Trump made the remarks while speaking to Congressional Republicans in Florida.
Last Updated: March 9, 2026, 5:37 PM EDT
President Donald Trump announced “major combat operations” against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israel strikes attack targeting military and government sites, officials said.
Iranian state television confirmed that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was among those killed in Tehran on the first day of strikes. His son MojtabaKhamenei was chosen on Sunday to succeed him.
Iran is responding to the operation with missile and drone attacks targeting Israel, regional U.S. bases and multiple Gulf nations.Israel is also intensifying its long-running strike campaign against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
(Read previous Iran live updates here.)
Watch special coverage onNightline, “War with Iran,” each night on ABC and streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.
Key Headlines
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Here’s how the news is developing.
Rubio speaks with Iraqi PM about protecting US personnel
Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a call with Iraq’s prime minister on Monday, according to the State Department.
During their conversation, Rubio “strongly condemned terrorist attacks by Iran” and its militia proxies in Iraq, including the Iraq Kurdistan region, according to the department’s readout.
Both Rubio and Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani “reiterated the importance” of the Iraqi government doing all it could to protect U.S. diplomatic personnel and facilities, according to the readout.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
Trump on war with Iran: ‘It’s going to be a short-term excursion’
President Donald Trump said that the war in Iran is a “little excursion” — adding that he thinks it will be a “short-term excursion” — in remarks to Congressional Republicans at their retreat in Doral, Florida, on Monday.
“We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some evil. And I think you’ll see it’s going to be a short-term excursion,” Trump said, referring to the war in Iran.
“Short-term,” Trump reiterated as the Republicans in the room applauded. “Short-term.”
Trump said the U.S. would “not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated,” without providing details on how the administration will determine when that is.
He later said that the U.S. has “already won in many ways,” but hasn’t “won enough.”
“We go forward, more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long-running danger once and for all,” Trump said.
-ABC News’ Meghan Mistry, Noah Minnie and Michelle Stoddart
1 hour and 58 minutes ago
Trump says Iran war is ‘very complete, pretty much’
President Donald Trump said in a phone interview with CBS News on Monday that the war with Iran is “very far ahead of schedule,” before adding that the war “is very complete, pretty much.”
U.S. Sailors prepare ordnance on the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in support of Operation Epic Fury, Mar. 4, 2026.
US Navy
“They have no Navy, no communications, they’ve got no Air Force. Their missiles are down to a scatter. Their drones are being blown up all over the place, including their manufacturing of drones. If you look, they have nothing left. There’s nothing left in a military sense,” Trump said, according to CBS News.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in an interview with 60 Minutes on Sunday that “we haven’t even really begun to start that effort of the campaign, which is going to showcase even more how we will execute on those objectives.”
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart
2 hours and 4 minutes ago
Trump, Putin discuss Iran in phone call: Kremlin
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed Iran as well as Ukraine in a phone call on Monday, according to Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky