The U.S and Israel launched joint coordinated strikes on Iran early Saturday morning, apparently in an effort to keep the country from obtaining nuclear weapons.
The strikes led to the death of Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, who led the country for nearly four decades. Iran retaliated with its own strikes, hitting U.S.military bases in the region, which killed four U.S. service members. The strikes also targeted other densely populated locations in various Middle Eastern countries.
The rapid escalation of events forced the various news outlets into breaking-news mode, which felt eerily similar in timing to when news of the Venezuelan military strikes broke in early January.
Here’s a breakdown of how each network covered the initial attacks and how their coverage evolved throughout the weekend.
(All times Eastern.)
ABC News
ABC News had special reports on ABC and ABC News Live at 2:02 a.m., 2:40 a.m., and 3:09 a.m., anchored by Michelle Franzen. At 5:08 a.m., Whit Johnson joined as anchor.
David Muir aired a special edition of World News Tonight on Saturday evening at 6:30 p.m. On Sunday night, Muir anchored a primetime special at 9 p.m. titled, Shockwaves: The Attack on Iran.
CBS News
The network broke in with a special report at 2:28 a.m., anchored by Carissa Lawson. Anchor Tony Dokoupil anchored a special edition of CBS Evening News at 6:30 p.m. and a one-hour primetime special, War with Iran, on Saturday night at 10 p.m.
CNN
CNN was the first network to report the military strikes in Iran, with Elex Michaelson anchoring at 1:31 a.m. The network’s rolling coverage has been handled by Dana Bash, Victor Blackwell, Wolf Blitzer, Pamela Brown, Kaitlan Collins, Jessica Dean, Abby Phillip, Jim Sciutto, Sara Sidner, Jake Tapper, Fredricka Whitfield, and Fareed Zakaria. Primetime anchor Erin Burnett has been anchoring live out of Tel Aviv since Sunday afternoon.
CNN: Breaking news… Israel has launched what it calls a preemptive strike on Iran pic.twitter.com/kkbDN91q6m
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 28, 2026
