After weeks of stalled diplomatic negotiations, the U.S. and Israel on Saturday morning carried out airstrikes on regime targets across Iran. “Iranian state media has reported explosions in central Tehran, and news agency video showed plumes of smoke over the capital,” NBC News reported.
The operation, being referred to as “Epic Fury” and “Roaring Lion” by various media outlets, struck military and regime sites in Tehran and other cities.
One of the key objectives of the operation appears to be the elimination of the Iranian regime leadership.
“The United States and Israel launched an attack Saturday on Iran, with the first apparent strike happening near the offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,” the Associated Press reported. “Iranian media reported strikes nationwide, and smoke could be seen rising from the capital.”
While the Iranian dictator, Ayatullah Khamenei, likely survived the first wave of strikes, his palace was destroyed. “Channel 12, quoting unnamed Israeli sources, says the palace of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei has been completely destroyed,” The Times of Israel reported. “It also says all of Iran’s key leaders were targeted in the strikes so far today.”
In a major blow to the regime, IRGC’s chief Mohammad Pakpour, who heads the Iranian armed forces, was eliminated in the strikes. “The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, was killed in Saturday morning’s strikes that marked the opening wave of coordinated U.S.-Israeli strikes, according to Israeli officials,” Israel’s Ynetnews confirmed. “Pakpour had been appointed to the position after his predecessor, Hossein Salami, was killed by Israel in the opening strike of last year’s 12-day war.”
Regime’s defense minister was also reported killed in strike. “Iran’s Defence Minister Amir Nasirzadeh… believed to have been killed in Israeli attacks, two sources familiar with Israel’s military operations and one regional source said,” Reuters reported.
Iranians were seen celebrating the strikes on regime targets.
The Israeli Defense Forces, in a statement, disclosed the details of the operation:
The IDF is continuing to strike a wide range of targets in Western Iran.As part of “Operation Roaring Lion”, the IDF struck, with the direction of IDF intelligence, hundreds of Iranian military targets, including missile launchers in western Iran.Alongside the IAF’s strikes in Iran, the Aerial Defense Array is currently identifying and intercepting threats fired from Iran toward the State of Israel.
President Donald Trump confirmed launching “major combat operations” in Iran. “A short time ago the U.S. military began major combat operations in Iran,” he said in a video posted on X. “Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime.”
President Trump told Iran’s Islamic Guard (IRGC) and armed forces to lay down weapons and urged the Iranian people to oust the tyrannical Islamic regime. “To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces and all of the police, I say tonight that you must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity. Or in the alternative, face certain death,” the president said.
“When we are finished, take over your government,” he urged the Iranian people.
“May God bless the brave men and women of America’s armed forces. May God bless the United States of America,” the president said, concluding his speech.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday morning announced that Israel and the United States are conducting a joint military operation against Tehran, hitting the regime’s nuclear and long-range missile capabilities. Earlier, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz had disclosed launching a “pre-emptive” strike on Iran.
Israel’s Ynetnews reported:
“My brothers and sisters, citizens of Israel, a short time ago Israel and the United States embarked on a joint campaign,” Netanyahu said in a televised address. “We will not sit idly by when the shadow of annihilation hovers over us.”Netanyahu accused Iran of calling for the destruction of Israel and the United States for nearly five decades, spreading terrorism across the Middle East and investing heavily in developing nuclear weapons and tens of thousands of missiles intended, in its words, to “wipe Israel off the map.”He said Iran had armed terrorist proxies in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Judea and Samaria, and warned that in recent months Tehran had sought to rebuild and conceal nuclear and missile infrastructure underground to shield it from attack.“If we do not stop them now, they will become immune,” he said. “The risk of not acting is immeasurably greater.”Netanyahu argued that failure to strike would result in “a nuclear Iran, an Iran with tens of thousands of ballistic missiles, an Iran that seeks to destroy us and would be immune to our counteractions.”
Ahead of the strikes, the Iranian dictator may have taken shelter in a ‘secure location’ outside Tehran. The Jerusalem Post reported that “Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is not in Tehran and has been transferred to a ‘secure location’.”
Khamenei is expected to make a speech later today. “Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will speak within minutes, Iran’s Al-Alam TV reported, hours after U.S., Israeli strikes targeted top Iranian leaders on Saturday,” Reuters reported.
Iran reportedly fired missiles at Bahrain, with blasts reported around the port cities. The Gulf Arab kingdom is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters. Other U.S. military bases also came under fire from Iranian missiles. According to the AP News, Iran “began apparently targeting U.S. military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar, as explosions could be heard.”
The U.S. had evacuated some of the bases, anticipating Iranian strikes.
The Sky News (UK) reports.
According to the Bahraini state news agency BNA, the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet centre was “subjected to a missile attack” this morning.The US Fifth Fleet manages operations in the Middle East, including the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and parts of the Indian Ocean.Bahrain’s interior ministry said on X that alarm sirens have been activated, and urged citizens and residents to shelter.
There are reports of Iranian missiles breaching Israeli airspace on Saturday morning, amid sounds of blasts and air raid sirens in Jerusalem. Israeli air defense systems were intercepting Iranian missiles over their airspace. “Missiles intercepted in Jerusalem after joint Israel-US attack on Iran,” the Associated Press reported.
The French news agency AFP noted:
AFP journalists heard several blasts over Jerusalem following air raid sirens in the city, after the Israeli military said it had detected multiple barrages of missiles launched from Iran.”An additional barrage of missiles was launched towards the State of Israel. The public is requested to continue to follow the instructions of the Home Front Command. The public is requested to stay in protected spaces until official notice,” the military said in a statement.
The IDF, on Saturday morning, confirmed that “Search and Rescue forces are operating in several locations across the country where reports of fallen projectiles were received.” Air raid sirens were heard throughout the morning.
By Saturday evening, the Jerusalem Post estimated that “Over 200 missiles were launched toward Israel as the joint Israel-US campaign continued to strike targets across the Islamic regime.”
“At least one person is seriously wounded by the Iranian ballistic missile impact in Tel Aviv,” The Times of Israel reported. Another missile impacted in central Israel, but no injured were reported.
Saturday afternoon, Prime Minister Netanyahu talked to President Trump by phone.
Rattled by the strikes, the Iranian regime launched a missile strike on at least six neighboring Arab states, namely Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
Saudi Arabia was among the first Arab governments to condemn Iranian aggression. “In an official statement, the Ministry denounced what it called a “flagrant” infringement of the sovereignty of the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan, expressing full solidarity with the countries and support for any measures they may take,” the Saudi media outlets Arab News reported. “The Kingdom warned of the serious consequences of continued violations of state autonomy and breaches of international law, stressing that such actions threaten regional security and stability.”
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