President Trump said that Iran will be hit with a “force” like they’ve never seen before if they “hit very hard” following the U.S.-Israeli operation on Saturday. “Iran just stated that they are going to hit very hard today, harder than they have ever hit before. THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!” Trump said on Truth Social. Donald J. Trump Truth Social Post 12:25 AM EST 03.01.26 Iran just stated that they are going to hit very hard today, harder than they have ever hit before. THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE! Thank… — Commentary Donald J. Trump Posts From Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) March 1, 2026 Trump’s statement follows reports of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard threatening the most intense “offensive operation” in its history. The IRGC has announced that the most intense offensive operation in the history of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will begin shortly against Israel and U.S. military bases in the region. — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 1, 2026 Ynetnews shared further: Iran’s Revolutionary Guard threatened that “the most brutal offensive operation in the history of Iran’s armed forces will begin shortly against the occupied territories and American terror bases.” In the statement, the Guard said Khamenei’s death at the hands of what it called terrorists was proof of his righteousness and said his path and legacy would continue with strength and honor. The force said the Iranian people would seek revenge and warned that those responsible would face what it described as severe and decisive punishment. It added that it would continue along Khamenei’s path, defend his legacy and stand firmly against internal and external plots, and that attacks on what it called the Islamic homeland would be met with a deterrent response. The reports follow Trump and Iranian state media confirming the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Iran Confirms Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei Dead After Strikes CBS News noted: Following the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an Iranian official announced Sunday that a leadership council will handle his duties until a new successor is announced. "In accordance with the constitution, a leadership council will be established to assume the responsibilities of the Supreme Leader until a successor is elected," the secretary of Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, said in a statement. Iranian state-run media had earlier said the nation's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, was leading the country in the wake of Khamenei's death. The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting reported that along with Pezeshkian, the speaker of Iran's parliament and the head of Iran's judiciary were in charge until a new leader is chosen. The Supreme National Security Council is a group of senior government officials responsible for dictating Iran's defense and foreign policy, among other things.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz got into a fiery exchange with his Iranian counterpart at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. The heated moment occurred after the United States and Israel conducted Operation Epic Fury on Iran. “My advice to the representative of the United States is to be polite. It would be better for yourself and the country you represent,” Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani said. “I’m not going to dignify this with another response, especially as this representative sits here in this body representing a regime that has killed tens of thousands of its own people and imprisoned many more simply for wanting freedom from your tyranny,” Waltz responded. Check it out: Iranian Ambassador: "My advice to the representative of the U.S. is to be polite. It would be better for yourself and the country you represent." US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz: "I'm not going to dignify this with another response, especially as this representative sits here… pic.twitter.com/Cr7Ub19R7V — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 1, 2026 More from the New York Post: Earlier in the meeting, Waltz insisted the US military action was lawful, stressing Washington was acting to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and protect global security – even as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the strikes as “a grave threat to international peace and security.” Guterres claimed the US and Israel violated international law – and the UN Charter – by carrying out the attack and called for an immediate ceasefire. “We are witnessing a grave threat to international peace and security,” Guterres said. “Let me be clear, there is no viable alternative to the peaceful settlement of international disputes,” he continued, calling for an immediate return to negotiations to “pull the region, and our world, back from the brink.” Guterres also condemned Iran’s retaliatory attacks for breaking the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Iran hit those nations as it fired missiles and drones at US bases and facilities across the Middle East and launched counterattacks on Israel. “The entire world has witnessed the Iranian regime’s wholesale slaughter of innocent civilians. Its presence in the Security Council makes a mockery of the body. But where the UN lacks moral clarity, President Trump and the United States of America will