Noem declines to retract ‘definition of domestic terrorism’ comments about Pretti during Senate hearing

Noem declines to retract ‘definition of domestic terrorism’ comments about Pretti during Senate hearing
Noem declines to retract ‘definition of domestic terrorism’ comments about Pretti during Senate hearing
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrives for the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled “Oversight of the Department of Homeland Security,” in Dirksen building on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) — Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem faced questions about immigration enforcement operations as she testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday — refusing to apologize or retract her statements about a U.S. citizens shot and killed by federal law enforcement in Minneapolis as “the definition of domestic terrorism.”

When pressed by Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, about why Noem labeled Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by federal law enforcement in Minneapolis in January, a domestic terrorist without evidence, she would not admit she was wrong.

“We are working in those situations where there’s a tragic loss of life and that there is something that our agents are involved in, that we continue to deliver information,” she said.

Durbin then asked, “Is it so hard to say you were wrong?”

“I absolutely strive to provide factual information and will continue to do that,” Noem responded, adding that when the agency fails, they admit wrongdoing. Noem has yet to admit she has been wrong about how she characterized the Pretti shooting, as some have suggested.

Noem also said her characterization of Pretti — whose conduct she called following the shooting “the definition of domestic terrorism” without evidence — was based on information relayed to her in the hours after the incident.

Shortly after the shooting of Pretti, a Minneapolis Veterans Affairs ICU nurse, Noem drew criticism for insinuating he wanted to “massacre” law enforcement before the evidence and investigation was complete. Pretti was licensed to carry a handgun. Video from multiple angles showed that Pretti did not try to draw his gun from his waistband before or during the scuffle with federal agents.

Tuesday’s hearing marks the first time Noem is appearing before Congress after tensions in Minneapolis and the killing of Pretti as well as Renee Good, who was shot and killed by federal law enforcement in Minneapolis in January.

Two Senate Republicans have said Noem should be out of a job, and Democrats have called for her impeachment. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he stands by Noem.

Later in Tuesday’s hearing, Noem said that there are no plans to deploy agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the polling places in November after President Donald Trump recently doubled down on his controversial suggestion that Republicans “nationalize” elections, saying the “federal government should get involved” in elections.

“We have no plans to have ICE officers or law enforcement at polling locations. States are responsible for running their elections, and we’re giving them tools and mitigation efforts that they can utilize in order to make sure they maintain the integrity of those elections, and that individuals can trust their systems to ensure that their vote counts,” Noem said. 

Noem’s appearance on Tuesday marks the first of two days she is set to testify on Capitol Hill. She will testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

Her testimony comes as some parts of Noem’s agency — from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the Transportation Security Administration to the Coast Guard — are shut down amid a funding fight over Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Democrats have said they will fund the department only if changes are made to the agency in the wake of the shooting deaths of Good and Pretti.

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Trump says ‘too late’ for talks with Iran, warns US has enough munitions to fight ‘forever’

Trump says ‘too late’ for talks with Iran, warns US has enough munitions to fight ‘forever’
Trump says ‘too late’ for talks with Iran, warns US has enough munitions to fight ‘forever’
US President Donald Trump arrives for a medal of honor ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, March 2, 2026. President Trump is awarding the Medal of Honor to three US Army soldiers. (Photographer: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday said it’s “too late” for talks with Iran and warned the U.S. has enough munitions to fight “forever.”

“Their air defense, Air Force, Navy, and Leadership is gone,” Trump wrote of Iran in a post to his social media platform. “They want to talk. I said ‘Too Late!'”

The comments come as the administration’s war with Iran enters its fourth day and as questions remain on why the urgent military action was necessary and how long it will last.

Trump could face those questions and others from reporters when he hosts German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at 11:15 a.m. ET.

The president has not given a formal address to the nation on the attacks on Iran, instead posting video statements to social media or speaking to individual reporters at various news outlets.

