Seventh Iran War U.S. Death, IED Attack in NYC, New Epstein Security Guard Questions: AM Update 3/9

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0:38It's Monday, March 9th, 2026, and this is your AM Update. We continue to resist as long as it takes. The U.S.-Israeli operation in Iran entering week two, and it appears there is no end in sight. Amir Balat, an 18-year-old man, lit and threw an ignited device toward the protest area. Two suspects in custody after a man threw an IED into an anti-Islam protest in New York City. Authorities now investigating ties to terrorism. Newly released Epstein files reveal shocking details about what a prison guard was doing moments before the disgraced financier was found dead in his cell. And a new poll signals potential trouble for President Trump heading into the midterms.

1:18All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM Update.

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2:54troops in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on March 1st. The identity of the deceased has not yet been released. The strike's continuing at full intensity, with more than 3 ,000 Iranian targets hit since the start of the operation. Questions now emerging about one of the earliest strikes, launched on the first day of the campaign, reportedly hitting a girls' elementary school in Iran. According to Iranian health officials, as many as 175 people were killed, mostly schoolgirls, between the ages of 7 and 12. CBS News reporting the school was located near two sites controlled by Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

3:27A CNN investigation of satellite imagery among multiple media outlets, finding it likely that U.S. military forces were responsible for the destruction. So nearly a week after a strike killed scores of Iranian students in Minab, it seems more and more likely that the US was responsible. A new satellite image shows an Iranian Revolutionary Guards base and an elementary school in southern Iran. Here you see craters in several of the buildings, including the school. They were hit in their exact centres, suggesting precision strikes, experts say. A wall separates the school and the base. Satellite images from December show dozens of people in what appears to be a handball court at the school.

4:07Reuters now reports that US military investigators believe U.S. forces were responsible, though they haven't yet reached a final conclusion. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth telling reporters on Wednesday the U.S. does not target civilians, but not disputing the potential for an accidental strike, and noting it is currently under investigation. President Trump Saturday on Air Force One offering a different theory. We think it was done by Iran. They're very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran. Secretary Hegseth at that same gaggle reiterating that the matter is under investigation while emphasizing that Iran is the one that targets civilians.

4:48U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz yesterday on ABC conceding the possibility of an accident. The New York Times did a meticulous look at that satellite photos. They're not saying the U.S. would do that on purpose, but they said it appears that the U.S. is responsible for that bombing. Why did the president say he believes it is Iran? Well, I'll leave that to the investigators to determine. We've seen instances like we saw in Gaza, for example, where Hamas immediately blamed the Israelis. The international community jumped on it, and it turned out it was an errant rocket from Hamas. So we've seen those kind of incidences in the past.

5:32As Secretary Hegseth said, it's under investigation. I can tell you as a veteran in no uncertain terms. The United States does everything it can to avoid civilian casualties. Sometimes, of course, tragic mistakes occur. Meanwhile, President Trump rebuffing Iranian offers to go back to the negotiating table. Speaking at the White House on Thursday, Mr. Trump saying, quote, they're calling. They're saying, how do we make a deal? I said you're being a little bit late. In an early Friday morning True Social post, the president writing, quote, there will be no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender.

6:07These statements coming as Iran fires hundreds of retaliatory missiles and drones at neighboring Gulf states, damaging civilian sites like airports and hotels. Iranian President Massoud Pazeshkian on Saturday morning apologizing to its neighbors, saying Iran would halt strikes on the other countries if attacks against Iran launched from those countries housing military bases also stopped. Mr. Trump responding with another true social post early Saturday, declaring Iran, quote, "...is being beat to hell and, quote, will be hit very hard until they surrender to the U.S. or collapse." Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arachi releasing a statement, quote, "...if Mr.

6:44Trump seeks escalation, it is precisely what our powerful armed forces have long prepared for and what he will get." Overnight, Iranian strikes continuing. In Saudi Arabia, two people reported killed when a military projectile landed in a residential area. The Iranian foreign minister, yesterday on NBC, asked if Iran would consider unconditional surrender. We never surround. And we continue to resist as long as it takes. We continue to defend ourselves. And we are defending our territory, our people, and our dignity. And our dignity is not for sale. Last night, Iranian state media reporting Mojtaba Khomeini, son of the late Supreme Leader, selected as his father's successor.

