US believes Russia is providing Iran with locations of American troops, sources say
An F-35C Lightning II, attached to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314, launches from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in support of Operation Epic Fury, March 3, 2026. (US Navy)
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. believes that Russia has been providing Iran the locations of American troops in the Middle East, including aircraft and ships, according to two people familiar with the intelligence.
The alleged assistance, first reported by The Washington Post, is alarming because it would enable the Iranians to target specific locations with ballistic missiles and drones, putting U.S. service members at risk.
When asked about the aid to Iran, an intelligence official confirmed that the U.S. believes Russia is supplying Tehran intelligence, but did not say exactly what type of information was being shared.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not deny the report on Friday, instead saying it didn’t matter because the U.S. was still winning the war.
“It clearly is not making a difference with respect to the military operations in Iran because we are completely decimating them,” Leavitt told reporters on Friday.
Leavitt added that the U.S. is achieving the military objectives of this operation, including destroying some 30 ships and crippling Iran’s ability to launch ballistic missiles.
“And that is going to continue because the United States military is the best and most, most lethal fighting force in the world,” she said.
Six U.S. service members were killed March 1 during an Iranian drone attack on a base in Kuwait. At least 10 other troops have been severely wounded in operations across the region.
The CIA declined to comment. The Defense Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Russia has not addressed the allegations. But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said previously that Iran hasn’t asked for help.
“Our consistent position is well known to everyone, and there is no change,” Peskov said at a press briefing.
US President Donald Trump arrives for a medal of honor ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, March 2, 2026. President Trump is awarding the Medal of Honor to three US Army soldiers. (Photographer: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday said it’s “too late” for talks with Iran and warned the U.S. has enough munitions to fight “forever.”
“Their air defense, Air Force, Navy, and Leadership is gone,” Trump wrote of Iran in a post to his social media platform. “They want to talk. I said ‘Too Late!'”
The comments come as the administration’s war with Iran enters its fourth day and as questions remain on why the urgent military action was necessary and how long it will last.
Trump could face those questions and others from reporters when he hosts German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at 11:15 a.m. ET.
The president has not given a formal address to the nation on the attacks on Iran, instead posting video statements to social media or speaking to individual reporters at various news outlets.
Overnight, apparently responding to questions raised about stockpiles of U.S. weapons being used to intercept Iranian missiles and drones, Trump posted that the U.S. has a “virtually unlimited” supply.
“Wars can be fought ‘forever,’ and very successfully, using just these supplies,” Trump wrote in a social media post, despite having said on Monday that the U.S. would “easily prevail” in the conflict and campaigning in opposition to “forever wars.”
Trump, though, did acknowledge in the post that the stockpile of some of the country’s highest-grade munitions is “not where we want it to be” and blamed that on U.S. support for Ukraine in fighting Russia’s invasion.
Still, Trump concluded the post by stating: “The United States is stocked, and ready to WIN, BIG!!!”
Trump’s social media post on Tuesday that it’s “too late” for talks with Iran comes just days after he told The Atlantic: “They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them.”
Plus, mixed messages have come from the administration on Iran’s future. Trump over the weekend encouraged Iranians to rise up and topple the government, though Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday rebuffed the idea that regime change was the U.S. objective for striking Tehran.
Meanwhile, the war is widening in the Middle East as Iran seeks retaliation for the U.S. and Israeli attacks, which killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several senior leaders. Tehran’s struck more nearly a dozen countries, and the State Department has warned U.S. citizens to leave the region and closed several embassies.
So far, six U.S. service members have died in the war and more have been wounded. Trump, in an interview with NewsNation, teased retaliation for the killing of American troops.
ABC News’ Fritz Farrow and Meghan Mistry contributed to this report.
Three minutes and two seconds before the first shot is fired, Alex Pretti holds a phone before a federal officer on Nicollet Ave in Minnesota. Obtained by (ABC News)
(MINNEAPOLIS) — The interaction that ended in the death of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday morning began at least three minutes earlier when Pretti appeared to be using his phone to record CBP officers, according to videos reviewed and verified by ABC News.
Minutes later, Pretti was pinned on the street by multiple federal agents — visibly being hit by one of them — when one of the officers can be seen leaving the struggle with what appears to be a gun.
Those videos appear to contradict, at least in part, claims by federal officials that Pretti “approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun” and “attacked” officers carrying out immigration duties.
