META MAG

By Doina Chiacu

Smoke rises following an explosion, after Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, in Tehran

March 1 (Reuters) - The United States has yet to spell out a "day-after" strategy for Iran following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed much of the country's leadership, lawmakers from both major political parties said on Sunday.

U.S. President Donald Trump has called for a change in Iran's government, which has entered a period of uncertainty following the death of Supreme Leader ‌Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Saturday's attack. The strategy Trump has publicly outlined so far hinges largely on the hope that the Iranian people will rise up and determine their own future after decades ‌of repression.

Republicans expressed optimism about the attacks, while Democrats were skeptical they would lead to a favorable outcome, but lawmakers on both sides were uncertain about the immediate future. Trump told the Daily Mail later on Sunday that the military operation could continue for four weeks.

WHAT ​COMES NEXT?

Lawmakers appearing on Sunday morning talk shows all opposed deploying U.S. ground forces to Iran.

"There's no simple answer for what's going to come next," Senator Tom Cotton, the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee from Arkansas, said on CBS News' "Face the Nation."

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a staunch Trump ally and defense hawk, echoed the U.S. president's call for the Iranian people to decide who should lead their government.

"You know, this idea, 'You break it, you own it,' I don't buy that one bit," Graham said on NBC's "Meet the Press" program. "This is not Iraq. This is not Germany. This is not Japan. We're going to free the people up from a terrorist regime."

Khamenei's death set ‌off a process under which a three-person council will run the country until ⁠a separate clerical body selects a new supreme leader.

Asked if the U.S. had identified a leader of the Iranian opposition that Iran's people could rally behind, Cotton said: "The opposition is 90 million Iranians who have suffered under the brutal Islamic Republic Revolutionary regime for the last 47 years."

Senator Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, said he could not see ⁠how regime change in Iran could happen with the current operation.

"There's no example I know of in modern history where regime change has happened solely through air strikes," Coons said on CNN's "State of the Union" program.

Before Saturday's air strikes, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency assessed that hardline figures from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps could replace Khamenei if he were killed, two sources briefed on the intelligence said.

Trump on Sunday said that 48 leading figures in Iran's government had been killed so ​far. ​Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, pointed to the earlier CIA assessment.

Advertisement

"So, we are not going to get a democracy. We ​are going to get an even worse Iranian leadership," Murphy told the CBS program. "It's ‌no secret that this administration has no plan for the chaos that is unfolding right now in the Middle East."

'WAR OF CHOICE'

The U.S. and Israeli strikes, as well as Iranian retaliation, have sent shockwaves through multiple sectors, such as shipping, air travel and oil, amid warnings of rising energy costs and disruption to business in the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway.

Three U.S. service members have been killed and another five were seriously wounded, in the first U.S. casualties of the unfolding operations against Iran, the U.S. military said on Sunday.

Trump justified the attack in part by pointing to the threat of an Iranian nuclear program that he had until recently claimed had been "obliterated" by U.S. air strikes last June.

While Trump's fellow Republicans largely fell in line behind the president, several Democratic lawmakers said the attack was illegal because only Congress has the right to declare war under the Constitution.

Senator Mark ‌Warner, the Democratic vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee from Virginia, who was among the eight lawmakers briefed last week ​before the strikes, said the administration did not provide evidence of an imminent threat. Instead, Warner said, Trump started a "war of choice."

"I ​saw no intelligence that Iran was on the verge of launching any kind of pre-emptive strike ​against the United States," Warner said on CNN's "State of the Union."

Warner and U.S. Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, expressed concern that it could drag the United States into another ‌long and messy conflict in the Middle East.

Khanna, who is helping lead an ​attempt in the House of Representatives to block further military ​action without congressional approval, said it was unclear how Iran would be governed following Khamenei's death.

"Khamenei was a brutal dictator, but Americans are not safer today," Khanna said. "The question is: 'Is the country going to descend in civil war? Are billions of our dollars going to be spent there? Are American troops going to be at risk?'"

Lawmakers said they wanted to avoid a prolonged and costly conflict reminiscent of ​the Iraq War, which dragged on for years and claimed thousands of U.S. ‌lives.

Senator Rick Scott, a Republican from Florida, said he hopes U.S. involvement in Iran can be completed within a month.

"It all depends on... whoever the new leader is in Iran," Scott ​told Fox's "Sunday Morning Futures" show. "We're going to finish this, and if we don't, we'll be doing this in five years, in 10 years."