Overnight, apparently responding to questions raised about stockpiles of U.S. weapons being used to intercept Iranian missiles and drones, Trump posted that the U.S. has a “virtually unlimited” supply.

“Wars can be fought ‘forever,’ and very successfully, using just these supplies,” Trump wrote in a social media post, despite having said on Monday that the U.S. would “easily prevail” in the conflict and campaigning in opposition to “forever wars.”

Trump, though, did acknowledge in the post that the stockpile of some of the country’s highest-grade munitions is “not where we want it to be” and blamed that on U.S. support for Ukraine in fighting Russia’s invasion.

Still, Trump concluded the post by stating: “The United States is stocked, and ready to WIN, BIG!!!”

Trump’s social media post on Tuesday that it’s “too late” for talks with Iran comes just days after he told The Atlantic: “They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them.”

Plus, mixed messages have come from the administration on Iran’s future. Trump over the weekend encouraged Iranians to rise up and topple the government, though Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday rebuffed the idea that regime change was the U.S. objective for striking Tehran.

Meanwhile, the war is widening in the Middle East as Iran seeks retaliation for the U.S. and Israeli attacks, which killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several senior leaders. Tehran’s struck more nearly a dozen countries, and the State Department has warned U.S. citizens to leave the region and closed several embassies.

So far, six U.S. service members have died in the war and more have been wounded. Trump, in an interview with NewsNation, teased retaliation for the killing of American troops.

ABC News’ Fritz Farrow and Meghan Mistry contributed to this report.

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Noem faces grilling on Capitol Hill over ICE operations and Iran threat

Noem declines to retract ‘definition of domestic terrorism’ comments about Pretti during Senate hearing
Noem declines to retract ‘definition of domestic terrorism’ comments about Pretti during Senate hearing
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrives for the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled “Oversight of the Department of Homeland Security,” in Dirksen building on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) — Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is facing two days of grilling on Capitol Hill as Democrats question her leadership of the Department of Homeland Security amid criticism of immigration enforcement operations and threats to the homeland after U.S. strikes against Iran.

Noem is testifying in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday; she will testify before theHouse Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

Her testimony comes as some parts of Noem’s agency — from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the Transportation Security Administration to the Coast Guard — are shut down amid a funding fight over Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Democrats have said they will fund the department only if changes are made to the agency in the wake of the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis involving federal law enforcement.

Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Monday that Noem will face “tough” questions after “stonewalling” Congress.

“Secretary Noem is the public face for an abominable anti-immigrant crusade. Her agents continue to wreak havoc on our cities and act with unspeakable cruelty against children, immigrant families, and American citizens,” Durbin said. “The American people are horrified by what they’re seeing, and Secretary Noem stonewalled Congress for months because she knew her conduct was egregious. She will be asked tough questions and held accountable for her reckless and deadly enforcement agenda.”

The secretary’s testimony is the first time she will be appearing before Congress after tensions in Minneapolis and the killing of Good and Pretti.

Saying she had another meeting to get to, Noem left midway through her last hearing before the House Homeland Security Committee in December under intense questioning from Democrats over ICE operations and tactics.

In the hours following the shooting of Pretti, a Minneapolis Veterans Affairs ICU nurse, Noem drew criticism for insinuating he wanted to “massacre” law enforcement before the evidence and investigation was complete. Pretti was licensed to carry a handgun. Video from multiple angles showed that Pretti did not try to draw his gun from his waistband before or during the scuffle with federal agents.

Two Senate Republicans have said Noem should be out of a job, and Democrats have called for her impeachment.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he stands by Noem.

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Supreme Court blocks ruling that ordered New York to redraw its congressional maps

Supreme Court blocks ruling that ordered New York to redraw its congressional maps
Supreme Court blocks ruling that ordered New York to redraw its congressional maps
The U.S. Supreme Court as seen on February 24, 2026 in Washington. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court of the United States on Monday blocked a New York state court ruling that had ordered the Empire State’s congressional map redrawn ahead of the 2026 midterms.

