Thursday morning news: September 3, 2026

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Iran latest » Iran keeps firing missiles at American bases in the Middle East. Air defenses keep knocking them down. Jordan says it destroyed 10 of 13 Iranian missiles Wednesday. Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq also came under attack. No deaths reported.

American strikes are landing, though. President Trump says the U.S. now has almost total control of the Strait of Hormuz. And he said of Iran’s government:

TRUMP: The regime is getting weaker and weaker by the day, and at some point they're not gonna be able to shoot so easily because I think the people aren't going to take it.

Iranian officials claim a U.S. strike hit a wedding on Iran's southern coast, killing four people. The Pentagon says it's looking into those reports, which came from Iranian state media.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard also claims it killed Americans at a base in Kuwait. The U.S. has not confirmed that.

The administration is also squeezing Iran's economy, and warning others not to help Tehran. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent:

BESSENT: Look, my, my message to everyone is, uh, s- stay away. We all want this conflict to end, and the fastest way for the conflict to end is the, uh, for no one to provide any support to this regime. We are going to sever every tie that they have from the outside world.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says countries helping Iran should know what they're funding:

RUBIO: They want money for two things, to sponsor terrorism and ultimately to have a nuclear weapon. And, and we can't allow that to happen.

Trump says Iran's response means a harder American strike is coming.

Rubio on Army Secretary » Secretary Rubio also chimed in on another leadership change inside the Pentagon.

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll stepped down this week, the latest in a string of top officials to either leave or be fired from the Pentagon under Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

Rubio says it's not unusual for officials to leave.

RUBIO:  Every administration has turnover and, and obviously, look, when you're trying to systemically reorganize an agency, uh, like as, one as big and as, uh, large as the Pentagon is, there are gonna have to be some changes made, which is one of the things, some of the things that Pete Hegseth has done.

Driscoll had reportedly clashed with Hegseth for months over changes the War Secretary had made to the Pentagon leadership.

Venezuela deals » Oil companies signed deals Wednesday to go back into Venezuela… the country holding the world's largest proven oil reserves. The signing happened at the presidential palace in Caracas, with U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright standing by. Venezuela's acting leader Delcy Rodríguez signed for her government. Wright thanked the companies:

WRIGHT: Thank you from the Pre-- United-- President of the United States, from myself, and from the people of the United States of America to Chevron, to Eni, to GE, and to the many companies that will follow behind you to bring capital, technology, and opportunity into the country of Venezuela.

Chevron is putting in more than $7 billion over five years… aiming to more than double its own output there, to about 600-thousand barrels a day. President Trump says Venezuelan crude will refill America's emergency oil stockpile, which sits near a 44-year low.

The deals came together in less than three months. Wright:

WRIGHT: We were trying to work at what I call Trump speed. President Trump didn't want a, a nudge or a slow drift in the positive direction. He wanted to see as fast a p-- as possible transformation in Venezuela.

But the industry says fast is relative. Venezuela pumps about a million barrels a day, down from three million in the 1990s. Analysts at Rystad Energy figure getting back to three million would take 15 years and $183 billion.

Russia » Authorities say a Russian drone attack nearly damaged a number of cargo planes at a major airport, not in Ukraine, but in Germany.

Top European and NATO officials said Wednesday that the evidence is in, and it shows Russia launched the foiled attack at the Leipzig / Halle airport in Germany.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned the attack which she said risked further escalation of the war.

LEYEN: Had this attack succeeded, this would have resulted in enormous damage and possibly even loss of life. So I want to be very clear about what this was. This was an attack using military-grade material, carried out by Russian operatives on European Union soil.

German authorities say they neutralized a drone carrying explosives near cargo planes at the airport on August fourth. A second drone collided with an aircraft, causing minor damage. They said the drone's configuration, components, explosives, and detonator all pointed to a Russian origin. But Russian leader Vladimir Putin denied the claims, accusing German authorities of planting the evidence.

European countries are lining up in support of Germany. UK Foreign Affairs Minister Ed Miliband:

MILIBAND: We see an attempt by Russia to divide us in Europe, and to deter us from our support for Ukraine. And I say very clearly today on behalf of the United Kingdom, this attempt will fail.

In response to the attack, German authorities shut down the Russian consulate in Bonn, as well as a Russian cultural center in Berlin.

Ebola » Congo's Ebola outbreak has now killed more than 3,000 people. WORLD’s Benjamin Eicher reports.

BENJAMIN EICHER: The health ministry there says about half of everyone confirmed infected has died.

The outbreak is only three and a half months old and it’s already the deadliest Ebola outbreak Congo has ever seen, and the fastest growing anywhere. The World Health Organization says it's on pace to pass the West Africa epidemic that killed 11,000 people a decade ago.

Trackers can't find the virus fast enough. U.S. health officials say up to 80 percent of new cases show up outside the chains of infection anyone is following. And there's no vaccine and no approved treatment for the strain behind it.

The CDC is blocking travelers who've been in Congo in the last three weeks from boarding flights to the United States.

For WORLD, I’m Benjamin Eicher.

Minneapolis shooting » Three people are dead after a shooting in Minneapolis Wednesday. Two victims were killed. The shooter is also dead. It was not immediately clear how he died.

Minneapolis Police Sgt. Garrett Parten said officers arrived at the scene before 5pm, inside a high-rise building, and immediately saw victims and “heard additional gunfire.”

PARTEN:  Officers followed the sound of gunfire to the upper floor of the building, and on that floor, officers encountered a haze that significantly limited their visibility. Three officers were injured, two of those by gunfire

Hennepin County Medical Center said it received seven patients, including three officers who were in stable condition last night.

I'm Kent Covington.

Coming up, how fighting terror has changed since 9/11. Plus, musicians use unique instruments to delight their audiences.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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