(Reporting by P.J. Huffstutter in Chicago, Doina Chiacu in ​Washington, Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut and Doyinsola Oladipo in New York; Editing by Sergio Non and Bill Berkrot)

CAIRO (AP) — Some of the jubilation was open and even raucous — people dancing in Iranian streets, honking car horns in celebration, screaming joyfully from windows and rooftops over the killing of the country's supreme leader. But asbombardment by the United States and Israelfell from the air for a second day Sunday, many expressed fear and uncertainty over what direction Iran will take.

The death ofAyatollah Ali Khamenei, who stood at the pinnacle of Iran's Islamic Republic for nearly four decades, along with a number of top military leaders in the first day of the U.S.-Israeli campaign, stunned Iranians and stirred a mix of complex emotions in a divided nation.

"Inside, we are in party mode," said one man in northern Tehran who expressed joy overKhamenei's death. He was reached via messaging apps. "But unless we are safe from them, people are not celebrating publicly because they are ruthless and even more vengeful."

Authorities moved to show public support, rallyingmassive crowds in several citiesto mourn a leader that state media declared a martyr. Video run on state media — verified by the AP — showed tens of thousands filling the sprawling main squares of the southern and central cities of Isfahan and Yazd, waving Iranian flags and chanting, "Death to America."

Several of those who joined past anti-government protests, reached by The Associated Press on Sunday, said the state's security grip remained too strong to go out for a new round of mass demonstrations, despite calls by U.S. President Donald Trump for Iranians to "seize their government." With communications into Iran unstable, AP contacted eight Iranians, some of whom spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

Golshan Fathi, a woman living in Tehran, said the Basij paramilitary, which played a key role in the bloody crushing of mass protests last month, was showing a heavy presence in the streets of the capital. A doctor in the northern city of Rasht said Basijis pulled one man out of his car after he honked his horn in celebration.

Iranian society at the moment, Fathi said, is living "between hope and fear."

Some cheered, some honked

Iranian society is deeply divided. Hundreds of thousands marched in the streets across Iran last month, chanting "Death to Khamenei" in what were likely the biggest protests ever against the clerics' rule in place since 1979. A bloody crackdowncrushed the street movement, but not thebitterness against the government. At the same time, large numbers of loyalists remain tied to the system for religious, social or patronage reasons.

Iran's leadership quickly moved to show it was still in control even after the deaths of Khamenei, the defense minister, army chief of staff and a top security adviser. President Masoud Pezeshkian said a new leadership council had begun its work, and the foreign minister saida new supreme leaderwould be chosen in "one or two days."

Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf delivered an address on state TV on Sunday, saying the government and military did not depend on individuals.

"We prepared ourselves for these moments and set plans for all scenarios," he said, "even for after the martyrdom of our dear Imam Khamenei."

State media announced Khamenei's death just after dawn on Sunday. Celebrations erupted in some areas. Videos circulating online and verified by the AP showed dozens cheering and dancing and cars honking their horns in the streets of Karaj, a city near Tehran. Fathi in Tehran and the doctor in Rasht said cheers and celebratory chants were heard from windows and rooftops around their neighborhoods.

"It was one of the best nights, if not the best night, of our lives,"the doctor saidin a voice message. "It was actually my first time ever smoking a cigarette. ... We didn't sleep at all. And we don't even feel tired."

During the day, Iranians faced the reality of living under bombardment, with no idea when it will end. Blasts in Tehran sent a huge plume of smoke into the sky in an area where there are government buildings. Iranian authorities say more than 200 people have been killed in the strikes, including at least 165 killed in a strike at an all-girls school in the country's south.

Residents of Tehran rushed to supermarkets on Sunday, emptying shelves of bottled water, bread, eggs and milk. Long lines at gas stations across the capital suggested fears of possible fuel shortages or plans by many to leave the city. State television footage showed heavy traffic on major highways, with cars packed bumper-to-bumper as families attempted to reach northern provinces. Others said they were staying home, deciding that was safer.

Iranfired missiles at an ever-widening list of targets in Israel and Gulf Arab states in retaliation while Israel pledged "non-stop" strikes against Iran's leaders and military.

Advertisement

Some talk about a possible 'new page' for Iran

Fathi said she fears the Islamic Republic will hold onto power, "leading to chaos or even causing the splitting of the nation.

