U.S. & Israel Launch “Major Combat Operations” On Iran As Trump Calls On Iranians To “Take Over” – Update
Updated at 5am PT… with deaths, coverage and reaction: The U.S. and Israel have launched air strikes on Iran with President Donald Trump saying “major combat operations” are underway.
Blasts started being heard around the Iran’s capital city around 9.30 am local time on Saturday morning, with reports of people running in the streets in panic.
There were also reports of strikes on military sites in Kermanshah, Qum, Isfahan, Tabriz, Karaj and Kenarak. Iran state news agency reported 43 people had been killed in an Israeli strike on a girls school in Southern Iran, and another 63 wounded.
Iran armed forces immediately launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes on Israel as well as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Jordan, Iraq, Bahrain and Kuwait.
Emirati-state news agency reported one person had been killed in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi, after debris fell on a residential area.
Trump announced the operations in an eight-minute video statement , released in the early hours of the U.S. East Coast morning, in which he said the aim was “to crush’ Iran’s military and “eliminate its nuclear program” as well as bring about a change in government.
“Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people,” he said. “Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas and our allies throughout the world.”
The U.S. president also called on the Iranian people, who have been subjected to a harsh crackdown against pro-democracy protests in recent weeks, to “take over.”
TV and radio networks worldwide scrambled to get on board the story, breaking into normal programming as a chaotic picture of the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and Iranian retaliation across the Gulf started to take shape.
In a note, NBC News said its NOW program broke in with breaking news on Iran at 1:44 am ET, followed by a network report at 1:50 am ET, and has been producing rolling coverage ever since on network and NOW.
Laura Jarrett, Peter Alexander and Kristen Welker on NBC News Special report
Initial U.S. and Iran targets are reported to have been Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, with reports of missiles hitting an area near his presidential palace, as well as key military installations.
The 86-year-old Ayatollah Khamenei, who has been Iran’s Supreme Leader since 1989, succeeding the Islamic Republic’s late founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He is reported to be in hiding and is not believed to be in Tehran.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also issued a statement on Saturday, saying that the aim was to remove the Islamic Republic regime from power.
The operation “will create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their destiny into their own hands,” he said.
“The time has come for all sections of the people in Iran… to remove the yoke of tyranny… and bring a free and peace-loving Iran,” he added.