7:25President Trump previously saying he has opposed the Ayatollah Sun serving as the next leader of Iran, insisting on U.S. input in the decision. Back in the U.S., opinion on the operations split on the political right. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a longtime leading advocate for intervening in Iran, yesterday on Fox urging Gulf states to get involved. Now, to our Arab friends, you're being hit too. Has any Arab country struck a run? Now, if you want a treaty with the United States, you need to get in this fight. You know, America is not going to the Mideast just to fight alone. So I'm urging our allies to fight back.

8:02You're being hit, too. Executive director of the American conservative magazine, Kurt Mills, last week on the Zero Hedge Debate podcast, arguing the operation risks serious long term damage to U.S. diplomatic efforts far beyond the Middle East. I stipulate that the president can cut his losses. I think currently the biggest macro problem actually is that the U.S.'s diplomatic word is getting crushed. I mean, I think this really harms Trump's ability to make a deal with the Russians to end the war in Ukraine, for instance. And I think that it harms the ability of this president to do positive things on the global stage.

8:38But I think it also potentially could permanently scar any future president's maneuverability and diplomacy. So I don't think that much has changed. I think if you think the Iranians are bad dudes, they just replaced the 90-year-old Hamine with a 58-year-old Hamine. And they very possibly further entrenched their military and economic elite, the IRGC, in control of that country. And there's every evidence that we have politically vindicated the ultra-conservatives in that country and the hardliners, which is that you cannot deal with the United States and that Donald Trump and that the U.S. only response to force.

9:14Israel on Saturday striking 30 Iranian fuel depots, lighting up the sky with bright orange flames and billowing black smoke, reportedly far beyond what the U.S. anticipated. By Sunday evening, oil prices surpassing$100 per barrel, raising new economic headaches for the Trump administration as it grapples with domestic affordability. The NYPD confirming an Improvised Explosive Device, or IED, capable of causing serious injury or even death, was thrown during dueling protests outside the mayor's residence Saturday. The incident unfolding outside the mayor's residence, Gracie Mansion, on Manhattan's Upper East Side, where one protest was organized by individuals associated with pardoned January 6 writer Jake Lang, including about 20 people marching to, quote, stop the Islamic takeover of New York City.

10:00The counter-protest called, quote, run the Nazis out of New York City, stand up against hate, drawing about 125 people. As tensions flare between the two groups, one member of the anti-Islam group Pepper Spring, a counter-protester. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch describing what happened shortly after that. At approximately 12.38 p.m., a counter-protester, identified as Amir Balat, an 18-year-old man, lit and threw an ignited device toward the protest area, landing in the crosswalk of East 87th Street and East End Avenue. Witnesses reported seeing flames and smoke as it traveled through the air before it struck a barrier and extinguished itself a few feet from police officers.

10:49Mr. Balot then ran southbound on East End Avenue toward 86th Street and gets a second device from a man tentatively ID'd as Ibrahim Nick, 19 years old. Mr. Balat lights the device and starts running with it. He then drops the device on the west side of East End Avenue between East 86th and East 87th streets. Officers immediately secured the area and they took both men into custody. Balat, seen on video shouting Alu Akbar as he threw the device, later footage showing him repeating the chant as NYPD officers placed him in the back of a police vehicle. Fox News reporting both suspects are believed to be U.S.

11:34citizens. Fox reporting Balat's parents are naturalized U.S. citizens from Turkey, and Kiyumi's parents are naturalized from Afghanistan. NBC News reporting the NYPD and FBI are also examining the incident as a potential act of terrorism after one of the suspects allegedly referenced ISIS in statements to law enforcement. The NYPD yesterday discovering another suspicious device in connection with the incident located in a vehicle. The suspects are in custody. It's not yet clear whether charges have been filed. Coming up, new Epstein files revealing something very strange a guard on duty did the night the disgraced financier died.

12:12And new polling highlights some red flags for President Trump heading into the midterms.