"But maybe, maybe from this morning, that new page for Iran where everything changes has begun. People are hopeful," she said. As she spoke, she heard the sound of explosions in the capital. "Right now, you see, Israel is hitting us. Fighters have violated our country's airspace and are freely bombing us and we are just sitting here."

Iranians arestill reeling from last month's crackdown, when security forces killed thousands. That and the ensuing wave of arrests have made many fearful of taking the streets again. Others are wary of U.S. and Israeli intentions or fear that Iran will be thrown into chaos and division.

"I don't think that the people have their determination in their own hands yet," the doctor in Rasht said. "This is a foreign war at the end of the day. But if the regime is so weakened and then another call for protests is made, this is another story."

Reza Mehrabi, 67, said celebrations of the deaths of Iranian senior leaders seem premature. He recalled similar celebrations after the 1979 revolution when the Shah was deposed, and the Islamic Republic's reign began.

"I saw some people were happy about the losses, but when I remember 1979 revolution and its aftermath, I need more consideration to understand if the nation and the country is on the right path."

But there's uncertainty about how much the strikes will embolden Iranians

One 27-year-old Tehran resident said a strike fell a few hundred yards (meters) away from her house, terrifying her with the explosion. "I have no idea which direction we are heading," she said. "I wish all these things were just a bad dream that vanishes when I wake up."

Despite Trump's calls for Iranians to rise up, experts say launching a new wave of mass demonstrations may not be so simple.

"The reality is, the Iranian people don't have the means to displace the Islamic Republic on their own," said Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies-Europe.

The strikes will embolden some people, he predicted, but many will be wary of taking to the streets again "because the regime retains its repressive capacity … and there should be no doubts it would be willing to use violence again against protesters."

"Even within families and within neighborhoods there may be very disparate views" about Khamenei's killing, especially because it was at the hands of foreign powers, he said.

Both in last summer's 12-day war with Israel and so far in this round of bombardment, "the political and military apparatus has been hit hard, but they have replaced people and maintained their cohesion," said Arang Keshavarzian, professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University.

During the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iranians from across society held massive protests lasting for months, eventually leading to the shah fleeing the country. "But we are far from the 1979 model in which Iranians organized strikes and nationwide organizations of merchants, students, and clerics," Keshavarzian said.

"Just because Iranians have many grievances and make claims on the state on a daily basis, it does not necessarily mean that this will scale up to a social revolution," he said. "And bombing Iran does not change this."

El Deeb and Chehayeb reported from Beirut.

March 1 is thestart of meteorological spring, but the forecast might look more like the beginning of summer for millions across the country. (Astronomical spring begins March 20). This is a major flip compared to last week, when we hadan historic blizzardand cold temperatures to start the week.

Over the course of this week, we will see dozens of high temperature records fall from the Desert Southwest to the mid-Atlantic.

Heat Dominates Southwest And Deep South First Half Of The Week

Warm temperatures will continue across the Southwest and Deep South to start the week. Dozens of record highs could fall from Phoenix to Jackson, Mississippi, and even north into Grand Junction, Colorado.

Those hot highs will hang on for one more day across the Southwest, as Monday is expected to hit 91 degrees in Phoenix. This will be the 3rd day in a row temperatures have topped 90 degrees.

Mid to upper 80s will dominate much of Texas to start the week. Just last Thursday, the Falcon Dam cooperative weather station, along the Rio Grande River about 70 miles south-southeast of Laredo, reported ahigh temperature of 106 degrees.This is a preliminary record of the hottest temperature ever recorded during the winter months in the U.S.

The record warmth will stick around across the South through midweek, then begin to shift eastward.

Southeast And Mid-Atlantic Feeling The Heat Later This Week

By the latter half of the week, the heat will spread eastward, impacting much of the Southeast and mid-Atlantic, with the record heat peaking on Friday for most.

On Friday, record highs could fall from Houston to Tampa, and stretch northward into portions of Ohio. This sprawling area will see high temperatures as much as 25-30 degrees above average for this time of year.

Advertisement

On Friday, we could see record highs in places like Atlanta, Memphis, Charlotte and even Zanesville, Ohio.

On Saturday, places as far north as Washington, D.C. and Pittsburgh could see a high in the mid 70s.

While the Northeast isn't expected to set any records, they will definitely be feeling the spring vibes with temperatures reaching the mid 50 by the weekend. This will be a welcomed change from the two and a half feet of snow that was dumped on the region byWinter Storm Hernandoless than two weeks prior.

March Is Trending Warmer For Many

As we make this major flip from such a cold winter to a mild March, this warming trend is expected to continue for most of the country, especially the west, through at least the first half of the month.

