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Iran operation could last weeks, Trump tells ABC News, saying of Khamenei, ‘I got him before he got me’

March 2, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — An Iranian plot to kill then-candidate Donald Trump was clearly on the president’s mind when he ordered the attack that killed Iran’s supreme leader.

“I got him before he got me,” Trump Sunday night, not long after he announced Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been killed. “They tried twice. Well, I got him first.”

President Trump was referring to an Iranian plot to kill him during the 2024 presidential campaign. During the summer of 2024, U.S. intelligence believed the Iranian government was plotting to kill then-candidate Trump.

The plot was not tied to the assassination attempts against the candidate in Butler, Pennsylvania, or West Palm Beach, Florida, but Trump was briefed on the threat and additional resources were added by the Biden administration to his Secret Service detail.

When I spoke with President Trump late Sunday night after he had returned to the White House from a weekend overseeing military operations in Iran from his club in Mar-a-Lago, he sounded like a president who is feeling invincible.

He said he believes the military operation has been an unmitigated success.

“Nobody else could have done this but me, and you know that,” Trump told me.

Trump told me the Iranians had made significant concessions in the last round of talks. He suggested his decision to cut off talks those and order the attack was driven in part by the success of the military operations to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, whom the U.S. said was an illegitimately elected president , and to strike the Iranian nuclear facilities last summer in coordination with Israel.

“A year ago, it would have been great to accept that deal for me,” he said on Sunday, “but we have become spoiled.”

Trump told me that someone in the Iranian government reached out to him, but he would not say who.

“I probably shouldn’t tell you,” he said. “One of the few remaining people who are still alive. He doesn’t report to the Supreme Leader anymore.”

Before the attacks, the administration had identified possible leaders of a post-Khamenei Iran, but Trump said they are all gone. Khamenei was killed on Saturday alongside around 40 senior Iranian officials, the Israel Defense Forces said.

“The attack was so successful it knocked out most of the candidates,” Trump said. “It’s not going to be anybody that we were thinking of because they are all dead. Second or third place is dead.”

When asked about his statement earlier in the day that there would be more American casualties.

“It’s war and you have casualties in war,” he said.

Trump marveled at the level of American losses so far, pointing to last summer’s attack and the operation against Maduro in Venezuela as evidence of his administration’s military precision.

“All the things we went through and we lost three people. We lost three,” he said. “But if you ask Iran how many they lost, they can’t count that high.”

U.S. Central Command on Monday said another member of the U.S. military had been killed during the operation against Iran, bringing the total known U.S. deaths to four people. At least 555 people have been killed in Iran in U.S.-Israeli strikes, the Iranian Red Crescent Society said in a statement on Monday.

When asked on Sunday how long the war would go on, Trump said, “We always thought it was a four-to-five-week deal.”

Was he prepared to go longer?

“Sure. We have a lot of ammunition,” he said. “It could also go less.”

Stocks slide after Iran attack

March 2, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Stocks slid on Monday morning in the first trading session after the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran over the weekend.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 280 points, or 0.5%, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq declined 0.5%.

The strikes early Saturday morning prompted Iranian drone attacks and missile fire targeting U.S. military bases and Gulf countries. Tit-for-tat strikes rapidly widened into a regional war.

Four U.S. service members have been killed in action, U.S. Central Command said on Monday. At least 555 people have been killed in the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, the Iranian Red Crescent Society said.

Oil prices spiked on Monday amid fears of a prolonged disruption of the Strait of Hormuz, a trading route that facilitates the transport of about one-fifth of global oil supply. Iran asserts control over the passage of tankers through the strait.

Brent crude prices soared more than 7%, threatening to push up prices for auto fuel and hike transport costs for other goods.

An array of global stock exchanges suffered marked losses on Monday.

In Europe, the pan-continental STOXX 600 index tumbled 1.6%. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index slipped 1.3%, while South Korea’s KOSPI dropped 1%.

Angelo Kourkafas, a senior global strategist for investment strategy at Edward Jones, on Monday acknowledged the volatility in markets but downplayed the long-term risk.

