The United States and Israel have launched a wide-scale military attack on Iran, plunging the Middle Eastern region into turmoil as Tehran retaliates.
Several nations, including Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Jordan, have since been targeted following the attacks ordered by Donald Trump and Israel on Saturday morning.
It has prompted the closure of airspaces within the region, with global airlines cancelling flights throughout the Middle East and Dubai International Airport, the biggest global aviation hub, suspending all travel.
Confirming the attacks, Donald Trump said the US had launched “major combat operations”, aimed at “eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime”, including to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
The US President called the regime “a vicious group of very hard, terrible people”, adding that “its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world.”
He said: “Iran is the world’s number one state sponsor of terror, and just recently killed tens of thousands of its own citizens on the street as they protested.
“It has always been the policy of the United States, in particular my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon. I’ll say it again, they can never have a nuclear weapon.”
Which countries have been targeted?
In response, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it was targeting all Israeli and US military bases in the Middle East with sites struck “by the powerful blows of Iranian missiles”.
“This operation will continue relentlessly until the enemy is decisively defeated,” it said.
Explosions were heard throughout several areas across Iran, and military sites have been targeted in Kermanshah, Qum, Isfahan, Tabriz, and Kara, according to reports.
In response to the attacks, Ebrahim Azizi, the head of the national security commission of the Iranian parliament, said: “Now you have started down a path which end is no longer in your control.”
Israel was targeted shortly after, with witnesses reporting explosions in Tel Aviv. The Israeli Defence Force said it was “operating to intercept and strike threats where necessary to remove the threat.”
Iran has also launched multiple attacks on Doha, with several waves of blasts heard in the Qatari capital. Its foreign ministry said it reserved the right to respond to Iran.
The US Navy’s 5th Fleet service centre in Bahrain has also been subjected to a missile attack, according to state media.
The UAE, which also houses US military bases, has reported several strikes, with one person killed in Abu Dhabi after its military intercepted Iranian missiles.
Reports of attacks have also been made in Jordan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.
Global airlines have cancelled flights across the Middle East amid the conflict, with airspaces over Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Bahrain and Jordan empty early as flights were diverted around it on Saturday.
The European Union’s aviation regulator recommended that its airlines stay out of the airspace affected by the military intervention.
