The United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Saturday morning in what President Donald Trump characterized as the beginning of “major combat operations.”
Explosions were heard throughout Tehran, Isfahan, and other parts of Iran on Saturday morning as the opening sorties hit Iranian soil.
Israel was the first to announce the strikes.
“The State of Israel launched a pre-emptive attack against Iran to remove threats to the State of Israel,” Defence Minister Israel Katz said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced the name of the Israeli operation is Operation Lion’s Roar.
At half past two in the morning eastern standard time, Trump released a video statement just over 8 minutes long announcing the operation.
“The United States military is undertaking a massive and ongoing operation to prevent this very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests,” the president, who is spending the weekend in Mar-a-Lago, said.
The Department of War announced on X that the U.S. operation has been titled “Operation Epic Fury.”
Trump promised Iran’s capacities would be “totally again obliterated,” just 9 months after claiming to “obliterate” Iranian nuclear capacities through Operation Midnight Hammer.
“We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground,” the president added.
The strikes follow a series of negotiations between the U.S., Iran, and diplomatic interlocutors from several other countries.
But Trump said Iran was ultimately unwilling to give up its nuclear ambitions and could not offer satisfying terms.
“They rejected every opportunity to reach their nuclear ambitions, and we can’t take it anymore,” Trump said of the diplomatic efforts.
The diplomatic collapse appeared surprising because Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, one of the diplomats involved in the talks, told CBS’s “Face The Nation” on Friday afternoon that the Iranians were willing to minimize enrichment, forgo stockpiling nuclear material, and allow IAEA inspections.
“A peace deal is within our reach,” Albusaidi claimed. Earlier, Albusaidi met with Vice President JD Vance about the negotiations.
Despite the ongoing negotiations, the American and Israeli operation was reportedly in the works for months. An unnamed Israeli defense official told Reuters that the two nations had coordinated plans for months and date of the operation was decided weeks ago.
Trump has ramped up the pressure on Iran in recent weeks and has repeatedly suggested it could come to blows.
The U.S. has surged military assets to the region, including aircraft carriers, fighter jets, and destroyers, in what has become the largest U.S. military buildup in the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The buildup includes two of the largest U.S. warships: the Gerald R. Ford and the Abraham Lincoln carriers.
“We have a big decision to make,” Trump said at a rally in Texas on Friday. “I’d rather do it the peaceful way. But they’re very difficult people.”
In the president’s video address Saturday morning, he warned the American people that the U.S. military could suffer casualties.
“The Iranian regime seeks to kill,” the president said. “The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties—that often happens in war—but we’re doing this not for now. We’re doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission.”
The president called on Iran’s armed forces and police to “lay down your weapons and have complete immunity or, in the alternative, face certain death.”
Trump also gave a message to the Iranian people. “For many years, you have asked for America’s help, but you never got it. No president was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight,” Trump claimed.
“Now you have a president who is giving you what you want, so let’s see how you respond,” Trump said, though he implored Iranians to remain inside because “bombs will be dropping everywhere.”
Netanyahu also posted a video statement on X.
“This murderous terrorist regime must not be allowed to arm itself with nuclear weapons that would enable it to threaten all of humanity,” the X caption read. “Our joint operation will create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their fate into their own hands.”
Iran is now in the process of preparing its military response, an Iranian official reportedly told Reuters, which Israel and the U.S. expected.