During a news conference Saturday, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said Pretti “arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement.”
Videos verified by ABC News show that Pretti appeared to be using his phone to record the agents before he was shoved by a federal officer. Seconds later, a federal officer repeatedly pepper-sprayed Pretti and then appeared to pull him into the street.
While Pretti seems to have been pinned on the street by officers, one of the agents is seen in multiple verified videos emerging from the scrum with a handgun that appears to match the weapon federal officials say Pretti was carrying. Before the first shot is fired, another agent can be seen drawing his own handgun, while another repeatedly hits Pretti.
In total, 10 shots were fired in less than five seconds, according to a forensic audio analysis of the videos. Pretti was declared dead on the scene.
“What the videos depict is that this guy did not walk up to anybody from CBP in a threatening manner,” said former acting DHS undersecretary for intelligence John Cohen, a police trainer and ABC News contributor. “For [DHS] to construe that he arrived at that location with the intent to shoot those border patrol officers, there’s nothing in the video evidence that we’ve seen thus far that would support that.”
This is a timeline based on five different verified videos of the incident.
8:58:11 a.m. — Three minutes and two seconds before the first shot is fired, Alex Pretti holds a phone before a federal officer on Nicollet Ave. in Minnesota, in what appears to be an apparent attempt to record a nearby detention by immigration authorities.
8:58:22 a.m.— A second federal officer carrying a canister of pepper spray approaches Pretti, who continues to hold up his phone.
8:58:29 a.m. — One federal officer appears to push Pretti towards the sidewalk.
8:59:08 a.m. — Another eyewitness begins recording the incident, showing Pretti continuing to lift his phone towards officers, as they appear to detain someone in the street.
8:59:24 a.m.— Pretti is seen lifting a phone towards the officers as they move a detainee into a nearby vehicle.
9:00:12 a.m. — Pretti continues to lift his phone towards nearby federal officers as they interact with two unidentified individuals, one with an orange backpack and another in a parka.
9:00:21 a.m. — The two individuals, who were later pepper-sprayed alongside Pretti, speak with a federal agent. Several people honk and whistle. “Watch out for that car,” the officer says as a car passes the group.
9:00:41 a.m. — Three different cameras capture the next interaction. The officer shouts at one of the civilians, “Do not push them into traffic,” and pushes them towards Pretti. Pretti continues to raise his phone towards the officers.
9:00:44 a.m. — The individual who was pushed appears to hold onto Pretti as the federal officer approaches them.
9:00:45 a.m. — The federal officer appears to push Pretti.
9:00:47 a.m. — The officer is seen pushing the individual with the orange backpack.
9:00:50 a.m. — The officer uses pepper spray on Pretti, and Pretti appears to raise his hand towards the officer to get between the officer and the person with the backpack, but the officer immediately pepper-sprays him. According to ABC News contributor and former acting DHS undersecretary Cohen, it appears Pretti used his hand in an attempt to signal that he was not a threat to officers.
9:00:53 a.m. — The officer pepper-sprays the other two civilians again.
9:00:54 a.m.— After being sprayed, Pretti appears to fall into the person with the backpack and possibly grab that person to stabilize himself.
9:00:56 a.m. — The federal officer appears to pull Pretti into the street, appearing to tug him by the hood of his coat.
9:01:02 a.m.— Three officers hold down Pretti, while another group of officers surrounds Pretti. According to ABC News contributor and former acting DHS undersecretary Cohen, the officers do not appear to be following the tactical steps to control and arrest Pretti. “This just seemed to be a free-for-all, and they didn’t seem to have any understanding from a tactical perspective on how to gain control of that individual,” he said.
9:01:05 a.m. — A nearby woman can be heard screaming, “That is police brutality. They are hitting an observer. They’re kicking them in the face.” At one point, at least five officers are on top of Pretti, pinning him down.
9:04:11 a.m. — One of the agents appears to hit Pretti, swinging his hand to repeatedly punch Pretti.
9:01:12 a.m. — One of the officers appears to draw a handgun.
9:01:13 a.m.— One of the federal officers appears to remove a gun from Pretti’s waist that seems to match the handgun federal officials said he was carrying.
9:01:14 a.m. — Another video shows the officer in the grey jacket emerging from the scrum, holding a firearm that appears to match Pretti’s weapon. The video of the officer entering the scrum did not show the agent carrying a weapon. Three cameras capture the moment.
