The United States and Israel launched military strikes against Iran, targeting multiple cities. Iran retaliated with missile launches toward Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain, causing casualties and damage. The attacks prompted widespread airspace closures in the region and a near-total internet blackout in Iran. The stated objective from U.S. and Israeli leadership was to eliminate perceived threats from Iran, including its nuclear and missile programs.
United States and Israeli forces have launched military strikes against Iran, with President Donald Trump calling the attacks a “major combat operation” against the Iranian regime.
Explosions within Iran were first recorded in the early hours of Saturday morning ET, with smoke rising above the capital city Tehran. Shortly after the first reports of the attacks emerged, both the US and Israel claimed responsibility for the strikes. Explosions have subsequently been heard in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, in what appeared to be retaliatory Iranian strikes.
In an eight-minute video posted to Truth Social and X, Trump said the operation’s objective was to “defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime.” Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement confirming the military operation and said Israel was aiming to “remove the existential threat posed” by Iran.
The strikes on Iran, which have been called Operation Epic Fury by the so-called US Department of War and Operation Roaring Lion by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), reportedly hit multiple cities across the country. The impact, targets, and damage caused by the strikes were not immediately clear.
Shortly after confirming launching the attacks, the IDF said it had “identified” Iranian missiles being launched towards Israel. Iran’s response to the attacks appeared to include launching missiles towards other countries in the region that host US military bases.
The US embassy in Bahrain issued an alert saying that missile or drone attacks could be imminent, with images later showing potential explosions around the capital, Manama. The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Defense posted on X that it has intercepted “several Iranian missiles” and that building damage had resulted in the death of “an individual of Asian nationality.” Qatar’s defense ministry also confirmed it had intercepted missiles.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, multiple countries in the region also closed their airspaces to commercial flights. As of 5 am ET, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar had suspended their airspaces, according to flight-tracking service FlightRadar24. Web-monitoring group NetBlocks reported a “near-total internet blackout” within Iran shortly after the strikes were reported, with “national connectivity” dropping to around 4 percent of its usual state.
Trump, in his initial statement about the attacks, claimed the Iranian regime was continuing to develop nuclear weapons, and the US was taking action in an attempt to stop this activity. “They can never have a nuclear weapon,” he said. “We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground.”
The US president also encouraged the Iranian people to overthrow their country’s regime. “To the great, proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand,” Trump said. “When we are finished, take over your government, it will be yours to take.”
The US and Iran have participated in three recent rounds of mediated diplomatic negotiations billed as an effort to forge an agreement on Iran's nuclear program and avert armed conflict. Reports out of meetings in Geneva on Thursday seemed lukewarm, with negotiators sharing vaguely positive reactions with journalists and on social media. For example, Oman’s foreign minister, Badr Albusaidi, wrote in a post on X that there had been “significant progress” and that technical teams would meet for further discussion next week in Vienna.
In a follow-up on Friday, he posted that he had met with US vice president JD Vance and that he expected “further and decisive progress in the coming days.” He added, “Peace is within our reach.” However, also on Friday, US officials told embassy staff in Israel to leave the country.
The strikes follow weeks of US military buildup in the Middle East and increased operation of surveillance aircraft in the region. Fighter jets, cargo planes, and the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier were all moved into place ahead of the strikes. Tensions between the US and Iran have risen since the start of January, first over Iranian forces killing thousands of anti-government protesters during a widespread internet blackout and then over negotiations on the country’s nuclear program.
Ahead of a meeting with a group of US governors on February 20, President Trump publicly acknowledged for the first time that he was weighing a strike on Iran. “I guess I can say I am considering that,” he told reporters. Democratic leaders in the House Foreign Affairs, Armed Services, and Intelligence Committees responded in a statement to Trump’s comments that they “strongly oppose preemptive US military action against Iran,” which they say “would be destabilizing, dangerous, and counterproductive to efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East.”
In January, as Iran’s protests intensified, Trump claimed that US forces could intervene and stop the barbarity—although no immediate action followed. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency claims that 7,015 people were killed during the protests, with 11,744 incidents still being reviewed. It claims more than 53,000 people have been arrested.
During the most intense protest period in January, Trump said that “help is on its way” and his administration would take “very strong action” against the Iranian regime if some arrested protesters were later executed. He later claimed that a “massive armada” was being sent toward Iran, which has southern borders along the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. “It is moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
Satellite images taken in the middle of February, and confirmed by the BBC, showed that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, described as one of the largest types of warships in the world, had arrived in the region. Fighter jets were also moved to military bases in Jordan, and more than 250 US cargo flights have taken place in recent weeks, according to an analysis by CNN. The newly arrived military vessels bolstered the thousands of US personnel already located in the Middle East.
Trump’s prior warning messages in January claimed that “time is running out” and suggested a US military strike on Iran could be “far worse” than the bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities last year dubbed “Midnight Hammer.”
In that June operation, more than 100 US military aircraft launched a largely unexpected bombing raid on three sites connected to Iran’s nuclear program, including Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. During the strike they dropped a 30,000-pound “bunker-buster” bomb meant to damage underground facilities. Overall, though, Midnight Hammer did not seem to eliminate Iran’s nuclear development capabilities.
Update 2/28/26 5:45 am ET: This story is developing and has been updated with new details on the military strikes.
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