Live Updates: Iran says 14 killed in U.S. strikes as war ramps back up ahead of Khamenei’s burial

A plane carrying the coffin of late Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei landed in the eastern holy city of Mashhad on Thursday, ahead of his burial, state media reported.

Official news agency IRNA aired video of the Mahan Air flight taxiing at the airport after landing in Khamenei’s home city. He was transferred from Iraq, where ceremonies took place in the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala.

Video aired by state media, which could not be independently verified by CBS News, showed the plane being escorted by at least one Iranian fighter jet.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said Thursday that U.S. strikes overnight had hit two bridges on the route to Mashhad. 

Khamenei was killed by U.S. or Israeli strikes on Feb. 28, the first day of the war. The week-long funeral period, culminating with Khamenei’s burial on Thursday, was supposed to be a period of reduced tension and negotiations. 

U.S. airstrikes in Iran over the last two days have killed at least 14 people and wounded another 78, Iran’s Health Ministry said Thursday.

Hossein Kermanpour, a Health Ministry spokesperson, reported the toll on social media. They were the first overall casualty figures from the strikes issued by the Iranian government.

In Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province, at least three people were killed Thursday, state media reported. In Iranshahr, authorities said a strike also had killed a firefighter at an airport.

Those fatalities followed at least nine members of Iran’s armed forces being killed in Wednesday’s strikes in Iran. It wasn’t clear when the other fatality happened and who was killed.

President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that Iran “called a little while ago,” alleging that Tehran’s regime wants “to make a deal so badly.”

Mr. Trump, on his way back to the U.S. after attending the NATO summit in Turkey, said he doesn’t know if Iran is “worthy of making a deal. I don’t know if they’ll honor a deal.”

When a reporter followed up by asking Mr. Trump why Iran launched attacks on three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week, the president responded, “Because they’re sort of crazy, to be honest with you. They’re sort of crazy. They’re a little bit out of control. But they want to make a deal, badly.”

Earlier Wednesday, Mr. Trump said he believed the 60-day ceasefire reached with Iran in mid-June was “over,” but that he would allow peace talks to continue.

Since Iran’s attacks on the tankers, the U.S. has launched two rounds of retaliatory strikes on the country, which the Pentagon says have targeted its military infrastructure.

President Trump called Wednesday’s strikes on Iran “retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran,” referring to three commercial oil tankers that were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday and Tuesday.

“If it happens again, it will get much worse!” the president warned in a Truth Social post.

Mr. Trump also posted several undated videos of nighttime explosions. 

Iranian state television reported explosions in several cities after the U.S. announced that it had launched a second night of strikes on Iran.

The semi-official Fars News Agency, which is associated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, said that explosions were reported in the southern port cities of Chabahar and Konarak, as well as the western Gulf port city of Bushehr. 

Bushehr is a key city because it contains Iran’s only commercial nuclear power plant. It is also located near  Kharg Island, a pivotal Iranian oil export hub.  

Vice President JD Vance echoed many of the points made throughout the day by President Trump as he spoke in Milwaukee, saying since Iran attacked commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. had no choice but to respond militarily.

“They were well behaved for about a week. But then they started shooting at ships,” Vance said. “So the deal is very simple, if they shoot at ships, we’re going to knock the hell out of them. And it’s that simple.”

Vance, who was involved in the negotiations to end the conflict with Iran during the 60-day pause outlined in the memorandum of understanding signed by the U.S. and Iran last month, repeatedly posed the choice as a simple one.

“If they try to close it down, there’s going to be a response from the American military. It’s that simple. That’s the deal,” said Vance, who was in Wisconsin for an event focused on stopping fraud. “They can either follow it or they can have exactly what happened to them last night.”

He continued, “It’s just going to keep on happening until they open up that lane and stop shooting at ships. It’s simple.”