“While the situation remains dynamic, both historical patterns and market fundamentals offer some reassurance,” Kourkafas said in a statement to ABC News. “Geopolitical flare ups can create short term volatility, but recent episodes have produced limited and short lived market impacts.”

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), a measure of anticipated market volatility, climbed more than 7% on Monday.

President Donald Trump announced “major combat operations” against Iran on Saturday, with daytime strikes in the joint U.S.-Israel attack targeting military and government sites, officials said.

On Sunday, Iranian state television confirmed that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was among those killed by airstrikes in Tehran on Saturday.

Iran is responding to the U.S.-Israeli operation with missile and drone attacks targeting Israel, regional U.S. bases and Gulf nations.

Israel is also intensifying its long-running strike campaign in Lebanon following fresh attacks by the Iranian-aligned Hezbollah militia.

In remarks on Monday, Iranian and American officials signaled expectations of an extended conflict.

The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, said that Iran is prepared for a long war.

“Iran, unlike the United States, has prepared itself for a long war,” Larijani wrote in a post on X on Monday. He added that Iranian armed forces “have not engaged in any attacks except in defense.”

Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not specify a timeline, but said, “This is not a single overnight operation. The military objectives … will take some time to achieve.”

2 dead, more than a dozen injured in Austin bar mass shooting, police say

March 2, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The FBI said it is investigating a possible terrorism motive in a mass shooting early Sunday outside a bar in Austin, Texas, that left two people dead and more than a dozen others injured.

The suspected gunman was killed in a confrontation with police officers, who were already staged in the city’s entertainment district when the shooting broke out, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said at a news conference on Sunday.

The suspect has been identified as Ndiaga Diagne, a 53-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Senegal, sources with knowledge of the matter told ABC News.

Davis said the suspect was living in Pflugerville, Texas.

The suspect was wearing clothing that referenced Allah and a T-shirt that referenced Iran, with an Iranian flag underneath the word, according to multiple law enforcement officials.

Diagne entered the U.S. in March 2000, on a B-2 tourist visa. In 2006, he adjusted to lawful permanent resident (IR-6) based on marriage to a U.S. citizen, according to multiple law enforcement officials.

He naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2013.

In 2022, he was arrested in Texas for a collision with a vehicle damage, a source told ABC News.

Alex Doran, the acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Antonio field office, said a motive for the shooting remains under investigation, but terrorism is a possible motive.

“There were indicators on the subject and in his vehicle that indicate potential nexus to terrorism,” Doran said Sunday. “Again, it’s still too early to make a determination on that.”

In a social media post on Sunday afternoon, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that President Donald Trump had been briefed regarding the shooting in Austin.

Davis said 911 callers began reporting a shooting on West Sixth Street in downtown Austin just before 2 p.m. She said the 911 callers stated that someone was shooting around Buford’s Bar.

“We know that a large SUV drove several times around the block in that area,” Davis said. “At one point, [the suspect] put his flashers on, rolled down his window and began using a pistol, shooting out of his car windows, striking patrons of the bar that were on the patio and that were in front of the bar.”

Davis said the suspect then parked his vehicle, got out and opened fire on people gathered on the sidewalk.

She said the Austin police department had a contingent of officers assigned to patrol the area in the busy West Sixth Street entertainment district. She said the officers were about 55 to 56 seconds away from where the suspect was shooting, and rushed toward the gunfire.

Davis said the suspect was walking in the direction of the police when officers confronted him and killed him.

Bystander video verified by ABC News captured the suspected shooter walking on the sidewalk toward police officers as he fired a barrage of shots. The video shows officers returning fire, striking the suspect before he falls to the ground as someone screams in the background, “Oh, my God!”

The sources told ABC News that the suspect initially fired five to seven shots from a handgun into a crowd of people before police said he exited his vehicle and was confronted by Austin Police officers.

“There is no question in my mind that the quick response of the police officers and of our EMS personnel and those professionals made a difference and saved lives,” Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said at the news conference.

