AP News in Brief at 6:04 a.m. EST

Some of the first strikes appeared to hit areas around the offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Iranian media reported strikes nationwide, and smoke could be seen rising from the capital.

“When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations,” Trump said in a video announcing “major combat operations” were underway. “For many years, you have asked for America’s help, but you never got it.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed that sweeping goal. “Our joint operation will create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their fate into their own hands,” Netanyahu said.

The strikes opened a stunning new chapter in U.S. intervention in Iran and marked the second time in eight months that the Trump administration has used military force against the Islamic Republic. They came after tensions soared in recent weeks as American warships moved into the region, and Trump said he wanted a deal to constrain Iran’s nuclear program at a moment when the country is struggling at home with growing dissent following nationwide protests.

The Latest: US and Israel attack Iran as Trump says US begins 'major combat operations'

The United States and Israel launched an attack Saturday on Iran, with the first apparent strike happening near the offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iranian media reported strikes nationwide, and smoke could be seen rising from the capital.

President Donald Trump said in a video posted on social media that the U.S. had begun “major combat operations in Iran.” He claimed Iran has continued to develop its nuclear program and plans to develop missiles to reach U.S.

Here's the latest:

France, whose military has bases and a regular presence in the Mideast, has called on French citizens in the region to exercise extreme caution.

Read President Trump’s statement on Iran in full

U.S. President Donald Trump said in an 8-minute video posted on his Truth Social that the U.S. has begun “major combat operations in Iran.” He claimed Iran has continued to develop its nuclear program and plans to develop missiles to reach U.S. and appealed to the Iranian people to “take over your government.”

Here’s Trump’s address in full:

A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran. Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime. A vicious group of very hard, terrible people. Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world.

For 47 years, the Iranian regime has chanted Death to America and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder, targeting the United States, our troops and the innocent people in many, many countries. Among the regime’s very first acts was to back a violent takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, holding dozens of American hostages for 444 days. In 1983, Iran’s proxies carried out the marine barracks bombing in Beirut that killed 241 American military personnel.

In 2000, they knew and were probably involved with the attack on the USS Cole. Many died. Iranian forces killed and maimed hundreds of American service members in Iraq. The regime’s proxies have continued to launch countless attacks against American forces stationed in the Middle East in recent years, as well as U.S. naval and commercial vessels and international shipping lines. It’s been mass terror, and we’re not going to put up with it any longer.

Pakistan carries out airstrikes inside Afghanistan with no letup in border fighting

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s military, backed by artillery and air power, struck more military installations deep inside Afghanistan overnight and into early Saturday, after Pakistan said it was in “open war” with its eastern neighbor.

Pakistan claimed more than 300 Afghan forces had been killed since fighting erupted Thursday night during a broad Afghan cross-border attack into Pakistan. Afghanistan rejected the figures as false. The casualty figures provided by either side could not be independently confirmed.

Pakistani and Afghan forces have targeted each other’s military positions since Thursday night, when Afghanistan launched a cross-border attack in response to Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan last Sunday. Pakistan said it was targeting the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. The group is separate but closely allied with Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban. Afghanistan, however, said only civilians were killed in Sunday's airstrike.

After the Afghan attack, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif declared Friday: “Our patience has now run out. Now it is open war between us.”

Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Saturday that more than 331 Afghan forces had been killed and over 500 others wounded during the ongoing military strikes in Afghanistan. Pakistan destroyed 102 Afghan posts, captured 22 others and destroyed 163 tanks and armored vehicles at 37 locations, he said.

Bill Clinton says he 'did nothing wrong' with Epstein as he faced grilling over their relationship

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton told members of Congress on Friday that he “did nothing wrong” in his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and saw no signs of Epstein's sexual abuse as he faced hours of grilling from lawmakers over his connections to the disgraced financier from more than two decades ago.

“I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong,” the former Democratic president said in an opening statement he shared on social media. The closed-door deposition ended after more than six hours of questioning from lawmakers who said he answered every question posed to him.

The deposition in the Clintons’ hometown of Chappaqua, New York, marked the first time a former president has been compelled to testify to Congress. It came a day after Clinton's wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, sat with lawmakers for her own deposition.

Bill Clinton has also not been accused of any wrongdoing, and Republican members of the House Oversight Committee did not immediately level any accusations against the Clintons as they departed Chappaqua. They planned to review the depositions but said their attention was mostly shifting to other individuals.

Lawmakers are grappling with what accountability in the United States looks like at a time when men around the world have been toppled from their high-powered posts for maintaining their connections with Epstein after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to state charges in Florida for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.

Federal judge extends order protecting refugees in Minnesota from being arrested and deported

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge on Friday extended an order protecting refugees in Minnesota who are lawfully in the U.S. from being arrested and deported, saying a Trump administration policy turns the “American Dream into a dystopian nightmare.”

