The United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran Saturday morning, a major escalation following weeks of negotiations between US and Iranian officials over the country’s nuclear program.
President Donald Trump confirmed in a video posted to social media that the United States had begun a “massive and ongoing” military campaign in Iran, “to prevent this very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests.”
“We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground,” Trump said.
Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only. Iran’s state media said the country is preparing for a “a crushing response” to the attacks.
A US official told CNN early Saturday that strikes were underway, describing them as “not a small strike.” Earlier, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz called the attack a “preemptive strike” against Iran, as a state of emergency was declared across Israel.
The attack targeted Iran’s ballistic missiles and missile launchers, which Israel views as a serious threat. It’s unclear whether there have been any casualties.
Videos geolocated and verified by CNN show smoke rising from the capital city of Tehran. While strikes have also been reported in the Iranian cities of Isfahan, Qom, Karaj and Kermanshah, according to state-run news agency Fars.
Israel declared a state of emergency because of the expectation of Iranian retaliation. The Home Front Command also closed its airspace and ordered only essential activity across the country.
In his video message, Trump said Iran had been working to rebuild its nuclear program after the US bombed its nuclear facilities in June. “They rejected every opportunity to reach their nuclear ambitions, and we can’t take it anymore,” he said.
Saturday’s operation follows threats from Trump, who warned Iran of US military intervention if the regime didn’t stop killing anti-government protesters. The US also threatened to intervene if Iran did not agree to a new nuclear deal, which was the subject of US-Iran diplomatic talks in Geneva on Thursday.
Trump has repeatedly hinted that he would like to see regime change in Iran, while also insisting the country halt all of its uranium enrichment so it can never develop a nuclear weapon.
Trump, however, has not articulated the strategic objective of a US military operation or how long such an operation would last.
The US military has been preparing for possible strikes for weeks while indirect negotiations had been ongoing between Washington and Tehran – steadily massing Air Force and Naval assets in the region in anticipation of a possible “go” order from Trump.
Military officials, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine, have been privately warning about the potential downsides of a prolonged conflict with Iran, raising concerns about the scale, complexity, and potential for US casualties of such a mission, CNN previously reported.
As the US has collected its military hardware in the area, Iran has also been, fortifying several of its nuclear facilities, satellite imagery has shown.
Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