A state judge in New York ruled earlier this year that New York must redraw its congressional map and cease using its current one because the current map’s 11th Congressional District violates the state’s Constitution and dilutes the votes of Black and Latino voters.

U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, the Republican representing the district, had appealed the ruling initially in state court and later asked the Supreme Court to block the order, as did other Republicans.

The district currently covers Staten Island, along with several neighborhoods across the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in Brooklyn.

In a statement posted on social media, Malliotakis praised the Supreme Court’s decision, arguing that it “helps restore the public’s confidence in our judicial system and proves the challenge to our district lines was always meritless.”

“The plaintiffs in this case attempted to manipulate our state’s courts to use race as a weapon to rig our elections. That was wrong and, as demonstrated by today’s ruling, clearly unconstitutional,” Malliotakis’ post said.

In a concurring opinion, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the state court order that knocked down New York’s current map “blatantly discriminates on the basis of race” and that the court had no choice but to step in — even so close the election.

 Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a sharply worded dissent, accused her colleagues of prematurely intervening in a state-law case, even before New York courts had fully resolved the appeals.  

“By granting these applications, the Court thrusts itself into the middle of every election-law dispute around the country, even as many States redraw their congressional maps ahead of the 2026 election,” Sotomayor wrote. “It also invites parties searching for a sympathetic ear to file emergency applications directly with this Court, without even bothering to ask the state courts first.”

The ruling from SCOTUS allows appeals to play out in lower courts, but it means New York will not be redrawing its map for the 2026 election. 

“This blatantly political case violated both the New York State and federal constitutions and, as Justice Alito stated, the lower court’s decision was a full-blown racial gerrymander,” New York Republican Party chair Ed Cox wrote in a statement Monday.

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Pentagon, Trump warn more US troops likely to die in Iran operation

Pentagon, Trump warn more US troops likely to die in Iran operation
Pentagon, Trump warn more US troops likely to die in Iran operation
U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon on March 2, 2026, in Arlington, Virginia. Secretary Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine held the news conference to give an update on Operation Epic Fury. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) — Additional American troops are being sent into the Middle East as the joint U.S.-Israeli war against Iran entered its third day Monday, with senior Pentagon officials warning that the death toll of American troops will likely rise as the conflict widens across the region.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon news briefing Monday that the war against Iran would not be swift and that more U.S. casualties should be expected. “We expect to take additional losses, and as always, we will work to minimize U.S. losses,” he said. 

The warning echoed a stark message from President Donald Trump, who on Sunday on his social media platform, offered condolences to the families of fallen service members and braced the public for a higher death toll. “Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends,” Trump said. “That’s the way it is.”

U.S. troops have been under sustained pressure from Iranian retaliation, including a strike targeting the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain and attacks on American bases in Kuwait, which serve as key logistics hubs and staging grounds. 

So far, six U.S. troops have been killed in what sources tell ABC News was an Iranian strike on an American command center in Kuwait, and 18 service members have been wounded in the operation.

Trump mourned the American casualties again on Monday at a Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House.

“Today, we grieve for the four heroic American service members who have been killed in action and send our love and support to their families. In their memory, we continue this mission with ferocious, unyielding resolve to crush the threat this terrorist regime poses to the American people and a threat indeed it is.”

Meanwhile, three U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles were mistakenly shot down Sunday by Kuwait, a U.S. ally, U.S. Central Command confirmed Monday, adding that all six aircrew members ejected safely and are in stable condition. The U.S. aircraft were in “active combat” against Iranian aircraft, missiles and drones. 

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said an invasion of Iran with ground forces, which would demand a much greater surge of combat power beyond what’s already deployed, hasn’t been ruled out. 

“We’ll go as far as we need to go to advance U.S. interests,” he told reporters.

