Donald Trump confirms ‘major combat operations in Iran’ after airstrikes

Donald Trump said the US military has launched ‘major combat operations’ against Iran with airstrikes across the country, while Iran says it has carried out counterattacks.

Clouds of smoke were rising from buildings in central Tehran after joint US-Israel airstrikes rang across the capital.

Trump said the US is carrying out ‘massive and ongoing operation’ in Iran to prevent ‘very wicked, radical dictatorship’ from threatening the US and its allies.

Trump reportedly said lives may be lost and ‘we may have casualties,’ adding that ‘that often happens in war.’

Trump said in a video posted on Truth Social: ‘Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people.’

The operation against Iran is called ‘Epic Fury,’ the US Department of War said.

The Israel Defense Force said the air force is ‘operating to intercept and strike threats where necessary to remove the threat’ after the IDF said Iran had fired a missile towards its neighbour, with sirens warning residents to seek shelter, including in Jerusalem and Haifa.

Now Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has said it has launched a counterattack, according to Tasnim news agency, which has links to the regime.

A statement said: ‘In an answer to the hostile and criminal enemy assault to the Islamic Republic of Iran, the first broad wave of missile and drone attacks of the Islamic Republic of Iran toward the occupied land has begun.’

There are fears the escalation could spill over more widely in the region as explosions have also been reported in the sky in Amman, Jordan, and near a US naval base in Bahrain.

While one of the Israeli airstrikes landed near supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s office, it is not clear whether the 86-year-old had been in at the time.

He has not appeared in public in weeks as tensions in the region have been growing following back-and-forth threats between Iran and the US president.

Unconfirmed explosions have also been reported at possible military bases and missile sites in Chabahar and Konarak along the Gulf of Oman, and in Ilam near Iran’s border with Iraq.

It is not known yet if people have been killed or injured on the ground in Iran, but hospitals are on alert, according to state news agency IRNA.

Iran is now under a ‘near-total’ internet blackout, according to analyst NetBlocks tracking connectivity.

Iran is reportedly preparing for ‘crushing’ counterattacks on Israel following the airstrikes this morning, according to Iranian outlet Tasnim News.

Israel has shut its airspace and issued an alarm to residents ‘to prepare the public for the possibility of missiles being launched toward the state of Israel.’

US Ambassador to Israel Huckabee told US nationals in the country to stay near shelters in Israel and ‘take immediate action at the sound of alerts or sirens.’

The British Embassy in Doha told nationals in Qatar to shelter in place until further notice following the escalation.

Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, said the attack was carried out ‘to remove threats,’ although he did not specify the threat.

An Israeli military official told Reuters that the operation this morning was coordinated with the US. The White House first declined to comment before Trump confirmed it.

It comes after recent nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington appear to have unravelled.

Trump used his Board of Peace speech last week to threaten Iran with military action, saying the country must shut down its nuclear program or risk ‘bad things.’

Last month, the US moved the USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided missile destroyers into the region, which can be used to launch attacks from the sea.

He issued Tehran a 10-day deadline on February 19.

Earlier last week, Iran conducted military drills in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane in the Red Sea.

Iran also buried tunnel entrances at a nuclear site bombed by the U.S. during Israel’s 12-day war with Iran last year, fortified tunnel entrances near another, and has repaired missile bases ahead of Trump’s new attack.

Days ago, aircraft were positioned in Bahrain, the UAE, Jordan and Greece. Naval assets were in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea and near the Strait of Hormuz.

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