Three Austin Police Department officers encountered a suspect armed with a gun on the street near Buford’s Bar, police said at an earlier news conference. The officers returned fire, fatally shooting the man, police said.

The FBI’s Joint terrorism Task Force is joining the investigation into the shooting, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

Law enforcement is also probing whether there were any mental health issues related to the suspected shooter, sources said, adding that as of now the shooting is considered an isolated incident, rather than part of a larger plot.

ABC News spoke via telephone with a woman in Texas, who confirmed that she is Diagne’s ex-wife. She said they divorced in 2022 and that she has not spoken to her ex-husband in four or five years. The woman said she knew nothing about the Austin shooting and said she was shocked when she heard about it.

Asked if her ex-husband was religious, she said, “He was religious, yeah.” She did not elaborate.

She said they previously lived in New York together and then, in 2017, moved to Texas because Diagne wanted more space for their family, including their two children. She said that before moving to Texas, her ex-husband went there for a week to check it out as a possible place to move, and then he came back to New York and told her, “Oh, I think you’re gonna love it, it’s quiet.”

She said they initially moved to San Antonio.

The Austin Police Department had earlier released a statement urging people to avoid the area near the 600 block of Rio Grande Street, the Downtown Austin block where the bar is located.

Photos and videos from the scene showed a major emergency response. Paramedics and officers arrived on the scene less than a minute after the first call came in, Chief Robert Luckritz, of the Austin-Travis County EMS, said on Sunday.

Three people, including a suspect, were pronounced dead at the scene, Luckritz said, adding that another 14 were transported to local hospitals for treatment for injuries.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement on Sunday that he has directed the state Department of Public Safety (DPS) to increase patrols in the West Sixth Street area during the weekends.

Abbott said that before the shooting, he directed the DPS and the Texas National Guard to intensify patrols and surveillance across the state in a precautionary measure in response to the joint U.S.-Israel military operation in Iran.

“This act of violence will not define us, nor will it shake the resolve of Texans,” Abbott said of the mass shooting. “To anyone who thinks about using the current conflict in the Middle East to threaten Texans or our critical infrastructure, understand this clearly: Texas will respond with decisive and overwhelming force to protect our state.”

Department of Homeland Security warns of potential attacks amid Iran operation

March 2, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Homeland Security has warned of potential lone-wolf and cyberattacks amid the ongoing strikes in Iran, according to a law enforcement bulletin obtained by ABC News.

“Although a large-scale physical attack is unlikely, Iran and its proxies probably pose a persistent threat of targeted attacks in the Homeland, and will almost certainly escalate retaliatory actions—or calls to action—if reports of the Ayatollah’s death are confirmed,” according to the bulletin.

“In the short-term, we are most concerned that Iran-aligned hacktivists will conduct low-level cyber attacks against US networks, such as website defacements and distributed denial-of-service attacks,” officials said in the bulletin.

The alert was issued on Saturday, a day before a gunman opened fire in Austin, Texas, and authorities are investigating whether or not the suspect was inspired by the situation overseas.

Law enforcement sources told ABC News the suspect was wearing a sweatshirt with “Property of Allah” on it and underneath, a shirt with “Iran” and the Iranian flag on it.

Officials are also investigating whether the suspect had mental health issues.

The bulletin said physical attacks are rare for those inspired by Iran.

“Lone offenders in the Homeland have not historically been motivated by issues related to Iran, the IRGC, or Shia violent extremism; however, the existential threat to the Iranian regime and increased US or Israeli actions could prompt some US-based violent extremists or hate crime perpetrators to attack targets perceived to be Jewish, pro-Israel, or linked to the US government or military,” officials said in the bulletin.

Derek Mayer, the former assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Secret Service’s Chicago field office, said law enforcement is always on alert for a lone offender.

“I think law enforcement authorities are concerned about attacks happening every day. And obviously, yesterday with the bombings taking place in Iran, the attacks could come even at a higher rate, but it’s your schools, it’s your churches, it’s at your airports,” Mayer, now the chief security officer and vice president of executive protection at P4, said. “The current threat environment in the United States and across the world is, it’s very dangerous right now, but it’s also to say the last quarter of a century, since the September 11th attacks of 2001, the landscape across the United States and also across the world has been very dangerous.”