9:01:14 a.m. — First shot is fired. At least one officer immediately steps away from Pretti.
9:01:16 a.m. — One second after the first shot, three additional shots are fired. Pretti appears to go limp and fall to the ground.
9:01:19 a.m.— Within three seconds, six more shots are fired. The six agents have stepped back from Pretti’s body.
9:01:45 a.m. — Twenty-nine seconds after the first shot, an officer approaches Pretti. According to a sworn affidavit from a doctor who says they treated Pretti at the scene, Pretti had at least three bullet wounds in his back, an additional wound on his upper chest, and another possible wound on his neck.
09:02:28 a.m. — Seventy-four seconds after the first shot is fired, the officer in a grey jacket is heard saying, “I got the gun. I got the gun,” and walks towards the officers surrounding Pretti.
An analysis conducted by Robert Maher, a professor at Montana State University specializing in audio forensics, concluded that 10 shots were fired in less than 5 seconds.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with ABC News on Good Morning America, March 30, 2026. (ABC News)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Monday said the U.S. is engaged in serious talks with a “new” and “more reasonable” regime in Iran as the war enters its fifth week.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during an appearance on “Good Morning America,” declined to say who exactly the U.S. is negotiating with.
“Well, I’m not going to disclose to you who those people are, because it probably would get them in trouble with some other groups of people inside of Iran. Look, there’s some fractures going on there internally,” Rubio said.
“And if there are new people now in charge who have a more reasonable vision of the future, that would be good news for us, for them, for the entire world,” the secretary continued. “But we also have to be prepared for the possibility, maybe even the probability that that is not the case.”
When pushed for more clarity, Rubio said, “You have people there that are saying some of the right things privately.”
“But at the end of the day, we have to see if these people end up being the ones in charge, seeing if they’re the ones that have the power to deliver. We’re going to test it. We are hopeful that’s the case,” he went on. “There are clearly people there talking to us in ways that previous people in charge in Iran have not spoken to us in the past.”
Iranian officials have denied any direct talks with the U.S., saying that messages have been passed through intermediaries. Esmaeil Baqaei, spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said Monday, “We have not had any negotiations with America.”
The U.S. presented Iran with a 15-point framework for a peace deal by way of Pakistan last week. Baqaei commented on the U.S. proposal during a press conference Monday.
“The information that has been conveyed to us [from the US], regardless of what name you want to give it, as 15 articles or whatever you call it, involved a large number of requests that are excessive, unrealistic, and illogical,” Baqaei said.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Sunday that the country would host talks between the U.S. and Iran “in the coming days.” There has not been confirmation from either Iran or the U.S. on when exactly these talks would take place or who will be involved for either side.
Trump on Sunday told reporters he could “see a deal” being made with Iran soon, though “it’s possible we won’t.”
The president suggested talks were moving in a positive direction because Iran allowed 20 oil tankers to pass through the critical Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively blocked to international shipping traffic after the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on the country last month.
Trump on Monday continued to tout progress but also threatened major U.S. attacks on Tehran’s energy infrastructure and more if a diplomatic off-ramp isn’t reached.
“The United States of America is in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran,” he wrote in a post to his social media platform.
“Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched,'” the president posted.
Last week, Trump extended the deadline for Iran to reopen the strait twice. Trump said the U.S. would continue a pause on energy site attacks until next Monday, April 6.
Trump has not ruled out using ground troops in Iran. Experts say troops could be used to seize Iran’s nuclear material or Kharg Island, the country’s primary oil export hub.
“I just have lots of alternatives,” Trump said on Sunday.
More U.S. service members have arrived in the Middle East, including roughly 3,500 sailors and Marines with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.
“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” Trump told the news outlet.
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos pressed Rubio on Monday about how the president would go about taking Kharg Island and whether it would require American troops on the ground.
Rubio was noncommittal, but said again that Iran’s threats about controlling the Strait of Hormuz in perpetuity needed to be addressed.
“That’s not going to be allowed to happen. And the president has a number of options available to him, if he so chooses, to prevent that from happening,” Rubio said.
“There is a way forward here. We are going to achieve our objectives in a matter of weeks, not months.”
ABC News’ Nicholas Kerr, Emily Chang and Meghan Mistry contributed to this report.