So if you have been counting the days until the sun and warmth reaches you, enjoy!

This doesn't mean the cold weather is behind us, but we can make the most of the warmer days while they last.

(MORE:March Forecast Trending Warmer)

Jennifer Grayis a weather and climate writer for weather.com. She has been covering some of the world's biggest weather and climate stories for the last two decades.

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — At least six people were killed and about a dozen were wounded in violent clashes with police and paramilitary forces Sunday after hundreds of protesters stormed the U.S. Consulate in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, authorities said.

APTOPIX Pakistan Iran US Israel

The violence came hours after the United States and Israel attacked Iran and killed the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Police and officials at a hospital in Karachi said at least eight people were also wounded in the clashes.

Summaiya Syed Tariq, a police surgeon at the city's main government hospital, confirmed that six bodies and multiple injured people were brought to the facility. Karachi is the capital of southern Sindh province and Pakistan's largest city.

Senior police official Irfan Baloch said protesters briefly attacked the perimeter of the U.S. Consulate but were later dispersed. "The situation is now fully under our control," Baloch said.

Advertisement

He dismissed as baseless reports that any part of the consulate building was set on fire. However, he said protesters torched a nearby police post and smashed windows of the consulate before security forces arrived and regained control.

Witnesses said dozens of Shiite protesters remained gathered about a kilometer (half a mile) from the consulate, urging others to join them. Shiites make up roughly 15% of Pakistan's population of about 250 million and represent one of the largest Shiite communities in the world. They have frequently staged anti-Israel and anti-U.S. rallies in the past, though clashes of this scale are rare.

Shiites also held a rally near the U.S. Consulate in Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province, police said. Faisal Kamran, a senior police official, said demonstrators tried to protest outside the consulate but were not allowed. Police dispersed the crowd when they tried to march toward the building, he said.

Associated Press writers Babar Dogar in Lahore, Pakistan, and Asim Tanveer in Multan, Pakistan, contributed to this story.

KARACHI, Pakistan, March 1 (Reuters) - Pakistani police fired tear gas on Sunday to scatter protesters who breached the outer wall ‌of the U.S. consulate in the southern city of Karachi ‌following news of U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali ​Khamenei.

Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite armed groups gather after the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Baghdad

Pro-Iranian protesters also gathered outside the Green Zone in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, where the U.S. Embassy is located.

In Karachi, protesters had been pushed back from the consulate, a spokesman for the local government said. A ‌Reuters reporter heard sounds ⁠of gunfire and video footage from the scenes showed burning vehicles outside the consulate's main gate.

No casualties were reported ⁠in the clashes. U.S. diplomats in the consulate were not immediately available for comment.

Large protests also broke out in other parts of Pakistan.

Advertisement

Protesters set ​fire to ​a United Nations office building in ​Pakistan's northern city of Skardu, ‌in the normally peaceful Shia-majority Gilgit Baltistan region known for its Himalayan peaks popular with tourists.

"A large number of protesters have gathered outside the UN office in GB and burned down the building," local government spokesperson Shabbir Mir told Reuters, adding no casualties had been reported.

Crowds ‌had gathered earlier in the day to ​protest Khamenei's death.

In the central city of ​Lahore, hundreds of protesters gathered ​outside the U.S. consulate but there were no reports ‌of violence.

"Some of the protestors tried ​to damage the ​security gate, hundreds of yards away for the Consulate, however, police stopped them without use of force," Aqeel Raza, an eyewitness, ​told Reuters.

(Reporting by Akhtar ‌Soomro and Ariba Shahid in Karachi, Mushtaq Ali in Peshawar ​and Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore; Writing by Saad Sayeed; Editing ​by Clarence Fernandez and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

By Olesya Astakhova, Alex Lawler and Ahmad Ghaddar

LONDON/MOSCOW, March 1 (Reuters) - OPEC+ will consider a larger-than-expected oil output increase on Sunday, two OPEC+ sources said after ‌the U.S.-Israeli war on OPEC+ member Iran and Tehran's retaliation led to shipment ‌disruptions in the Middle East.

OPEC+ has a history of raising oil output to cushion disruptions but analysts said the ​group currently has very little spare capacity to meaningfully add to supply, except for its leader Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Riyadh has been raising oil production and exports in recent weeks in preparation for U.S. strikes on Iran, sources have told Reuters.