maintain it,” Waltz said. The entire world has witnessed the Iranian regime’s wholesale slaughter of innocent civilians. Its presence in the Security Council makes a mockery of the body. But where the UN lacks moral clarity, President Trump and the United States of America will maintain it. pic.twitter.com/8hVE4wEZ5H — Ambassador Mike Waltz (@USAmbUN) February 28, 2026 The Hill shared further: Iravani said during the meeting that the strikes killed Iranian civilians, calling the action a war crime, the AP reported. President Trump announced earlier Saturday that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader for decades, was killed in the strikes. “We are stopping extremism before it becomes unstoppable,” Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said at the Security Council meeting. “We will ensure that no radical regime armed with nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles can threaten our people or the entire world.” The European Commission, meanwhile, is planning to convene a “special Security College” about the strikes on Monday.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei released a statement following the company’s discussions with the Department of War on the use of its AI technology. “I believe deeply in the existential importance of using AI to defend the United States and other democracies, and to defeat our autocratic adversaries. Anthropic has therefore worked proactively to deploy our models to the Department of War and the intelligence community. We were the first frontier AI company to deploy our models in the US government’s classified networks, the first to deploy them at the National Laboratories, and the first to provide custom models for national security customers,” Amodei said. “Claude is extensively deployed across the Department of War and other national security agencies for mission-critical applications, such as intelligence analysis, modeling and simulation, operational planning, cyber operations, and more,” he continued. “Anthropic has also acted to defend America’s lead in AI, even when it is against the company’s short-term interest. We chose to forgo several hundred million dollars in revenue to cut off the use of Claude by firms linked to the Chinese Communist Party (some of whom have been designated by the Department of War as Chinese Military Companies), shut down CCP-sponsored cyberattacks that attempted to abuse Claude, and have advocated for strong export controls on chips to ensure a democratic advantage,” he added. “Anthropic understands that the Department of War, not private companies, makes military decisions. We have never raised objections to particular military operations nor attempted to limit use of our technology in an ad hoc manner. However, in a narrow set of cases, we believe AI can undermine, rather than defend, democratic values. Some uses are also simply outside the bounds of what today’s technology can safely and reliably do. Two such use cases have never been included in our contracts with the Department of War, and we believe they should not be included now,” Amodei noted. A statement from Anthropic CEO, Dario Amodei, on our discussions with the Department of War.https://t.co/rM77LJejuk — Anthropic (@AnthropicAI) February 26, 2026 More from the statement below: Mass domestic surveillance. We support the use of AI for lawful foreign intelligence and counterintelligence missions. But using these systems for mass domestic surveillance is incompatible with democratic values. AI-driven mass surveillance presents serious, novel risks to our fundamental liberties. To the extent that such surveillance is currently legal, this is only because the law has not yet caught up with the rapidly growing capabilities of AI. For example, under current law, the government can purchase detailed records of Americans’ movements, web browsing, and associations from public sources without obtaining a warrant, a practice the Intelligence Community has acknowledged raises privacy concerns and that has generated bipartisan opposition in Congress. Powerful AI makes it possible to assemble this scattered, individually innocuous data into a comprehensive picture of any person’s life—automatically and at massive scale. Fully autonomous weapons. Partially autonomous weapons, like those used today in Ukraine, are vital to the defense of democracy. Even fully autonomous weapons (those that take humans out of the loop entirely and automate selecting and engaging targets) may prove critical for our national defense. But today, frontier AI systems are simply not reliable enough to power fully autonomous weapons. We will not knowingly provide a product that puts America’s warfighters and civilians at risk. We have offered to work directly with the Department of War on R&D to improve the reliability of these systems, but they have not accepted this offer. In addition, without proper oversight, fully autonomous weapons cannot be relied upon to exercise the critical judgment that our highly trained, professional troops exhibit every day. They need to be deployed with proper guardrails, which don’t exist today. To our knowledge, these two exceptions have not been a barrier to accelerating the adoption and use of our models within our armed forces to date. The Department of War has stated they will only contract with AI companies who accede to “any lawful use” and remove safeguards in the cases mentioned above. They have threatened to remove us from their systems if we maintain these safeguards; they have also