Trump Claims 48 Iranian Leaders Killed in US-Israel Strike
US President Donald Trump has claimed that 48 Iranian leaders have been killed in strikes by the United States and Israel against the nation. Trump described the US military operation against Iran as a “success”.
“Nobody believes the success we’ve had, 48 leaders have been killed in one strike. And this happened very quickly,” Trump said in an interview with US media outlet Fox News, according to AFP reports on Monday (2 March 2026).
Trump claimed overall success in the war, which was launched on Saturday (28 February) local time, with the aim of removing Iran’s leadership and destroying the country’s military.
Trump stated that the situation following the US-Israel strikes on Iran was “very positive”.
“We are doing our work not just for ourselves, but for the world. And everything is proceeding faster than schedule,” Trump said in a separate interview with another US media outlet, CNBC.
“The current situation is developing very positively, very positively,” he added.
Trump had previously announced directly the death of Iran’s highest leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian authorities have confirmed Khamenei’s death as a result of the US-Israel strikes.
The Trump interviews appeared to have been conducted before the US military announced for the first time that at least three US military personnel had been killed by Iranian retaliatory strikes targeting US bases across the Middle East.
Five other US military personnel sustained serious injuries and several others sustained minor wounds.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) had previously announced strikes against US bases in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar in retaliation for attacks by Washington and Tel Aviv.
Several other Middle Eastern nations that also host US troops reported explosions and missile strikes in their territories.
Meanwhile, the US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees US military operations in the Middle East region, announced that the US had sunk an Iranian warship at a dock in the Gulf of Oman.