The United States and Israel have launched a daylight missile attack on Iran as Donald Trump declared he will ‘raze their missile industry to the ground’.
The US president warned there may be ‘US casualties’ but said the ‘objective is to defend the American people by eliminating the imminent threats from the Iranian regime’.
The first strike, which follows weeks of knife-edge tensions building up between the two countries, happened near the offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
However, officials said the 86-year-old, who has not been seen in public for days, is not in Tehran and has been transferred to a secure location.
There are also unverified reports that other locations in Iran including Isfahan, the third largest city, and Tabriz have been hit.
President Trump announced on Saturday morning the United States had begun ‘major combat operations’ in Iran with thick black smoke seen rising into the sky.
In a video posted to Truth Social, he claimed Iran has continued to develop its nuclear programme and has plans to develop missiles to reach US.
Trump described the country as ‘menacing’ and vowed to ensure that the Ayatollah is never able to develop a nuclear weapon.
People watch as smoke rises on the skyline after an explosion in Tehran, Iran
President Trump announced on Saturday morning the United States had begun ‘major combat operations’ in Iran with thick black smoke seen rising into the sky
An image shows smoke billowing from a building after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, on Saturday morning
‘We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground, it will be totally, again, obliterated,’ Trump said in a video on Truth Social.
‘We’re going to annihilate their navy, we’re going to ensure that the region’s terrorist proxies can no longer destabilise the region or the world and attack our forces, and no longer use their IEDs or roadside bombs as they are sometimes called, to gravely wound and kill thousands and thousands of people, including many Americans.
‘And we will ensure that Iran does not attain a nuclear weapon – a very simple message: They will never have a nuclear weapon.’
The strikes come amid growing tensions between the US and Iran – with Trump trying to pressure the Ayatollah into a deal over his nuclear programme.
Iran said there would be a ‘crushing response’ and warned that American military personnel and bases spread across the region would be targets for any retaliation.
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz described the attack as being done ‘to remove threats’.
Several hospitals in Israel launched their emergency protocols, including moving patients and surgeries to underground facilities.
In Tehran, witnesses heard the first blast by Mr Khamenei’s office. Iranian state television later reported the explosion, without offering a cause.
People run for cover following explosions in Tehran on Saturday
Israel Katz, the Israeli Defense Minister, announced that the country is under a state of emergency as thick smoke rose from an explosion in downtown Tehran (pictured)
More explosions struck Iran’s capital after Israel said it was attacking the country. Authorities have offered no casualty information from the strikes
Pictured: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz. He said the daylight attack was ‘to remove threats,’ without providing any further information. Early reports suggest that the attack on Iran was coordinated with the US
The IDF launched the surprise ‘preemptive’ attack in coordination with the US, according to Israeli and American officials
This week Trump made the grave warning that Iran is manufacturing weapons that could soon strike US
Sirens sounded across Israel at the same time as it closed its air space. The Israeli military said it had issued a ‘proactive alert to prepare the public for the possibility of missiles being launched toward the state of Israel’.
More explosions struck Iran’s capital after Israel said it was attacking the country. Authorities have offered no casualty information from the strikes.
Meanwhile, Iran shut down its air space and mobile phone services were cut.
Israel has warned its own citizens to prepare to take cover if the Iranians fight back, with sirens already being heard across Israel.
The country’s Defense Force said: ‘This is a proactive alert to prepare the public for the possibility of missiles being launched toward the State of Israel.’
Airspace above Israel was closed to civilian flights following the strike this morning.
More explosions struck Iran’s capital after Israel said it was attacking the country. Authorities have offered no casualty information from the strikes.
The explosions come as tensions are high between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
This week Trump made the grave warning that Iran is manufacturing weapons that could soon strike US.
Tehran is ‘working on missiles that will soon reach’ America, Trump said during his State of the Union address on Tuesday. He also vowed to prevent Iran, the ‘number one sponsor of terrorism,’ from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Trump has openly flirted with regime change too, telling reporters recently that the ousting of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ‘would be the best thing that could happen.’
But US intelligence reports have not yet concluded that Iran is capable of crafting a weapon capable of reaching the homeland.
The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) assessed last year that Iran could need until 2035 to create a ‘militarily viable’ intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) – the kind that travels thousands of miles, including, for a time, through space before the warhead plummets towards its target.
‘Iran has space launch vehicles it could use to develop a militarily-viable ICBM by 2035 should Tehran decide to pursue the capability,’ the DIA report states.
Smoke rises over residential area after an explosion in Tehran, Iran
A woman runs for cover following an explosion in Tehran
The explosions come as tensions are high between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s nuclear programme
Two aircraft carrier strike groups – representing around 15,000 soldiers, over a dozen ships, hundreds of planes and likely some submarines – are being used by Trump to get Iran to capitulate to his denuclearization demands.
In addition, many thousands of troops and scores of military assets are on bases throughout the region, though there are some reports of evacuations.
The stalemate has recently shown some signs of traction with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner’s meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, with chief Iran negotiator Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, Oman’s foreign minister.
Additional meetings were scheduled for Friday.
The heated tensions this year come just months after Operation Midnight Hammer – one of the most sophisticated military aviation successes in recent American history.
Last June, Trump’s B-2 Stealth Bombers were flown to Iran in a 37-hour secret mission to quell the Middle Eastern country’s nuclear capabilities.
Two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles hit Iran in the operation.
Their purpose was to neutralize Iranian defense systems protecting nuclear enrichment facilities at Isfahan. When these sites had been destroyed, the B-2 group entered Iranian airspace.
The stealth jet squadron slipped into enemy skies, moving into attack formation at ‘high altitude and high speed’, with lighter, more mobile F-22 fighter jets sweeping in front of the B-2s to shield them from any surface-to-air or air-to-air fire.
There was none. Not a single shot was fired at any of the aircraft or warships involved in Midnight Hammer from the beginning of the operation to its end.
