Donald Trump under-estimated the Iran regime’s resolve, as Tehran unleashes an astonishing series of attacks, exploding revenge strikes all over the Middle East
18:05, 02 Mar 2026Updated 21:13, 02 Mar 2026
Trump’s war spreads to Beirut, Lebanon(Image: Abdul Kader Al Bay/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock)
US President Donald Trump was facing up to having miscalculated his war on Iran yesterday as the conflict spiraled further into chaos and violence across the Middle East.
Tehran and its allies hit back against Israel, neighbouring Gulf states, and targets critical to the world’s production of oil and natural gas, with the death toll soaring across the region. The intensity of the attacks, the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the lack of any apparent exit plan indicated the conflict would last many weeks.
It also appeared the US under-estimated Iranian resolve and the regime’s ability to outlast the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. On Monday Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war on Iran spread dramatically with deadly Iranian attacks across nine countries in the region. It means Iran’s regime is holding out for a bloody “war of attrition and endurance”, hoping to exhaust US and American political will to continue their attacks, according to Mirror sources.
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Air power- F-18 fighter on USS Abraham Lincoln(Image: US NAVY/US CENTRAL COMMAND/AFP v)
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Trump admitted on Monday: “It’s always been a four-week process. As strong as it is – it’s a big country. It’ll take four weeks or less.” Intelligence analysis suggests the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has not paralysed the Iranian military which continues to attack regional targets.
And the head of the Iranian regime has not been ‘cut off’ as Washington suggests because its military and command structure remains able to fight. Former FBI intelligence officer and Middle East expert Ali Soufan, warned Iran is trying to outlast Israeli-US attacks by depleting their defensive missile stocks.
USS Abraham Lincoln’s fighter jets(Image: US NAVY/US CENTRAL COMMAND/AFP v)
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He said: “Despite the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s rapid and coordinated escalation demonstrates that regime command and control remain firm. The sustained use of drones and lower-cost munitions is likely a tactical attempt by Tehran to deplete interceptor stockpiles. It comes despite being hit with more than 700 missiles and bombs in just 12 hours throughout Monday, the third day of the war, according to sources.
Sources told the Mirror on Monday that the US originally estimated the Iran attack would take roughly four days to topple the regime. Unofficially it now believes the operation could last until mid-April.
B-1B Lancer Strategic Bombers were hitting missile stores deep inside Iran. Sources also say many high-ranking Iranian security officers are selling off assets and trying to convert them into cryptocurrency. It is also believed the IDF has plans to launch a ground-offensive, yet again, into Lebanon to take on Hezbollah.
The Israeli air force today launched strikes on the Iranian Interior Security, the Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC headquarters in Tehran.
War decision: US President Donald Trump(Image: Gripas Yuri/ABACA/Shutterstock)
And an urgent intelligence warning has gone out in northern Iraq, in the city of Erbil, suggesting a number of hotels used by westerners could be hit in an Iran-sponsored terror attack.
US sources now suspect Iran hopes to exhaust western defensive missiles protecting Israel and US and UK military personnel throughout the Middle East. Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed to allow the US to launch attacks from UK military bases. The announcement followed an Iranian drone hitting a runway at RAF Akrotiri, in Cyprus although no casualties were reported.
A source said that the drone actually hit a US U2 spy plane hangar. Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan are among the nations that have been attacked by Iran. Demonstrations against US embassies have broken out in Karachi, Pakistan and Iraq’s capital Baghdad.
Mr Soufan, a world-renowned Islamist terror expert added: “Iran knows this is a war it cannot “win” militarily, but the regime in Tehran may believe they can survive it. Survival would mean halting US and Israeli sustained strikes. To achieve that, Iran likely believes it must raise the economic, operational, and political costs for Israel and the United States, and importantly, its regional Gulf allies.
Tearful Iranian woman and memorial for Khamenei(Image: AP)
“Operationally, there are questions about munition and interceptor stockpiles.” A separate security source told the Mirror: “Iran wants a war of attrition and endurance and it could go on for much longer than Trump anticipated. By drawing in the Gulf States they are spreading the misery, sending a message to those Middle Eastern countries for having supported US military bases in the region.
“This will swallow up defence resources.” At least 555 people have died in Iran since war began on Saturday, including 168 people who were killed by a strike on a girls’ school in southern Iran. More than 130 cities across Iran have come under attack. Israeli warplanes launched a fresh waves of bombings across Iran, also attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon after the terror network struck across its southern border.
F-35 C launches off USS Abraham Lincoln(Image: US NAVY/AFP via Getty Images)
Eleven Israeli civilians have died and six US service personnel have been killed, it was confirmed on Monday, as Iran launched an astonishing array of missile attacks. In Lebanon another 31 died from Israeli air-strikes as Hezbollah came under attack. Trump warned that airstrikes targeting Iran’s ballistic missile program and navy could continue for weeks, and more American casualties are expected.
He said: “Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends. That’s the way it is.” The US military said Kuwait’s air defences had mistakenly shot down three US F-15 fighters during an Iranian attack – all six crew members surviving. The Gulf state of Qatar, home to a key US military base, said its air force had shot down two Iranian Sukhoi Su-24 bombers. The United Arab Emirates intercepted nine ballistic and six cruise missiles and 148 drones on Monday.
Trump speaks at Medal of Honour ceremony(Image: AP)
It has repelled hundreds of Iranian drones and missiles since the attacks began on Saturday. Three people in the UAE were killed in Iranian attacks on Sunday. Trump said he wasn’t ruling out US forces in Iran if “they were necessary”. He said: “I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground. Like, every president says, ‘There will be no boots on the ground’. I don’t say it.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday defended his decision to allow the US to use British bases to launch defensive strikes against Iran. He told the House of Commons the government was focused on looking “at all options to support our people. We want to ensure that they can return home as swiftly and safely as possible, for their lives are on the line.” Starmer also defended his decision not to join US and Israeli offensive actions against Iran, saying the UK had learned the lessons of the Iraq War and that any military action must be legally justified.
Smoke rises as Trump’s war spreads to Beirut(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Demonstrators in Karachi, Pakistan supportive of the Iranian government attempted to storm a US Consulate on Sunday. Authorities said violent clashes with security forces there killed at least 22 people and injured more than 120 others. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has visited the site of a deadly Iranian missile attack in central Israel.
Nine people were killed Sunday when a missile slammed into a shelter located in a synagogue in Beit Shemesh. Netanyahu accused Iran of targeting civilians and said the country poses a threat to the entire world. He said: “We set out to protect ourselves, but in doing so we protect many others.” The U.S. Embassy in Beirut is urging Americans to depart Lebanon immediately. Iranian media said Mansoureh Khojasteh, wife of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, died on Monday. She had been in a coma since Saturday’s strikes on her husband’s office.