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Welcome to the NewsHour.
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Around 2,500 U.S. Marines are reportedly heading for the Middle East, along with an
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Their mission is not yet clear, but it signals a marked increase in U.S. forces in the region.
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The deployment comes, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said more than 15,000 targets
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had been struck in Iran over nearly two weeks of relentless bombing against the regime.
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14 American personnel have now been killed during the war, and more than 2,000 are dead,
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both in Iran and from Israeli strikes in Lebanon.
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Stephanie Sy reports.
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Mid-interview, a pro-regime demonstrator in Tehran interrupted.
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An airstrike sends smoke rising over a crowded square, but doesn't disperse the masses.
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These Iranians are defiant, chanting familiar slogans, death to America, death to Israel,
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setting fire to Israeli and American flags.
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The protesters had gathered for an annual rally in solidarity with Palestinians when the
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mid-day strike hit, killing at least one person.
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Several top Iranian leaders, including the President Masood Pizeskian, were in the crowd.
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Iran's hard-line judiciary chiefs speaking to a reporter in the moment.
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We stand with the people until the last breath.
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People don't fear these boom-boom sounds.
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Under the rain in the missiles, they will not back down at all.
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In northern Israel, fear over cross-border retaliation, a home where a family once lived
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is now filled with strappnell and debris.
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Another Iranian missile fired by Hezbollah in Lebanon, this one leaving at least 58 people
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In the early hours Friday, Iran targeted a U.S. airbase in southern Turkey.
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The ballistic missile was intercepted by NATO defenses, as the American death toll is
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U.S. Central Command said today, six Americans were confirmed to cease when their aircraft
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was lost during Operation Epic Fury.
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It added, the circumstances of the incident, which occurred in Western Iraq, are under investigation.
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Earlier today, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Iran's, quote, evil regime, is crumbling.
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They're confused and we know it.
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We will keep pressing.
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We will keep pushing, keep advancing.
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No quarter, no mercy.
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No quarter suggests even those whose surrender could be killed, a violation of international
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Meanwhile, market-shaking concerns remain over the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical
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international oil route.
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The only thing prohibiting transit in the straits right now is Iran shooting at shipping.
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It is open for transit should Iran not do that.
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The U.S. is temporarily easing some of its sanctions on importing Russian oil, in an effort
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But today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, when meeting with French President Emmanuel
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Macron, emphasized the U.S. sanction waivers won't help end the war he's fighting.
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This single easing of sanctions by America could provide Russia with approximately $10
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billion for the war.
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This certainly does not help peace.
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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz today adding, it is a price problem, not a quantity problem.
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There was a very clear opinion from six members of the G7, but this is not the right signal.
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We then learned this morning that the American government has apparently decided otherwise.
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Again, we believe this is wrong.
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Meanwhile, President Trump today addressed reports that Russia is eating the Iranian regime.
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You think Putin is helping him?
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I think he might be helping him a little bit, yeah, I think yes, and he probably thinks
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we're helping Ukraine, right?
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Yeah, we helping him also, and so he says that, and China would say the same thing, you know,
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it's like, hey, they do it and we do it in all fairness.
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The comments followed a social media post from the president earlier today saying the
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Iranian regime has been, quote, killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years.
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And now he is killing them, a great honor, he honoured.
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The U.S. is now sending more aircraft into the Middle East, signaling the military campaign
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For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Stephanie Sy.