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Trump contradicts US intelligence on Iran, doesn’t address regime change as before

Trump contradicts US intelligence on Iran, doesn’t address regime change as before
Trump contradicts US intelligence on Iran, doesn’t address regime change as before
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address during a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber at the Capitol on February 24, 2026, in Washington, DC. Trump delivered his address days after the Supreme Court struck down the administration’s tariff strategy, and amid a U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf threatening Iran. (Photo by Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Monday claimed the U.S. was “very nearly under threat” from Iran, contradicting U.S. intelligence assessments as he sought to justify his administration’s ongoing attack.

“An Iranian regime armed with long-range missiles and nuclear weapons would be an intolerable threat to the Middle East, but also to the American people,” Trump said at a medal of honor ceremony at the White House, marking his first public remarks on the military operation.

“Our country itself would be under threat, and it was very nearly under threat,” Trump continued.

American intelligence agencies, however, believe Iran would not have had missiles capable of reaching the U.S. for another nine years, until 2035.

And sources confirmed to ABC News that Trump administration officials told congressional staff that U.S. intelligence did not suggest Iran was preparing to launch a preemptive strike against the United States interests.

The officials said there was more of a general threat in the region from Iran’s missiles and proxy forces, sources told ABC News.

Still, Trump argued Iran would have “soon” had the capability to reach the American homeland and that “this was our last best chance to strike.”

“The regime already had missiles capable of hitting Europe and our bases, both local and overseas, and would soon have had missiles capable of reaching our beautiful America,” Trump said.

Trump, in Monday’s remarks, laid out U.S. objectives for the military campaign.

“Our objectives are clear,” Trump said. “First, we’re destroying Iran’s missile capabilities, and you see that happening on an hourly basis, and their capacity to produce brand new ones and pretty good ones they make. Second, we’re annihilating their navy. We’ve knocked out already 10 ships. They’re at the bottom of the sea. Third, we’re ensuring that the world’s number one sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon … And finally, we’re ensuring that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm, fund and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders.”

Trump notably did not address the issue of regime change after speaking extensively on leadership change over the weekend, as he called for Iranians to rise up and take over the government.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also shifted focus away from regime change in a press conference at the Pentagon earlier Monday, telling reporters the operation was not a “so-called regime-change war.”

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, was killed in an attack launched by Israel and the United States.

Trump told ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl on Sunday that individuals that the U.S. had identified as potential leaders in a post-Khamenei Iran were also dead.

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

As for what’s next, Trump again promised not to drag the U.S. into prolonged foreign conflicts but said the operation will go on for as long as needed. 

“We’re already substantially ahead of our time projections, but whatever the time is, it’s okay. Whatever it takes. We will always, and we have right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that. We’ll do it.”

“Somebody said today, they said, ‘Oh, well, the president wants to do it really quickly, after that, he’ll get bored.’ I don’t get bored,” Trump added. “There’s nothing boring about this.”

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Hegseth defends US attack on Iran as ‘our retribution’

Hegseth defends US attack on Iran as ‘our retribution’
Hegseth defends US attack on Iran as ‘our retribution’
U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon on March 2, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday defended the ongoing U.S. attack on Iran as necessary because of Tehran’s missile arsenal and nuclear ambitions, calling it “our retribution” for its yearslong role in sponsoring terrorism.

Hegseth declined to say how long the operation would last or rule out the potential of sending U.S. troops on the ground.

“We didn’t start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it. Their war on Americans has become our retribution against their Ayatollah and his death cult,” Hegseth said.

Hegseth’s press conference was his first since the large-scale operation began two days ago. The attack resulted in the death of Iran’s supreme leader and some of its senior leadership.

President Donald Trump in recent days told reporters he expect the operation could last four to five weeks — a timeline Hegseth wouldn’t commit to.

Four U.S. service members have died, with several more severely wounded, according to U.S. Central Command. 

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who also briefed reporters on Monday, said the U.S. is sending additional forces into the region, primarily aviation assets.

“We expect to take additional losses and, as always, we will work to minimize U.S. losses,” Caine said, later adding, “this is major combat operations.”

