Iran

BBC -   President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that the war in the Middle East could leave Ukraine struggling to source air defence missiles.

He also said there was "a risk" Ukraine's allies could be distracted by the conflict, and forget his country's defence against Russia's full-scale invasion.

"We could find ourselves having difficulty obtaining missiles and weapons to defend our skies," he told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. "The Americans and their allies in the Middle East might need them to defend themselves, for example Patriot missiles."

Asked if there was a risk the United States and the European Union could forget Ukraine's defence while focused on the Middle East, Zelensky replied: "Of course, it's a risk. But I hope the Iranian crisis remains a limited operation and doesn't turn into a long war. We know first-hand how bloody it risks being."

The Guardian -   A near-total internet blackout makes verifying civilians deaths extremely difficult. But the Human Rights Activists news agency, a US-based NGO focused on Iranian human rights, says US-Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 742 civilians, including 176 children, with hundreds more cases under review. Elsewhere, the Iranian Red Crescent Society reported a death toll of 787 people, and the Norway-based Hengaw said its count of the death toll was at least 1,500, including 200 civilians and 1,300 Iranian military members. The numbers are likely to rise....

NPR - The U.S. has evacuated diplomats across the Middle East and shut down some embassies today as the war with Iran enters its fourth day. The U.S. is telling citizens to evacuate more than a dozen countries. Limited flights out of the Middle East resumed yesterday, but hundreds of thousands of travelers remain stranded at aviation hubs in the region. Israeli warplanes are striking Tehran in Iran and Beirut in Lebanon. Meanwhile, Iranian drones hit the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia. At least six U.S. service members have died in action. Trump said his administration expects the conflict to go on for "four to five weeks, but we have the capability to go far longer than that." The Iranian Red Crescent Society reports at least 555 Iranians have been killed since the joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign began on Saturday.

Today, the Israeli military said it is prepared for weeks of war. An official in the region, speaking anonymously, tells NPR’s Daniel Estrin that Israel believes it can achieve its war goals in just two weeks. But Estrin says there are mixed messages about those goals. Yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News that regime change is the objective. In contrast, U.S. officials yesterday walked back the idea that this war was about regime change. 

Trump administration officials briefed top congressional lawmakers yesterday about the war. Congress is set to vote this week on measures that would limit the president's ability to intervene further in Iran without congressional approval. NPR’s Barbara Sprunt tells Up First that the lawmakers are expected to vote largely along partisan lines, despite most Americans' disapproval of the war. But Sprunt says there are some outliers. A small number of Republicans plan to curb the president's actions, while some Democrats fear the resolution restricts the flexibility needed for real-time threat response.

The recent conflict between the U.S. and Iran is hardly the first time the two nations have clashed politically and militarily. These are seven key historical points in their relationship since 1953.