Oil, gas and other shipments ‌from the Middle East via the ⁠Strait of Hormuz have come to a halt since Saturday after shipowners received a warning from Iran saying the area was closed for navigation.

OPEC+ ⁠will debate a production hike of 411,000 barrels per day or more at a meeting on Sunday, sources told Reuters, larger than the original expectations of 137,000 bpd.

Advertisement

Oil prices jumped on Friday ​to $73 per ​barrel, the highest level since July, on fears ​of a wider conflict in the ‌Middle East and supply disruptions through Hormuz, the world's most important oil route amounting to over 20% of global oil transit.

Middle East leaders have warned Washington that a war on Iran could lead to oil prices jumping to over $100 per barrel, said veteran OPEC analyst Helima Croft from RBC. Analysts from Barclays also said prices could rise to $100.

Croft said the market impact ‌from any large OPEC output increase will be limited ​due to a lack of actual production capabilities outside ​Saudi Arabia.

The meeting on Sunday will ​start at 1100 GMT and will involve only eight members of OPEC+ - ‌Saudi Arabia, Russia, the UAE, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, ​Iraq, Algeria and Oman. ​OPEC+ groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies like Russia but most production changes in the past years have been done by the eight members.

The ​eight members raised production quotas ‌by about 2.9 million bpd from April through December 2025, roughly 3% of ​global demand, before pausing increases for January to March 2026 due to seasonal ​weakness.

(Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Rugby league's bid to crack into the U.S. sports market returned to Las Vegas on Saturday with its mission to convert Americans to thisrugged brand of footballdrawing almost 50,000 fans to Allegiant stadium.

Australia National Rugby League US

It's the third consecutive year Australia's National Rugby League has showcased the gritty sport in the entertainment capital.

How many locals showed up among the thousands of traveling fans from Australia and England on a day that saw three matches was not immediately clear, but the showcase delivered on the entertainment stakes capped by a cliffhanger between two historic rivals.

The NRL has committed until 2028 to play regular season matches in Las Vegas as part of a strategic plan to broaden an international audience for the sport and increase its sports betting revenue by playing Prime Time in the entertainment capital.

Australia has been courting the US market since 1987when it played a State of Origin match between New South Wales and Queensland in Long Beach.

Bulldogs in derby win

A field goal in the second period of 'golden point' extra time by Canterbury Bulldogs captain Stephen Crichton decided a brutally physical encounter against the St. George-Illawarra Dragons.

Tied at 14-14 at the end of regulation and with both teams missing chances in the first period of extra time, Crichton stepped up from 20 meters (yards) to nervelessly slot home his kick to give the Bulldogs a dramatic victory.

Crichton had earlier played in winger Jacob Kiraz for Canterbury's second try after Jacob Preston had opened the scoring for Canterbury.

The Dragons twice leveled the match with a rare try by prop Emre Guler, while Setu Tu scored acrobatically in the corner for a try on his NRL debut.

Dragons half Kyle Flanagan kicked a penalty goal in the final minutes of regulation to tie the game and force extra time.

Advertisement

Knights upset Cowboys

Earlier, the Newcastle Knights stunned the North Queensland Cowboys 28-18 in the NRL season opener.

The match was in the balance at 22-18 in the last 10 minutes, before Braidon Burns was penalized for a high hit on Knights star Kalyn Ponga and was sent to the sin bin by referee Ashley Klein.

Newcastle, which finished bottom of the NRL standings last season, seized on the extra man advantage with prop forward Trey Mooney barging over to seal the win.

Newcastle raced to a 12-0 lead with tries from Greg Marzhew and Fletcher Sharpe, before the Cowboys rallied after Heilum Luki and Murray Taulagi scored to level at 12-12 at half time.

Bradman Best and Dominic Young scored a quickfire double for the Knights after the break before Taulagi's second try narrowed the deficit.

Leeds thump Hull KR

Maika Sivo scored four tries as the Leeds Rhinos thumped Hull KR 56-8 in the first match at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday featuring two English clubs.

The Rhinos stormed to a 28-0 halftime lead. Converted tries to Brodie Croft, Keenan Palasia, Ryan Hall and a double to Sivo set the tone.

Leeds maintained momentum in the second half with former Parramatta Eel Sivo scoring twice more, while Croft added a second try and Cooper Jenkins crashed over twice.

Hull's only reply came through Joe Burgess, a lone consolation after their World Club Challenge win over theBrisbane Broncoslast week.

AP sports:https://apnews.com/sports