When pressed on the missions objectives, Hegseth insisted the goals were clear. 

“The mission of Operation Epic Fury is laser-focused,” Hegseth said. “Destroy Iranian offensive missiles, destroy Iranian missile production, destroy their navy and other security infrastructure, and they will never have nuclear weapons. We’re hitting them surgically, overwhelmingly and unapologetically.”

Critics of the administration have questioned the timing of the operation though because of U.S. intelligence that has found the threat from Iran was not imminent. According to the Defense Intelligence Agency, Iran is working on developing a missile capable of reaching the U.S. by 2035.

The U.S. also bombed three of Iran’s nuclear sites last year. Experts say there are recent signs of Iran trying to rebuild its program and begin again enriching uranium, but that there was no evidence they were close to building a bomb. 

Trump said over the weekend that a preemptive attack on Iran was justified by “imminent threats” from the Iranian guard, though he provided no evidence, and to topple the Iranian regime.

Hegseth said Monday that Iran was “stalling” during recent negotiations with U.S. officials to buy time to build up its ballistic missile program and restart its nuclear ambitions.

“Their goal: hold us hostage, threatening to strike our forces. Well, President Trump doesn’t play those games,” Hegseth said.

Iran has responded with a massive attack on U.S. allies across the Middle East, targeting Israel, regional U.S. bases and Gulf nations. Four U.S. service members have been killed, which Hegseth said occurred when Iran hit a tactical operations center that had been fortified.

The attack resulted in the death of Iran’s supreme leader and some of its senior leadership.

In a phone call with ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl, Trump said the “attack was so successful it knocked out most of the candidates” to lead Iran.

Hegseth, though, on Monday said the operation was not a “so-called regime-change war.”

“Turns out the regime who chanted ‘death to America’ and ‘death to Israel’ was gifted death from America and death from Israel. This is not a so-called regime-change war, but the regime sure did change, and the world is better off for it,” Hegseth said.

The defense secretary rejected that the U.S. would be involved in another “forever war” in the region, though he gave little detail on what comes next.

Hegseth declined to give a timeline on how long the military operation could last, after Trump told ABC News the attacks could last four or five more weeks.

“President Trump has all the latitude in the world to talk about how long it may or may not take. Four weeks, two weeks, six weeks. It could move up, it could move back. We’re going to execute at his command the objectives we’ve set out to achieve,” Hegseth said.

ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.

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

Iran operation could last weeks, Trump tells ABC News, saying of Khamenei, ‘I got him before he got me’
Iran operation could last weeks, Trump tells ABC News, saying of Khamenei, ‘I got him before he got me’
President Donald Trump speaks to announce that the U.S. had begun “major combat operations” in Iran, on the day Israel and the U.S. conducted strikes on Iran, Feb. 28, 2026. (The White House)

(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.”

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Iran strike was Pentagon’s 1st use of 1-way drones, CENTCOM says

Iran strike was Pentagon’s 1st use of 1-way drones, CENTCOM says
Iran strike was Pentagon’s 1st use of 1-way drones, CENTCOM says
Smoke rises over the city center after an Israeli army launches 2nd wave of airstrikes on Iran on February 28, 2026. (Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)

(NEW YORK) — Saturday’s attack against Iran was the Pentagon’s first use of one-way drones in combat, CENTCOM said, and only about three months since its first notable test in the field — a rapid turnaround for a weapon system in the United States’ arsenal.

The use of one-way drones comes as military planners have been rapidly building up a squadron in the Middle East of Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System, or LUCAS, a one-way attack drone produced by Arizona-based SpektreWorks.

Each unit costs about $35,000 — much cheaper than a $30 million Reaper drone and subsequent munitions.

The drones are brand new, being deployed to the Middle East in December and having their first test flight from a Navy ship that month.

The American drone was reverse-engineered from Iran’s Shahed drones that have been used by Iran against Israel and by Russia against Ukraine.