threatened to designate us a “supply chain risk”—a label reserved for US adversaries, never before applied to an American company—and to invoke the Defense Production Act to force the safeguards’ removal. These latter two threats are inherently contradictory: one labels us a security risk; the other labels Claude as essential to national security. Regardless, these threats do not change our position: we cannot in good conscience accede to their request. It is the Department’s prerogative to select contractors most aligned with their vision. But given the substantial value that Anthropic’s technology provides to our armed forces, we hope they reconsider. Our strong preference is to continue to serve the Department and our warfighters—with our two requested safeguards in place. Should the Department choose to offboard Anthropic, we will work to enable a smooth transition to another provider, avoiding any disruption to ongoing military planning, operations, or other critical missions. Our models will be available on the expansive terms we have proposed for as long as required. We remain ready to continue our work to support the national security of the United States. The lengthy statement follows President Trump instructing all federal agencies to “IMMEDIATELY CEASE” the use of Anthropic’s technology. President Trump Directs Federal Agencies To “IMMEDIATELY CEASE” Use Of “Radical Left AI Company” – CEO Refuses To Drop Two Demands On Use Of Technology “THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL NEVER ALLOW A RADICAL LEFT, WOKE COMPANY TO DICTATE HOW OUR GREAT MILITARY FIGHTS AND WINS WARS! That decision belongs to YOUR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, and the tremendous leaders I appoint to run our Military,” Trump said on Truth Social. “The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG-ARM the Department of War, and force them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution. Their selfishness is putting AMERICAN LIVES at risk, our Troops in danger, and our National Security in JEOPARDY,” Trump continued. “Therefore, 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. 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. WE will decide the fate of our Country — NOT some out-of-control, Radical Left AI company run by people who have no idea what the real World is all about,” he added. Full post below: “This week, Anthropic delivered a master class in arrogance and betrayal as well as a textbook case of how not to do business with the United States Government or the Pentagon. Our position has never wavered and will never waver: the Department of War must have full, unrestricted access to Anthropic’s models for every LAWFUL purpose in defense of the Republic,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said. “Instead, @AnthropicAI and its CEO @DarioAmodei, have chosen duplicity. Cloaked in the sanctimonious rhetoric of ‘effective altruism,’ they have attempted to strong-arm the United States military into submission – a cowardly act of corporate virtue-signaling that places Silicon Valley ideology above American lives. The Terms of Service of Anthropic’s defective altruism will never outweigh the safety, the readiness, or the lives of American troops on the battlefield. Their true objective is unmistakable: to seize veto power over the operational decisions of the United States military. That is unacceptable. As President Trump stated on Truth Social, the Commander-in-Chief and the American people alone will determine the destiny of our armed forces, not unelected tech executives,” he continued. “Anthropic’s stance is fundamentally incompatible with American principles. Their relationship with the United States Armed Forces and the Federal Government has therefore been permanently altered. In conjunction with the President’s directive for the Federal Government to cease all use of Anthropic’s technology, I am directing the Department of War to designate Anthropic a Supply-Chain Risk to National Security. Effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic. Anthropic will continue to provide the Department of War its services for a period of no more than six months to allow for a seamless transition to a better and more patriotic service. America’s warfighters will never be held hostage by the ideological whims of Big Tech. This decision is final,” Hegseth added. This week, Anthropic delivered a master class in arrogance and betrayal as well as a textbook case of how not to do business with the United States Government or the Pentagon. Our position has never wavered and will never waver: the Department of War must have full, unrestricted… — Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) February 27, 2026 CNBC shared further: But Anthropic is simultaneously facing intense pressure to justify its massive $380 billion valuation, supported by large institutional and strategic investors, while it races to stay on the cutting edge of model development and fend off competition from OpenAI and other rivals including Google and Elon Musk’s xAI. All three of those companies’ models are used by the Defense Department. Caving to the DoD’s demands could damage Anthropic’s reputation and alienate employees and customers. But if Anthropic refuses to agree to give the military unfettered access to its models, it could lose out on meaningful revenue in the short term and be shut out of potential future opportunities with other companies that do business with the government. “There are no winners in this,” Lauren Kahn, a senior research analyst at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, told CNBC in an interview. “It leaves a sour taste in everyone’s mouth.” Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesperson, said Thursday that the DoD has “no interest” in using AI for fully autonomous weapons or to conduct mass surveillance of Americans, which he noted is illegal. He said the agency wants Anthropic to agree to allow its models to be used for “all lawful purposes.” “This is a simple, common-sense request that will prevent Anthropic from jeopardizing critical military operations and potentially putting our warfighters at risk,” Parnell wrote in a post on X on Thursday. “We will not let ANY company dictate the terms regarding how we make operational decisions.” In a separate post on Thursday, Emil Michael, the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering and a former Uber executive, wrote that Amodei is a “liar and has a God-complex.” He accused Amodei of wanting “nothing more than to try to personally control the U.S. Military.” Hegseth set Anthropic’s Friday deadline during a meeting with Amodei earlier this week, and warned that punishment for not agreeing could be severe. He said Anthropic could be labeled a “supply chain risk,” a designation that’s typically reserved for companies from countries viewed as adversaries. The label would force DoD vendors and contractors to certify that they don’t use Anthropic’s models. Amodei said his company won’t be intimidated. CBS News interviewed Amodei following the clash with the Pentagon:

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a “nationwide” HPV vaccination campaign. “We are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the daughters of the country are healthy and prosperous. In this direction, this morning around 11:30 AM, I will launch the nationwide HPV vaccination campaign in Ajmer, Rajasthan. The objective of this initiative is the prevention of cervical cancer,” Modi explained. “During this time, I will also have the opportunity to lay the foundation stones and inaugurate several projects, along with handing over appointment letters to my young colleagues,” he added. देश की बेटियां स्वस्थ और समृद्ध हों, इसके लिए हम कोई कोर-कसर नहीं छोड़ रहे हैं। इसी दिशा में आज सुबह करीब 11:30 बजे राजस्थान के अजमेर में एचपीवी टीकाकरण के देशव्यापी अभियान का शुभारंभ करूंगा। इस पहल का उद्देश्य सर्वाइकल कैंसर की रोकथाम है। इस दौरान कई परियोजनाओं के शिलान्यास और… — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 28, 2026 News18 shared further: India’s decision to roll out free HPV vaccination for adolescent girls marks a pivotal moment in the country’s public health journey, one that shifts the focus from treatment to prevention, and from late diagnosis to early protection. By offering the vaccine free of cost to 14-year-old girls, the government is targeting the disease at its root, long before it has the opportunity to develop. Cervical cancer remains one of the most common cancers among Indian women, despite being largely preventable. The primary cause is persistent infection with high-risk strains of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), a widespread virus that many individuals are exposed to at some point in their lives. Vaccination during adolescence, before exposure, offers the highest level of protection. Dr. Srinivas C H, MS Ortho, Fellowship in Orthopedic Oncology, CEO and Consultant Orthopedic Onco Surgeon, Prakriya Hospitals, Bangalore, describes the nationwide campaign as transformative. “India’s nationwide HPV vaccination drive for adolescent girls is a transformative step in women’s health, because it prevents cervical cancer before it even begins to develop,” he says. By removing cost as a barrier and delivering the vaccine at the recommended age, he notes, the programme ensures protection when it is most effective. “In the future, I plan to allocate funds for cervical cancer research, targeting young girls,” Modi told Bill Gates in 2024. “I aim to encourage our scientists to conduct local research to make vaccines. My goal is to vaccinate all girls in our country at minimal cost, ensuring that they are protected from cancer,” Modi continued. “This is the direction I’m currently working in. Once my government is elected again, my priority will be to invest significantly in this research to safeguard the lives of our daughters,” he added. Footage below: Bill Gates wrote in 2024: Health is one area where India is making a big difference. This country is the world’s largest producer of vaccines—it supplies more than 60 percent of all vaccines distributed by Gavi, the organization that has helped vaccinate more than 1 billion children in lower-income countries. Indian companies pioneered the creation of high-quality, low-cost vaccines and drugs, leading the world in making affordable treatments for diseases like HIV/AIDS as well as vaccines for rotavirus, pneumococcal pneumonia, and COVID. The government has helped deliver huge supplies of vaccines to its own people and to other low- and middle-income countries, and now it’s looking to do the same for medical devices and diagnostics. Thanks in large part to India, developing countries now get new medicines and vaccines much faster than they used to. I rank these efforts as one of the most important health achievements ever. (We’ve made progress, but we’re not done. The world should still do more to shrink the gap between when a drug or vaccine becomes available in rich countries and when it reaches lower-income ones.)

