March 15, 2026 — West Asia The United States and Israel continued heavy airstrikes against Iran on day 16 of the war, with the US targeting 90 sites on an Iranian island as the conflict entered its third week, according to ABC World News Tonight coverage.
The war began on February 28, 2026, when US and Israeli forces launched surprise airstrikes across Iran, assassinating Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei along with family members including his son, brother-in-law, and sister, as detailed in the Wikipedia entry on the 2026 Iran war. Mojtaba Khamenei ascended as the new Supreme Leader.
Latest Developments
Overnight strikes into March 10 shook Tehran, with warplanes dropping dozens of heavy explosives on residential areas, power stations, and fuel reserves, causing electricity cuts, thick smoke plumes, and an internet blackout now in its 11th day, per Al Jazeera reporting. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described March 10 as “our most intense day of strikes inside Iran.”
By March 13, the Institute for the Study of War noted US-Israeli forces targeting Iranian internal security infrastructure. Iranian drones struck Oman’s Sohar province, killing two foreign workers, while Saudi Arabia downed 56 Iranian drones.
A US refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq on March 13, killing at least four service members, the Pentagon reported.
Humanitarian Crisis
U.S.-Israeli attacks displaced 3.2 million Iranians by March 13, mostly from Tehran to northern and rural areas, creating a humanitarian crisis, according to Democracy Now! headlines. Displaced resident Mahshid said:
“They destroyed that house and this one and ours here. Now we’re staying with relatives. Where are we supposed to go? We have nowhere. I had just replaced all my belongings, and it’s all ruined. Now we are collecting the scraps left behind on the floors because we were all siblings.”
In Tehran, a woman at an al-Quds Day demonstration was killed by shrapnel from an airstrike.
Tehran resident Sima described the March 10 bombings:
“It felt like tens of fighter jets were flying right above our heads for 15 minutes straight at first… The ground and the windows and our hearts were shaking.”
Statements and Reactions
New Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowed to continue blocking the Strait of Hormuz and urged Middle East nations to close US bases. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated:
“We are not waiting. We are initiating. We are attacking. And we are doing so with a force the like of which has not been seen before.”
Oil prices surged to nearly $100 a barrel amid the disruptions. Over 250 US groups urged Congress to reject $50 billion in war funding. Protests erupted in Greece against NATO bases supporting the strikes.
Iran’s judiciary warned of executions for those aligning with the US or Israel.