Trump, Putin discuss Iran war in phone conversation - Kremlin

The Israeli military said on Monday it carried out a new wave of airstrikes targeting what it called Iranian military infrastructure in Tehran, Isfahan and the Shiraz area.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said dozens of fighter jets launched the operation using more than 170 munitions against command centers, missile production facilities and other military sites linked to Iran’s government and the Revolutionary Guards.

According to the IDF, one of the targets in Tehran was a command center belonging to the IRGC’s Quds Force, which it said is responsible for coordinating Iran’s regional proxy groups and supporting militant operations across the Middle East.

The military also said it struck a site in Isfahan used to manufacture and store missiles designed to target Israeli aircraft, along with several Iranian air defense systems.

Additional military infrastructure was also hit in the Shiraz area, the statement said. Israel said the strikes were part of an ongoing campaign aimed at damaging key components of Iran’s military capabilities.

President Donald Trump told NBC that he believes Iran “made a big mistake” by choosing Mojtaba Khamenei as the country’s new supreme leader.

“I don’t know if it’s going to last. I think they made a mistake.”

He also said it is “too soon” to discuss the possibility of the United States seizing Iran’s oil, though he did not rule out the option.

Iranian media reported on Monday evening that a fresh wave of explosions had been heard in several cities across the country.

According to the reports, multiple explosions were heard in Tehran on Monday night, including in western parts of the capital.

At the same time, some Iranian outlets said a number of Basij and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) bases in Karaj, Nazarabad, Andisheh and Shahriar were targeted by drone and missile strikes, with explosions reported in those areas.

Several media outlets also reported hearing a number of powerful explosions in Isfahan. An eyewitness told Iran International that blasts were heard near 22 Bahman Street and Bagh-e-Kashefi in the city.

In addition, some viewers told Iran International that several explosions were heard on Monday afternoon in Ahvaz.

In the southeastern city of Zahedan in Sistan and Baluchestan province, the local outlet Haalvsh reported that several heavy explosions were heard across different parts of the city on Monday night.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that Moscow was trying to manipulate the conflict involving Iran to its advantage.

"We see that the Russians are now trying to manipulate the situation in the Middle East and the (Persian) Gulf region in favor of their aggression, and also to effectively turn the Iranian regime’s strikes against its neighbors and American bases into a second front of Russia’s war against Ukraine and, more broadly, against the entire West," he said in a post on X.

"This must not be allowed. Evil must not be given opportunities for coordination, but the protection of life must be clearly coordinated," he added.

The United States has intercepted encrypted communications believed to have originated in Iran that may be intended to activate sleeper cells outside the country, ABC News reported, citing a federal government alert sent to law enforcement agencies.

The alert, reviewed by ABC News, cited preliminary signals analysis of a transmission likely of Iranian origin that was relayed across multiple countries shortly after the death of Iran’s former leader Ali Khamenei.

The intercepted transmission was encoded and appeared to be intended for clandestine recipients who possess the encryption key, the report said.

The message could be intended to activate or provide instructions to covert operatives or sleeper assets operating outside Iran, according to the alert cited by ABC News.

The alert said there was no operational threat tied to a specific location but instructed law enforcement agencies to increase monitoring of suspicious radio-frequency activity.

US and Israeli forces carried out an attack on Feb. 28 that killed Ali Khamenei, after which officials expressed concern that Iranian sleeper cells abroad could be activated in retaliation, the report said.