U.S. District Judge John Tunheim granted a motion by advocates for refugees to convert a temporary restraining order that he issued in January into a more permanent preliminary injunction while the case develops further.

The order applies only in Minnesota. But the implications of a new national policy on refugees that the Department of Homeland Security announced Feb. 18 were a major part of the discussion at a hearing held by the judge the next day.

“Minnesota refugees can now live their lives without fear that their own government will snatch them off the street and imprison them far from loved ones,” Kimberly Grano, an attorney with the International Refugee Assistance Project, told The Associated Press.

The Trump administration asserts it has the right to arrest potentially tens of thousands of refugees across the U.S. who entered the country legally but don’t yet have green cards. A new Homeland Security memo interprets immigration law to say that refugees applying for green cards must return to federal custody one year after they were admitted to the U.S. so that their applications can be reviewed.

Trump's 'pretty much' decided whom to endorse in Texas' Senate primary but isn't yet saying a name

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump — who has long seemed like he just can’t seem to choose among friends in the Texas Senate Republican primary — says he's “pretty much” decided whom to endorse in the critical March 3 contest.

But as the showman president is wont to do, he left the public — and the candidates themselves — hanging, as he declined on Friday to name who he'll actually support. Instead, during his remarks in Corpus Christi, Texas, Trump made sure to acknowledge each of the three Republicans fighting for the nomination.

“We have a great attorney general, Ken Paxton. Where's Ken? Hi, Ken,” Trump said. He continued, “And we have a great senator, John Cornyn. Hi, John.”

Noting that they're in a “little bit of a race,” Trump added: ‘It’s going to be an interesting one, right? They're both great people.”

Trump mentioned the third candidate, Rep. Wesley Hunt, after running through the long list of Texas lawmakers present: “Another friend of mine who is doing very well, Wesley Hunt. Wesley Hunt, what a good job.”

Trump raises the possibility of a ‘friendly takeover of Cuba’ coming out of talks with Havana

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. is in talks with Havana and raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover of Cuba” without offering any details on what he meant.

Speaking to reporters outside the White House as he left for a trip to Texas, Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in discussions with Cuban leaders “at a very high level.”

“The Cuban government is talking with us,” the president said. “They have no money. They have no anything right now. But they’re talking to us, and maybe we’ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba.”

He added: “We could very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba.”

Trump didn't clarify his comments but seemed to indicate that the situation with Cuba, a communist-run island that has been among Washington’s bitterest adversaries for decades, was coming to a critical point. The White House did not respond to requests for more information Friday.

Cuba unveils new details in fatal US boat shooting and says a 2nd boat on mission failed

HAVANA (AP) — Top officials with Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior unveiled for the first time late Friday the items they said were aboard a Florida-flagged speedboat that opened fire against troops in waters off the island’s north coast this week, with soldiers responding and killing four suspects.

Officials also revealed to The Associated Press that authorities were able to establish that the 10 Cuban suspects left the U.S. in two boats, but one failed, so they transferred all the supplies to the remaining one and left the other adrift.

The government said the detained suspects revealed those details and stressed that they immediately contacted the U.S. Coast Guard.

Among the items Cuban officials said were aboard the boat: a dozen high-powered weapons, including one with a scope; a big cooler filled with more than 12,800 pieces of ammunition; 11 pistols; heavy-duty boots, helmets with cameras; and camouflage backpacks.

“We were clearly able to assess that we were facing a terrorist action from a boat coming from the United States,” 1st Col. Ivey Daniel Carballo of the Cuban Border Guard Troops told the AP.

Pentagon and Scouting America reach deal to keep ties after Hegseth's anti-DEI push

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon has made a deal with Scouting America that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday would maintain their century-old partnership but refocus the organization away from diversity initiatives and other “woke” policies he accused it of embracing in recent years.

Hegseth put heavy emphasis on Scouting America’s acceptance of transgender youth, saying the organization will require members to use their “biological sex at birth and not gender identity.” But Scouting America, formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America, said the agreement does not change existing policies regarding transgender youth and that they are welcome.

“We have transgender people in our program and we’ll have transgender people in our program going forward,” Scouting America President and CEO Roger Krone told The Associated Press.

Several of the negotiated changes mirror what the organization suggested to the Pentagon in January, including discontinuing its Citizenship in Society merit badge, introducing a Military Service merit badge and waiving registration fees for the children of military personnel.

Under Hegseth, the Pentagon has taken aim at the military’s partnership with Scouting America, decrying its historic rebrand in 2024 and other changes in recent years that he sees as part of “woke culture” efforts that he wants to root out.