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The outpouring of joy on the streets of LA is impossible to ignore. Thousands of Iranian-Americans lined Wilshire Boulevard on Saturday and Sunday to celebrate the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes that, they hope, will bring down the Iranian regime. On Westwood Boulevard, in the heart of “Tehrangeles,” there were raucous cheers inside Persian restaurants. Flags hung everywhere — the sterile tulip of the Islamic Republic replaced by the lion-and-sun of the previous era. The Iranian people, at home and abroad, believe that freedom is at hand, and that President Donald Trump is bringing the redemption for which they have waited for decades.

The US Embassy in Saudi Arabia’s capital city of Riyadh was damaged in a suspected Iranian drone attack Monday night. The embassy was hit by two drones, “resulting in a limited fire and minor material damage to the building,” a spokesperson for the Saudi defense ministry wrote on X. A loud blast was heard, and a small fire was seen at the embassy, Reuters reported. “The U.S. Mission to Saudi Arabia has issued a shelter in place notification for Jeddah, Riyadh and Dhahran and are limiting non-essential travel to any military installations in the region,” a “security alert” posted by the Riyadh embassy on X read.

U.S. Central Command declared Monday that Iran’s naval presence in the Gulf of Oman has been reduced to “ZERO,” announcing that every Iranian warship operating in the strategic waterway at the outset of Operation Epic Fury has been destroyed as American forces struck more than 1,250 targets in the first 48 hours of the campaign. Posting on the third day of operations, United States Central Command wrote on X: “Two days ago, the Iranian regime had 11 ships in the Gulf of Oman, today they have ZERO.”

Iranian drones hit the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, causing a fire and damage to the building on Monday. The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh was subjected to an attack by two drones according to initial estimates, resulting in a limited fire and minor material damage to the building,” said the Saudi Ministry of Defense. In a post on X, the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh said that a “shelter in place” order has been issued for Jeddah, Riyadh, and Dhahran, along with limited “non-essential travel to any military installations in the region.” “We recommend American citizens in the Kingdom to shelter in place immediately.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth praised the U.S. military’s ongoing operation in Iran, claiming that it is not an “endless” or “regime change” war in a Monday morning press briefing at the Pentagon. Speaking alongside Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine, Hegseth acknowledged the four U.S. servicemembers that have been killed in action since “Operation Epic Fury” began early Saturday morning and noted that American deaths are likely not over: We fight to win, and we don’t waste time, or lives. As the President warned, an effort of this scope will include casualties,” the secretary told reporters. “War is hell and always will be.

U.S. President Donald Trump is “very disappointed” in British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over his blocking America from using joint military bases to strike Iran, a report states. It is very disappointing that Britain didn’t stand with the United States when it launched strikes against Iran’s military and weapons industry, and British Prime Minister Starmer then took too long to get involved in the defence of Middle Eastern allies once the bombs started flying, President Donald Trump has said.