Police departments across the country have stepped up patrols in high-traffic and high-target areas.

“At times like this, they will be up in patrols and officers, more posts at government facilities, but there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes that the public doesn’t see, whether that be, you know, counter surveillance, whether it be extra intelligence monitoring,” he said.

Florida Department of Health cuts to HIV, AIDS program enacted as thousands risk losing access

March 1, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — An emergency rule from the Florida Department of Health went into effect on Sunday that could restrict tens of thousands of people from accessing HIV medication.

The state issued cuts to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), a federal-state partnership that provides free FDA-approved HIV medication for low-income, uninsured or underinsured people.

Under the emergency rule, eligibility for ADAP was lowered to include those at or below 130% of the federal poverty level, which equals about $20,345 per year for a one-person household, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Previous eligibility was at or below 400% of the poverty level, which equals about $62,600 per year for a one-person household, according to HHS.

Additionally, the emergency rule limits insurance coverage of Biktarvy, a once-daily pill to treat HIV and used by about 60% of those enrolled in ADAP.

HIV advocates estimate that as many as 16,000 of the 30,000 Floridians enrolled in ADAP could be at risk of restricted access.

“These cuts will impact communities throughout the state, will threaten the lives of people with HIV and will lead to spikes in new HIV diagnoses and a rise in health care costs as people with HIV develop serious infections requiring hospitalization,” said Dr. Anna K. Person, chair of the HIV Medicine Association, a community of health care professionals that works toward advancing the response of the HIV epidemic, in a statement.

“HIV treatment disruptions of this magnitude will result in a public health disaster. Florida must follow due process and work with health care professionals, people with HIV and the state legislature to address any funding challenges,” the statement continued.

The new emergency rule is only in effect for 90 days and cannot be renewed unless a rule is proposed to implement the changes through formal administrative rulemaking.

Health officials have cited the “rising health care insurance premiums nationwide” and lack of federal funding as reason for the cuts. Officials said the adjustments will prevent a shortfall of more than $120 million for the state.

The Florida Department of Health did not immediately return ABC News’ request for comment.

Terrorism motive probed in mass shooting at Austin bar: FBI

March 1, 2026 by WDNY Radio

The suspect’s name was not immediately released. But sources with knowledge of the investigation told ABC News that he is a 53-year-old man from Pflugerville, Texas, who was born in Senegal and was a naturalized U.S citizen.

Alex Doran, the acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Antonio field office, said a motive for the shooting remains under investigation, but terrorism is a possible motive.

“There were indicators on the subject and in his vehicle that indicate potential nexus to terrorism,” Doran said Sunday. “Again, it’s still too early to make a determination on that.”

Davis said 911 callers began reporting a shooting on Sixth Street in downtown Austin just before 2 p.m. She said the 911 callers stated that someone was shooting around Buford’s Bar.

Davis said the suspect then parked his vehicle, got out and opened fire on people gathered on the sidewalk.

She said the Austin police department had a contingent of officers assigned to patrol the area in the busy Sixth Street entertainment district. She said the officers were about 55 to 56 seconds away from where the suspect was shooting, and rushed toward the gunfire.

Davis said the suspect was walking in the direction of the police when officers confronted him and killed him.

The FBI’s Joint terrorism Task Force is joining the investigation into the shooting, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

The Austin Police Department had earlier released a statement urging people to avoid the area near the 600 block of Rio Grande Street, the Downtown Austin block where the bar is located.

Three people, including a suspect, were pronounced dead at the scene, Luckritz said, adding that another 14 were transported to local hospitals for treatment for injuries.

As the response began, the Austin Fire Department had said that emergency personnel were responding to an “Active Attack” call.

“AFD is working an Active Attack call on West 6th St. unified command with @Austin_Police and @ATCEMS This is an active scene we will release information as becomes available,” the department said on social media. “Avoid the area.”