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced on Friday his company reached an “agreement” with the Department of War to deploy its models in their classified network. “In all of our interactions, the DoW displayed a deep respect for safety and a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcome. AI safety and wide distribution of benefits are the core of our mission. Two of our most important safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems. The DoW agrees with these principles, reflects them in law and policy, and we put them into our agreement,” Altman said. “We also will build technical safeguards to ensure our models behave as they should, which the DoW also wanted. We will deploy FDEs to help with our models and to ensure their safety, we will deploy on cloud networks only. We are asking the DoW to offer these same terms to all AI companies, which in our opinion we think everyone should be willing to accept. We have expressed our strong desire to see things de-escalate away from legal and governmental actions and towards reasonable agreements,” Altman continued. “We remain committed to serve all of humanity as best we can. The world is a complicated, messy, and sometimes dangerous place,” he added. Tonight, we reached an agreement with the Department of War to deploy our models in their classified network. In all of our interactions, the DoW displayed a deep respect for safety and a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcome. AI safety and wide distribution of… — Sam Altman (@sama) February 28, 2026 Fox Business explained further: The deal came after Trump directed every federal agency to stop using Anthropic technology, escalating a standoff over how artificial intelligence should be used in military operations. In a Truth Social post, Trump said agencies, including the Department of War, would have a six-month phase-out period. “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,” he wrote. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth later said he was directing the department to designate Anthropic a “supply-chain risk to National Security.” “Effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic,” he added. “Anthropic will continue to provide the Department of War its services for a period of no more than six months to allow for a seamless transition to a better and more patriotic service.” Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei had refused earlier demands from the Department of War to allow its AI to be used for “all lawful purposes,” citing concerns about “mass domestic surveillance” and “fully autonomous weapons.” “Anthropic understands that the Department of War, not private companies, makes military decisions. We have never raised objections to particular military operations nor attempted to limit use of our technology in an ad hoc manner. However, in a narrow set of cases, we believe AI can undermine, rather than defend, democratic values. Some uses are also simply outside the bounds of what today’s technology can safely and reliably do. Two such use cases have never been included in our contracts with the Department of War, and we believe they should not be included now,” Amodei said in a lengthy statement after the fallout. Anthropic CEO Releases Statement After Fallout With Department Of War "We think our deployment has more guardrails than any previous agreement for classified AI deployments, including Anthropic's," OpenAI stated. Yesterday we reached an agreement with the Department of War for deploying advanced AI systems in classified environments, which we requested they make available to all AI companies. We think our deployment has more guardrails than any previous agreement for classified AI… — OpenAI (@OpenAI) February 28, 2026 Fortune noted: Sasha Baker, head of national security policy at OpenAI, and Katrina Mulligan, who leads national security for OpenAI for Government, also spoke at the OpenAI all-hands, according to the source. One of those officials said the relationship between Anthropic and the government had broken down because Anthropic cofounder and CEO Dario Amodei had offended Department of War leadership, including publishing blog posts that “the department got upset about.” Anthropic, a company founded by people who left OpenAI over safety issues, had been the only large commercial AI maker whose models were approved for use at the Pentagon, in a deployment done through a partnership with Palantir. But Anthropic’s management and the Pentagon have been locked for several days in a dispute over limitations that Anthropic wanted to put on the use of its technology. Those limitations are essentially the same ones that Altman said the Pentagon would abide by if it used OpenAI’s technology.