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13:05Find out more at guardyourcard.com and consider telling Congress to guard your card. New details emerging about the night Jeffrey Epstein died in federal custody, with newly released Justice Department records raising fresh questions about the conduct of one of the guards assigned to watch him. Metropolitan Correction Center guard Tova Noel and fellow officer Michael Thomas were on duty the night Epstein was found dead in his cell on August 10, 2019. Both guards accused of falsifying records to claim they checked on Epstein throughout the night as required, though a federal judge later dismissed the charges under a prosecution agreement.

13:42The New York Post reports, previously undisclosed FBI records revealing Noel searched online for updates about Epstein just minutes before his body was discovered. According to the documents, Noel typing, quote, latest on Epstein in jail into a Bureau of Prisons computer at 5.42 a.m. and again at 5.52 a.m. Less than 40 minutes later, at 6.30 a.m., Thomas discovering Epstein dead in his cell of an apparent hanging. Prosecutors previously saying the two guards failed to conduct the required 30-minute security checks during their shift, with Noel browsing online furniture listings and at times falling asleep, and Thomas spending part of the shift looking at motorcycles online.

14:22According to the Post, when questioned in a sworn 2021 interview with the Justice Department, Noel denied making the searches, telling investigators, quote, I don't remember doing that. I don't recall looking him up. Separate DOJ records also drawing attention to Noel's finances. According to a document released in the Epstein files, Chase Bank filing a suspicious activity report with the FBI in November 2019, flagging multiple cash deposits into her account. Bank records cited in the file showing 12 cash deposits beginning April 2018, totaling$11 ,880, including a$5 ,000 deposit on July 30, 2019, just days before Epstein's death.

15:02Noelle beginning work in the special housing unit where Epstein was held in early July 2019. The Post reporting Noelle was not asked about those deposits during her Justice Department interview. The newly released files also containing an internal FBI briefing identifying Noelle as the officer believed to be seen in blurry security footage carrying linen or inmate clothing toward the special housing unit tier around 1040 p.m., which investigators say was the last time any correctional officer approached the entrance to the area where Epstein was being held. In her sworn statement, Noelle told investigators the last time she saw Epstein alive was somewhere around after 10.

15:38She denies distributing linens to inmates, saying, quote, I never gave out linen, ever. Asked by investigators whether she had any role in Epstein's death, Noelle responding, quote, no. The NYC chief medical examiner ultimately ruling Epstein's death a suicide with no foul play. A new NBC News poll showing President Trump's approval rating at 44%, with 54 % of voters disapproving of the president's performance, virtually unchanged from the one NBC conducted in October. The poll conducted from February 27th to March 3rd as the U.S. began strikes on Iran. NBC chief data analyst Steve Kornacki pointing out on Sunday a potential warning sign for Republicans heading into the midterms.

16:18But I think for Trump here, in his first term, that 2018 midterm, This is almost exactly where he was at that point, too. Of course, there was a 40-seat Democratic landslide that year. Democrats took back the House. The survey finding voters increasingly unhappy with the president's handling of the economy and cost of living. Kornacki with the details. Asking folks, do you approve of how the president has handled inflation, cost of living specifically, 36 percent approved, 62 disapproved. That's down a year ago. It was 42, 55. It's twice as bad now for him. Steve, that's a big dip on a critical issue for this midterm election.

16:54Absolutely, Kristen. Voters continue to say this one is of pretty central importance to them. And then also, are they feeling it? Have Trump's policies helped or hurt? Almost 50 % they're saying they have hurt a majority of independents saying the same thing. The poll also revealing a split in how voters view immigration versus border security. On immigration, 44 % approve of the president's handling of the issue, while 54 % disapprove. But when voters are asked specifically about border security, the numbers flip, with 53 % approving of President Trump's handling of the border and 44 % disapproving.

17:27On the generic congressional ballot, Democrats with the advantage. 50 % of respondents saying they would pull the lever for a Democrat, versus 44 % who would prefer Republicans to maintain control of Congress. The polls suggesting that edge may be tied to changing perceptions around one critical issue in particular. Kornacki breaking down how voters now rate the two parties when it comes to handling the country's biggest challenges.

18:18The midterm is set for November 3rd. That'll do it for your AM update. I'm Tom Bevan. Catch The Megyn Kelly Show today. Live on SiriusXM's The Megyn Kelly Channel 111 at noon east. On youtube.com slash megynkelly and all podcast platforms.

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