they have minorities in both chambers of Congress, they are getting creative to force the issue into the public view.

Trump claims Iran has access to Tomahawk missiles when asked about school strike
The president erroneously claimed that Iran has access to the American Tomahawk cruise missile, the weapon likely used to strike a girls' school in Iran, killing 165 people.

Asked if the U.S. would accept responsibility for the strike, Trump argued that the cruise missile, which is made by the American defense contractor Raytheon, is “sold and used by other countries” and that Iran “also has some Tomahawks.”

“Whether it’s Iran or somebody else ... a Tomahawk is very generic,” he said.

While Raytheon sells the missile to allied countries like Japan and Australia, there is no evidence to suggest that Iran has gotten its hands on the cruise missile.

When asked why he was the only person in his administration making the claim, Trump replied: “Because I just don’t know enough about it.” He added that “whatever the report shows, I’m willing to live with that report.”

Trump says Iran would have ‘taken over’ the Middle East if he hadn’t acted
“If I didn’t hit them first, they were going to hit our allies first. I believe upon information and belief,” the president told reporters, before adding, “They were going to take over the Middle East.”

“Upon information and belief” is a phrase often used in legal settings, including in affidavits.

It is usually meant to denote declarations that a statement is based on secondhand information, but is also believed to be true by the speaker.

Trump was indicted in four criminal cases, and also faced civil charges related to his business practices, before returning to the White House. He’s no stranger to being in court or talking to lawyers.

A deadly day in Israel, with a dozen detected missile launches from Iran
Israel’s military announcement just minutes before midnight of more missiles fired at the country from Iran closed a Monday marked by relentless waves of attacks.

In all, Israel’s military alerted the population 12 times throughout the day about incoming missile salvos from Iran. From Lebanon, Iran-backed Hezbollah also fired rockets into Israel on Monday.

One man was killed by Iranian missile fire, raising the country’s death toll to 11. More were injured — at least two of them seriously — in the attacks and as they made their way to shelters, according to Israel’s emergency services.

Sirens alerting the population in different parts of Israel to seek shelter immediately have been wailing at intervals throughout the day and night since the war started.

Trump says Vance ‘maybe less enthusiastic’ about striking Iran than he is
Trump said he and Vice President JD Vance “get along very well” on issues related to Iran, but the president noted that his No. 2 was “maybe less enthusiastic about going” than he was.

Vance, Trump also noted, is “philosophically a little bit different than me.”

Vance has largely opposed U.S. intervention abroad. While still in the U.S. Senate and before Trump tapped him as his running mate, Vance cited Trump’s lack of foreign military entanglement as part of why he backed him for president in the 2024 campaign.

Trump says he’s ‘disappointed’ by Iran’s choice of a new leader
The president told reporters that he thought the pick of Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father as Iran’s supreme leader would lead to “more of the same” for a country that he seeks to change.

Trump said it “would be inappropriate” to say whether Iran’s new leader would be targeted for a lethal assault as was his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Trump said he liked “the idea” of a leader drawn from an “internal” group of candidates, saying that this process “works well” with Venezuela’s new leader, Delcy Rodriguez, following the capture by U.S. forces of Nicolas Maduro to face drug trafficking charges in the U.S.

Trump also elevated his expectations by saying he would like a candidate in Iran who was “internal and eternal.”

Trump says war is ‘very complete’ but it’s also ‘the beginning’ of a ‘a new country’
The president was asked about his comments earlier Monday in which he told a reporter that the war was “very complete,” while the Pentagon on Monday said on social media: “We have Only Just Begun to Fight.”

Trump was asked whether it was the end or the beginning and said, “It’s the beginning of building a new country,” a comment that seemed to suggest the U.S. might be engaged in the building of a new Iran.

Trump says US is undertaking Iran operation ‘for the other countries in the world’
Though the president has long professed an “America First” policy prioritizing the U.S., Trump suggested at his news conference that the war was for the benefit of other nations, especially those dependent on oil that’s shipped through the Strait of Hormuz.

“I mean, we’re doing this for the other parts of the world, including countries like China,” Trump said.

Trump says Iran had a new site for developing nuclear weapons protected by ‘granite’
Trump told reporters at a news conference that the war with Iran began because that country was starting work on a new site for developing material for nuclear weapons.

Trump said the new site was meant to replace facilities bombed last year by the U.S.

“But they were starting work at another site, a different site, different kind of a site — and that was protected by granite,” Trump said.

The president added that Iran wanted to use the “exponentially growing ballistic missile threat to make it virtually impossible to prevent them from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” claiming that Iran would have otherwise been able to take over the Middle East.