Dubai, Feb 28: The US and Israel launched a major attack on Iran on Saturday, and President Donald Trump urged the Iranian public to “seize control of your destiny” by rising up against the Islamic leadership that has ruled the nation since 1979.
Iranian state media, citing the Red Crescent, on Saturday evening said at least 201 people had been killed and more than 700 injured. Iran retaliated by firing missiles and drones toward Israel and US military bases in the region, and exchanges of fire continued into the night.
Some of the first strikes on Iran appeared to hit near the offices of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Smoke rose from the capital as part of strikes that Iranian media said occurred nationwide.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told NBC News that Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian are alive “as far as I know,” and called the attack “unprovoked, illegal and absolutely illegitimate.”
In a video announcing the “major combat operations,” Trump told Iranians that “when we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.”
The strikes during the holy fasting month of Ramadan opened a stunning new chapter in US intervention in Iran, marking the second time in eight months that the Trump administration has attacked the Islamic Republic during talks over its nuclear program.
About 12 hours after the attacks began, the US military reported no US casualties and minimal damage at US bases despite “hundreds of Iranian missile and drone attacks.” It said targets in Iran included Revolutionary Guard command facilities, air defence capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields.
The targets included members of Iran’s leadership, according to a US official and another person briefed on the attacks who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing operation. There was no immediate information on whether top officials were killed.
Even if Iran’s top leaders are killed, regime change is not guaranteed. Neither the US nor Israel have articulated a vision for what new leadership might look like.
Democrats decried that Trump had taken action without congressional authorisation. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the administration had briefed several Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress in advance.
The UN Security Council said it would meet Saturday afternoon. In a letter to the council, Araghchi said “all bases, facilities, and assets of the hostile forces in the region shall be regarded as legitimate military objectives.”
Iran also requested an urgent session of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors about “these threats to safeguarded nuclear facilities,” according to a letter posted by the semiofficial Tasnim news agency.
The UN’s nuclear watchdog said on X it was closely monitoring developments and had seen “no evidence of radiological impact.”
And Iran was in a “near-total internet blackout,” advocacy group NetBlocks said, complicating connections with the outside world.
Months of rising tensions
Tensions have soared in recent weeks as American warships moved into the region. Trump said he wanted a deal to constrain Iran’s nuclear program at a moment when the country is struggling at home with growing dissent following nationwide protests.
The immediate trigger for Saturday’s strikes appeared to be the unsuccessful latest round of nuclear talks. But they also reflected dramatic changes that have left Iran’s leadership in its weakest position since the Islamic Revolution nearly half a century ago.
Israeli and American strikes last June greatly weakened Iran’s air defences, military leadership and nuclear program. A regionwide war, sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, has left Iran’s network of proxies across the Middle East greatly weakened. US sanctions and global isolation, meanwhile, have decimated Iran’s economy.
Iran responded to the latest strikes by launching missiles and drones targeting Israel and strikes targeting US military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. Israel’s military said Iran fired “dozens” of missiles at Israel, with many intercepted and no serious injuries reported. Emergency responder Magen David Adom noted 89 “lightly injured” people.
At least three explosions were heard Saturday evening near the Intelligence Ministry building in northern Tehran, witnesses said, adding that air defence systems had begun operating in the area. Israel’s military said it had begun a new wave of strikes against missile launchers and aerial defence systems in central Iran.
In southern Iran, at least 85 people were reported killed after a girls’ school was struck, and dozens more were wounded, the local governor told Iranian state TV.
Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for US Central Command, said he was “aware of reports” that a girls’ school was struck and they were looking into them.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA said at least 15 people were killed in the southwest, quoting the governor of Lamerd, Ali Alizadeh, as saying a sports hall, two residential areas and a hall near a school were hit.
Flights across the Middle East were disrupted, and air defense fire thudded over Dubai, the United Arab Emirates’ commercial capital. Shrapnel from an Iranian missile attack on the UAE capital killed one person, state media said.
Attack was coordinated between Israel and US
“Active and serious negotiations have yet again been undermined,” Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, a key mediator of the nuclear talks in Switzerland and Oman, said on X. “Neither the interests of the United States nor the cause of global peace are well served by this.”
Israel said the operation has been planned for months with the United States. Air Force pilots were striking “hundreds of targets across Iran” in coordination with US strikes, Israeli military chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said in a statement.
Targets in the Israeli campaign included Iran’s military, symbols of government and intelligence targets, according to an official briefed on the operation, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic information on the attack.
Trump, in seeking to justify the military action, claimed Iran has continued to develop its nuclear program, despite asserting last year the program had been “obliterated” by an earlier round of strikes.
He acknowledged Saturday that there could be American casualties, saying “that often happens in war.” It was a notable statement from a US leader who swept into office on an “America First” platform and vowed to keep out of “forever wars.”
Trump listed grievances beyond the nuclear program, saying he was aiming to “annihilate” the Iranian navy and destroy regional proxies supported by Tehran. He called on the paramilitary Iranian Revolutionary Guard to lay down arms, saying members would be given immunity or face “certain death” if they didn’t.
Iran had said it hoped to avert a war, but maintained its right to enrich uranium. Its leaders did not want to discuss other issues, such as its long-range missile program or support for armed groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
Iran has said it hasn’t enriched since June, but it has blocked international inspectors from visiting the sites the US bombed. Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press have shown new activity at two of those sites, suggesting Iran is trying to assess and potentially recover material.
Trump had threatened military action but held off following Iran’s recent crackdown on protests spurred by economic grievances that evolved into a nationwide, anti-government push against the ruling clerics.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency says it confirmed more than 7,000 deaths in the crackdown and is investigating thousands more. The government has acknowledged more than 3,000 killed.
Now, Iranians are likely to be wary about taking to the streets again because the Revolutionary Guard has demonstrated its ruthlessness, said Kamran Matin, an expert on Iran at the University of Sussex in southern England.
Regional effects
The strikes could rattle global markets, particularly if Iran is able to make the Strait of Hormuz unsafe for commercial traffic. A third of total worldwide oil exports transported by sea passed through the strait in 2025.
Saudi Arabia said in state-run media that Iran had targeted its capital and its eastern region in an attack that was repelled. Bahrain said a missile attack targeted the US Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters in the island kingdom.
Kuwait’s civil aviation authority said a drone targeted the main international airport, injuring several employees. Kuwait’s state-run news agency said three troops were injured by shrapnel from strikes that hit Ali Al-Salem air base. Explosions could also be heard in Qatar. Jordan said it “dealt with” 49 drones and ballistic missiles.
The Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen vowed to resume attacks on Red Sea shipping routes and on Israel, according to two senior Houthi officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because there was no official announcement.
US embassies or consulates in Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan, Israel and Karachi, Pakistan, told staffers to shelter in place and recommended all Americans “do the same until further notice.” (PTI)
