The US and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday in what President Donald Trump said was an expansive operation to destroy the country’s military capabilities and eliminate the threat of it creating a nuclear weapon.
Iran’s foreign ministry said it would defend its homeland as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) initiated counterattacks, launching drones and missiles at Israel. Further strikes were launched at US military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE and Qatar.
The strikes follow weeks of pressure from Trump on Tehran to make a deal to constrain its nuclear programme. In the lead-up to the strikes, Washington built up a significant fleet of warships near Iran.
The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and three guided-missile destroyers arrived in January to bolster the number of warships in the region. The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, and four accompanying destroyers were also dispatched from the Caribbean.
At least 165 people were reported killed at a girls’ school in southern Iran in the Israeli-US strikes, according to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency. Shrapnel from an Iranian missile attack on the capital of the UAE killed one person, state media said.
Ayatollah’s compound was one of the first targets
Israel announced it had launched an attack on Iran shortly after explosions were heard in Tehran on Saturday morning. One of the first strikes hit near the offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It wasn’t immediately clear where Khamenei was at the time, as he hadn’t been seen for days.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told NBC News that Khamenei and president Masoud Pezeshkian were alive “as far as I know” – though President Trump later said the Ayatollah had died in the attacks. This was then confirmed by Iran state media later on.
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said the attacks had been conducted “to remove threats”. Sirens were heard across Israel to warn the public about possible incoming missile strikes.
Iran strikes back at Israel and US bases
Later on Saturday, Bahrain said a missile attack targeted the US Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters in the island kingdom. Witnesses heard sirens and explosions in Kuwait, home to US Army Central. Explosions could be also be heard in Qatar, where Al Udeid Air Base hosts thousands of service members.
Iraq and the United Arab Emirates closed their airspace, and sirens sounded in Jordan.
An apartment building in northern Israel was damaged and shrapnel fell in multiple sites, according to media and police. But Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said there had been no significant hits in Israel and rescue services said there were no injuries reported from missile barrages across the country.
Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, meanwhile, have vowed to resume attacks on Red Sea shipping routes and on Israel, according to two senior Houthi officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Trump tells Iranians to topple their government
It took over an hour for Trump to make an official announcement on the US involvement in what he termed “major combat operations”.
In an eight-minute video on social media, Trump indicated the US was striking for reasons far beyond the nuclear programme, listing grievances stretching back to the beginning of the Islamic Republic following a revolution in 1979 that turned Iran from one of America’s closest allies in the Middle East into a fierce foe.
Trump told Iranians to take cover but urged them to later rise up and topple the Islamic leadership.
“When we are finished, take over your government,” Trump said. “It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.”
Fighting grounds flights and disrupts commercial air travel
The fighting has disrupted air travel in the region.
Israel and the UAE, home to both the long-haul carriers Emirates and Etihad, closed their airspace Saturday. Qatar Airways Group said it has temporarily cancelled flights to and from Doha because Qatari airspace also was closed.
Planes en route to Israel were rerouted to other airports.
Virgin Atlantic cancelled its flight from London’s Heathrow Airport to Dubai and said it would avoid flying over Iraq, meaning flights to and from India, the Maldives, Dubai and Riyadh could take slightly longer. Virgin Atlantic said all flights would carry appropriate fuel in case they need to reroute on short notice.
Turkish Airlines said on X that flights to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Jordan will be suspended until Monday and flights to Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman would be suspended on Saturday.
Dutch airline KLM previously said it was suspending Tel Aviv flights starting Sunday.
War widens to include Tehran-backed militias
Iran and Iranian-backed militias have fired missiles at Israel and Arab states, reportedly hitting the American embassy compound in Kuwait, while Israel and the United States pounded targets in Iran as the war in the Middle East expanded on Monday.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society said the US-Israeli airstrike campaign has killed 555 people so far in Iran so far.
As the American and Israeli airstrikes continued, top Iranian security official Ali Larijani vowed on X that “we will not negotiate with the United States”.
Blasts were reported in Jerusalem, Dubai, Abu Dhabi in UAE, Doha in Qatar, and Manama in Bahrain as the conflict entered its third day.
US embassy ‘hit in Kuwait’ as American death toll rises
Smoke was seen rising from the vicinity of the US embassy in Kuwait, according to witnesses, and the US consulate urged Americans to “not come to the embassy”.
Three American troops were killed and five are seriously injured, the US military said, confirming its first casualties in the conflict.
President Trump has suggested the conflict with Iran could go on for the next four weeks after the US president earlier said that operations are “ahead of schedule”.
UK gives US permission to use RAF bases
Meanwhile, at the end of the weekend Sir Keir Starmer dramatically changed his mind over giving the Americans permission to use RAF bases in Cyprus to tackle the growing threat from Iran.
In a late statement on Sunday evening, the prime minister insisted he was giving permission for the “limited specific defensive purpose” of defending UK and US allies across the Middle East as Iran continues to lash out.
It follows defence secretary John Healey revealing that two Iranian missiles were aimed in the direction of Cyprus where the UK has bases.
Mr Trump later said he was disappointed in the delay over the decision from Sir Keir.
Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah exchange fire
Meanwhile, Israel launched a wave of missile and drone attacks on Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut in Lebanon on Monday and ordered evacuations.
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz has warned that Lebanon’s Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem is now a “target for elimination”.
It comes after the group fired at Israel in retaliation for killing Iran’s supreme leader.
