CNN: “Spurred by fresh intelligence that the country’s 86-year-old supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, was meeting with his top officials on the morning of Feb. 28, the US and Israel had accelerated plans for an attack in hopes of wiping out the regime’s senior leadership all at once.”

“If it worked, officials calculated, the resulting power vacuum could be filled by a slate of lower-tier leaders they hoped would be open to ushering in a more US-friendly era in Iran.”

“The first strikes on targets across the country succeeded in killing Khamenei and other high-ranking aides. Yet as early reports trickled in, it became clear they’d created a new problem: All the candidates the administration had eyed to lead Iran had been wiped out too.”

New York Times: “The U.S. president, who promised to end American wars, is now embracing the policies backed by Mr. Rubio and the secretary’s ideological compatriots, dismaying supporters who thought Mr. Trump had ushered in a new era of military restraint.”

“But Mr. Rubio is not trying to convert Mr. Trump to George W. Bush-era neoconservatism, which sought to remold other nations’ political systems, sometimes with military force, American officials and analysts say. Instead, he seems to be pursuing a new approach built on power free of principle. It is a merger of neoconservatism with Mr. Trump’s transactionalism, and it amounts to using U.S. military and economic power to turn authoritarian countries into client states.”

“It is regime compliance rather than regime change, a doctrine of destroy and deal.”

“The United States said it was offering up to $10 million, and the potential opportunity to relocate, for information on the whereabouts of 10 senior Islamic Republic leaders,” CBS News reports.

“Half of the Iranian missiles fired at Israel in this war spray numerous small explosives over their targets, expanding the radius of possible damage and casualties though presenting less of a direct danger than traditional warheads,“ Bloomberg reports.

“The spread of cluster-munition strikes has prompted some experts to suggest Tehran is trying to keep up a rate of fire and signal defiance in the face of its US and Israeli foes even as its capabilities are stretched.”

“Before the U.S. went to war, Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told President Trump that an American attack could prompt Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Caine said in several briefings that U.S. officials had long believed Iran would deploy mines, drones and missiles to close the world’s most vital shipping lane.”

“Trump acknowledged the risk but moved forward with the most consequential foreign-policy decision of his two presidencies. He told his team that Tehran would likely capitulate before closing the strait—and even if Iran tried, the U.S. military could handle it.”

“Now, two weeks into the war, Iran’s leaders have refused to back down, and the Strait of Hormuz has emerged as Tehran’s most potent leverage point.”

“Israel is planning to significantly expand its ground operation in Lebanon, aiming to seize the entire area south of the Litani River and dismantle Hezbollah’s military infrastructure,” Axios reports.

President Trump said that the U.S. military had conducted a large bombing raid on Kharg Island, a key port and Iran’s oil export hub, the New York Times reports.

Trump said the raid had “totally obliterated” military forces on the island, but that he had directed the Pentagon not to damage its oil infrastructure, “for reasons of decency.”

Axios says the White House has been considering a ground operation to take over the island as one of many options presented by the Pentagon ahead of the war with Iran.

“Nobody knows who is the leader, so there is no one that can announce surrender.”

— President Trump, quoted by Axios, on why Iran has not surrendered yet.

President Trump on Friday tempered his call for Iranians to rise up against their rulers, acknowledging that they would be gunned down for trying, the New York Times reports.

Trump said there are government forces in Iran that “go around with machine guns. And they say, ‘Anybody protests, we’re going to kill you in the street!’”

He added: “So I really think that’s a big hurdle to climb for people that don’t have weapons.”