‘I Have Agreed To Talk’: Trump Floats Next Steps As Pentagon Confirms First US Troop Deaths Of ‘Operation Epic Fury’

Summary:

• President Trump said Iran wants to talk and he has agreed to negotiations

• The Pentagon confirmed three US service members were killed and five seriously wounded in the opening phase of Trump’s Operation Epic Fury campaign against Iran.

• Congressional leaders have criticized the administration for launching strikes on Iran without formal congressional authorization, citing constitutional requirements.

• US and Israeli airstrikes continue on Tehran targets

• Iran downed a US MQ-9 drone, reportedly hit a French base in Abu Dhabi

Update: President Trump on Sunday said that Iran wants to talk and has agreed to do so, telling The Atlantic‘s (!) Michael Scherer “They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them. They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long.” 

Asked about timing, Trump said “I can’t tell you that,” noting that some of the Iranians involved in negotiations in recent weeks are no longer alive. “Most of those people are gone. Some of the people we were dealing with are gone, because that was a big—that was a big hit,” he said.

“They should have done it sooner, Michael. They could have made a deal. They should’ve done it sooner. They played too cute.”

I asked Trump whether he was willing to prolong the U.S. bombing campaign against Iran to support a popular uprising if one unfolds. “Will they continue to get support if it takes some time to overthrow the regime?” I asked. Trump was noncommittal. “I have to look at the situation at the time it happens, Michael. You can’t give an answer to that question,” he said.

But the president also expressed confidence that a successful uprising was coming, noting the signs of celebration in the streets of Iran and supportive gatherings of expatriate Iranians in New York and Los Angeles. “That is going to happen. You are seeing that, and I think it’s gonna happen. A lot of people are extremely happy over there and in Los Angeles and in many other places,” he told me. (In addition to pro-regime-change celebrations in several major cities, large antiwar protests have also been held, many of them just a few blocks away.) -The Atlantic

tl;dr, Trump just gave his first substantial interview post-bombing to The Atlantic – which has spent a decade trying to destroy him, but now loves him, in which he now says he’s willing to talk with whoever’s left in Iran.

*  *  *

The Pentagon is confirming the first American troop deaths of the Trump-ordered ‘Operation Epic Fury’ toward accomplishing regime change in Iran:

U.S. military says three service members have been killed and five seriously wounded in the Iran operation: Associated Press

The president campaigned hard on starting no new wars in the Middle East, and abandoning Washington’s “addiction to regime change”… but here we are once again. Below is the full statement issued by US Central Command:

President Trump, who has never served in the military, raised eyebrows with the following remark on Saturday:

“The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties, that often happens in war, but we’re doing this not for now; we’re doing this for the future.”

Some Congressional leaders are outraged that we are clearly in a war, and yet there’s been no war authorization from Congress as required by the US Constitution.

On the question of ‘legality’ and Congressional oversight, Time notes as follows:

The White House said that the so-called Gang of Eight, the bipartisan group of top House and Senate leaders and intelligence committee chairs who are briefed on the nation’s most sensitive security matters, were notified by Secretary of State Marco Rubio shortly before the strikes began. Administration officials had also briefed congressional leadership and intelligence committee heads earlier in the week on escalating tensions with Iran. But those notifications fell short of formal authorization from Congress, which the Constitution assigns the power to declare war under Article 1.

While the Pentagon has not revealed specifics or the locations of the troop casualties, there’s a likelihood it was the result of Iran’s ongoing ballistic missile launches against US bases in the Gulf and Mideast region. Tehran has promised more to come, especially to avenge the death of Supreme Leader Khamenei. 

A look at the massive saturation strikes over the Iranian capital, as presented by the Israeli Air Force, with machine translation:

Below: Dozens of Air Force fighter jets completed another wave of strikes in the skies over Tehran, during which the General Headquarters of the Internal Security Forces was attacked—a facility that served as a command and control center responsible for linking the command echelon with the Iranian terror regime’s forces in the field, and which also led the brutal suppression against the Iranian people.

עשרות מטוסי קרב של חיל-האוויר השלימו גל תקיפות נוסף בשמי טהרן, במסגרתן הותקף המטה הכללי של כוחות ביטחון הפנים, ששימש כמרכז פיקוד ושליטה, האחראי לחבר בין הדרג הפיקודי לכוחות משטר הטרור האיראני בשטח, וכן הוביל את הדיכוי האכזרי נגד העם האיראני.
בנוסף, הושמדה מפקדת ‘ת’אראללה’ ששימשה… pic.twitter.com/oZAiFTdQbe

— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) March 1, 2026

There’s also the possibility that US aviators may have been downed in these opening 48 hours of aerial attacks, given Tehran has already downed an MQ-9 Reaper drone, state media says. Likely there will be more American troop deaths to come, given the operation looks to be expanding, and could takes days, weeks, or even months or more.

Could the war go global as more and more countries and assets in the region are impacted?

The French base, Camp de la Paix in Abu Dhabi was reportedly struck. pic.twitter.com/Ogc237bpKs

— barry with the NED (@bonzerbarry) March 1, 2026

Glenn Greenwald has summarized, “For decades, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and American neoconservatives have dreamed of only one foreign policy goal: having the United States fight a regime-change war against Iran. With the Oval Office occupied by Donald Trump — who campaigned for a full decade on a vow to end regime-change wars and vanquish neoconservatism — their goal has finally been realized.”

There’s still hope for an offramp, however. On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his Omani counterpart Badr Albusaidi in a call that Iran is open to “serious efforts” toward de-escalation and stability, according to Bloomberg. Albusaidi called for ceasefire and return to negotiation, urging Iran to exercise restraint and avoid moves that could undermine and disrupt good neighborly relations, particularly as Gulf countries are outraged.