The new drones are part of CENTCOM’s Task Force Scorpion Strike, which was founded shortly after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed acceleration of the acquisition and deployment  of cheap drone technology last summer.

LUCAS drones are designed to operate autonomously, according to CENTCOM. They can be launched with different mechanisms to include catapults, rocket-assisted takeoff, and ground and vehicle systems.

“Autonomous” doesn’t always refer to technology that doesn’t require humans for a designate a target, just that it doesn’t necessarily require human involvement after a target is selected, according to Pentagon policy.

One-way attack drones became notable in the war in Ukraine and spurred enormous investment into the technology from the Pentagon as a significantly cheaper option with relative ease of use compared to other weapons and aircraft.

“The first hours of the operation included precision munitions launched from air, land, and sea,” CENTCOM said in a statement. 

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Trump orders US government to cut ties with Anthropic, threatens ‘criminal consequences’

Trump orders US government to cut ties with Anthropic, threatens ‘criminal consequences’
Trump orders US government to cut ties with Anthropic, threatens ‘criminal consequences’
President Donald Trump answers questions during a press briefing held at the White House February 20, 2026, in Washington, DC. The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled against Trump’s use of emergency powers to implement international trade tariffs, a central portion of the administration’s core economic policy. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump has ordered U.S. government agencies to stop using Anthropic’s products, just hours before the deadline the Pentagon set for the AI company to agree to its terms.

“I am directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic’s technology. We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and will not do business with them again! There will be a Six Month phase out period for Agencies like the Department of War who are using Anthropic’s products, at various levels,” Trump posted on his social media platform.

“Anthropic better get their act together, and be helpful during this phase out period, or I will use the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow,” Trump added.

ABC News has reached out to Anthropic for comment.

The AI company’s CEO has made clear that despite threats from the Pentagon, they refuse to drop their two key demands: no use of its artificial intelligence for fully autonomous weapons — meaning AI, not humans, making final battlefield targeting decisions — and no mass domestic surveillance.

Anthropic told ABC News that amid negotiations, the latest contract language from the Pentagon does not fully commit that the military will not use their technology for those two use cases.

In fact, Anthropic said the “new language” added into the contract by the department would allow their safeguards to be “disregarded at will.”

“The contract language we received from the Department of War made virtually no progress on preventing Claude’s use for mass surveillance of Americans or in fully autonomous weapons,” Anthropic told ABC News.

The company added, “New language framed as compromise was paired with legalese that would allow those safeguards to be disregarded at will. Despite DOW’s recent public statements, these narrow safeguards have been the crux of our negotiations for months.”

Top members of the Senate Armed Services Committee have sent a private letter to Anthropic and the Pentagon, urging them to resolve their fight.

The Senate leaders are urging Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the CEO of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, to extend their negotiations and work with Congress to find a solution, according to the letter obtained by ABC News.

The Pentagon claims it has no intention of using Anthropic’s AI for cases that involve mass domestic surveillance or autonomous kinetic operations. However, it says Anthropic’s guardrails could jeopardize military operations.

The Pentagon said that if Anthropic does not agree to its demands by 5:00 p.m. ET Friday, they will terminate the partnership with Anthropic and label the company a “supply chain risk” – a designation usually reserved for foreign adversaries.

“The Department has stated that it does not intend to conduct mass surveillance or use autonomous weapons without humans on the loop — positions that we in Congress endorse,” the letter from the Senate leaders reads. “It is clear, however, that the issue of ‘lawful use’ requires additional work by all stakeholders. We must determine whether additional legislative or regulatory language is required, and, if so, what that law and regulation should entail.”

“By Friday, February 27, the DOD could essentially declare war not on a foreign nation but on one of America’s most successful frontier AI companies if it does not bow to its demands,” Adam Conner, the vice president for technology policy at American Progress, wrote in an article on their website.

“This would be an unprecedented and unnecessary peacetime move that sends the signal to other private companies that they must do the Trump administration’s bidding or face existential consequences,” Conner wrote.

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