Updated April 2, 2026 at 5:44 PM CDT
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asked Army Chief of Staff Randy George to step down and retire, a U.S. official confirmed to NPR.
The official was speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the move publicly. It is unclear who will replace George.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell later confirmed in a statement that Gen. George was retiring effective immediately.
The move came as the war in the Middle East raged through its fifth week.
Dozens of countries discussed ways to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran traded attacks and threats with the U.S. and Israel.
In his first address to the nation since launching strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, President Trump said on Wednesday the conflict was "nearing completion," but first the U.S. is intensifying its assault.
"We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We're going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong," Trump said.
Iran said a key bridge connecting the city of Karaj to Tehran was bombed, and President Trump cheered on social media. Iran also said a 100-year-old medical research center in the capital was damaged.
Iran targeted countries in the Gulf region with ballistic missiles and drones. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad issued a security alert, warning of attacks by Iran-backed militias.
Here are more updates on Day 34 of the Iran war:
U.S. military targets | Strait of Hormuz | Macron responds | Iranian president's letter | Iran strikes Gulf countries | Israel strikes Lebanon
The U.S. has hit 12,300-plus targets so far
U.S. forces struck more than 12,300 targets in Iran in their efforts to "dismantle the Iranian regime's security apparatus," U.S. Central Command said late Wednesday.
U.S. forces are "prioritizing locations that pose an imminent threat," it said.
It said they destroyed or damaged more than 155 Iranian vessels since the beginning of the war. Other targets included command centers, posts of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, air defense systems, ballistic missile sites, navy ships and submarines as well as anti-ship missiles sites, drone manufacturing and other weapon production facilities.
Countries convene for strait talk
Britain convened a virtual meeting of representatives from more than 40 countries Thursday to discuss ways to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. was not among them.
The narrow waterway off Iran's coast is a vital shipping route through which about a fifth of the world's oil typically transits. Iran's chokehold on the strait during the war has sent prices of oil, gas and fertilizer rising.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper condemned "Iranian recklessness" for largely closing off the strait. "We have seen Iran hijack an international shipping route to hold the global economy hostage."
During Trump's formal Wednesday address, he sought to distance himself from Iran's chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.
That's despite his threats to destroy Iran's civilian energy and desalination plants if it refused to open the strait. International law expert Gabor Rona told NPR that's a threat to commit war crimes both under international and U.S. law.
Trump said the U.S. did not use the strait and called on countries that rely on it for fuel to take responsibility for protecting it. "Go to the strait and just take it, protect it, use it for yourselves," Trump said.
France's president snaps back after Trump's comments
French President Emmanuel Macron hit back at President Trump's criticism of France and NATO.
"There's too much talk. And it's all over the place," Macron said while visiting South Korea. "When we're serious, we don't say the opposite of what we said the day before every day, and maybe one shouldn't speak every day." He didn't name Trump.
Speaking at an Easter lunch Wednesday, Trump said Macron's wife "treats him extremely badly" and referred to an incident in which Brigitte Macron appeared to shove her husband.
"We're talking about things that are far too serious. We're talking about war," Macron said when asked about Trump's remarks.
"We're also talking about the consequences of this war on our economies. I'm thinking of our fellow citizens. The Americans are experiencing the same thing: rising gasoline and gas prices," he added.
"So the remarks I heard, to which you're referring, are neither elegant nor appropriate. I'm not going to respond to them; they don't warrant a response."
In response to a question about Trump's renewed threat to pull out of NATO, Macron said: "If you create doubt about your commitment every day, you drain it of its substance."
Iran's president addresses American people
Just hours before Trump's address to the nation, Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian addressed a letter to the American public on Wednesday calling into question the rationale for the war and leveling accusations at the U.S. administration.
"Exactly which of the American people's interests are truly being served by this war? Was there any objective threat from Iran to justify such behavior?" he wrote in a letter shared on social media.
Pezeshkian defended Iran's strikes against countries in the region and Israel as a "measured response grounded in legitimate self-defense, but by no means an initiation of a war of aggression."
He also appeared to make a veiled offering of dialogue. "Today the world stands at crossroads. Continuing along the path of confrontation is more costly and futile than ever before. The choice between confrontation and engagement is both real and consequential; its outcome will shape the future for generations to come."
Pezeshkian's level of influence in Iran's current leadership is unclear, following the take down of the regime in Tehran by U.S. and Israeli strikes, since Feb. 28.
Iran and Iran-backed groups attack
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad issued a security alert on Thursday warning of plots by Iran-backed militias in Iraq to attack central Baghdad in the next 24 to 48 hours. It called on U.S. citizens to immediately leave Iraq.
"They may intend to target U.S. citizens, businesses, universities, diplomatic facilities, energy infrastructure, hotels, airports, and other locations perceived to be associated with the United States, as well as Iraqi institutions and civilian targets," the U.S. Embassy alert said.
The security warning comes just days after an American journalist, Shelley Kittleson, was kidnapped in Baghdad. The U.S. State Department said it believes an Iranian-backed militia was involved in the kidnapping.
In Saudi Arabia, authorities said they intercepted and destroyed four drones on Thursday in addition to a ballistic missile fired at the country's oil-rich eastern region.
In Bahrain, the Interior Ministry said it closed off traffic on a key highway on Thursday because of falling debris, while sirens blared across the country signifying incoming strikes. In Kuwait, local media reported that fuel depots of the Kuwait International Airport were set on fire on Wednesday following an attack by an Iranian drone, causing significant damage.
Trump pledged his support to Middle Eastern allies in his Wednesday address.
"They've been great, and we will not let them get hurt or fail in any way, shape or form," he said.
Israel strikes Beirut, other parts of Lebanon
Israel launched another wave of airstrikes overnight in Beirut's southern suburbs, where the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah has offices.
Lebanon's government said at least 50 people were killed across the country Wednesday.
In the south, Lebanese army tanks withdrew as Israeli ones rolled in.
Many residents have heeded Israel's order to evacuate from a ribbon of Lebanese territory, where Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz says he's creating a security zone and destroying villages to prevent Hezbollah fighters from firing rockets from them.
Aya Batrawy contributed reporting from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Fatima Al-Kassab from London, and Greg Myre and Alex Leff from Washington.
Copyright 2026 NPR