U.S. & Israel Strike Targets in Iran - Operation Epic Fury

[Webster]

(The Guardian) 9:59am Summary
--The US and Israel have launched a joint military operation against Iran, prompting Tehran to fire retaliatory strikes against Israel and US bases across the Middle East.
--Explosions rocked the Iranian capital Tehran, with satellite imagery showing extensive damage at the secure compound of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, though his whereabouts remains unclear.
--Israel said its strikes targeted the Iranian regime leadership and military commanders, including Khamenei and the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian. Iranian state media, citing Iran’s senior officials, reported that Khamenei was not in Tehran and was taken to a secure location, while Pezeshkian is safe.
--Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister who has been leading the nuclear talks for the Iranian delegation, promised that Iran’s army “will teach aggressors the lesson they deserve”.
--Further explosions were reported in Gulf nations, including the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait, all of which host US military bases. One person was killed from shrapnel from an Iranian missile in Abu Dhabi, UAE officials said.
--Donald Trump described the US military campaign as “massive and ongoing” as he called on the people of Iran to “take over your government”. In a speech posted on Truth Social, he said the US would “raze [Iran’s] missile industry to the ground” and claimed Tehran had refused to reach a deal with the US that would have averted war.
--The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the American-Israeli attack could “create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their destiny into their own hands”.
--World leaders have urged all sides to de-escalate and return to the negotiating table. The UK, France and Germany issued a joint statement condemning Iran’s retaliatory attacks on neighbouring countries but it stopped short of complete support for the US-Israeli attacks on Tehran.
--The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, has said British planes “are in the sky today” in the Middle East “as part of coordinated regional defensive operations to protect our people, our interests and our allies”.

US and Israel launch major attack on Iran to trigger regime change as Tehran retaliates across the Middle East – live

Iran’s foreign minister says Donald Trump’s aim of regime change is ‘mission impossible’; 201 people killed in Iran, media reports say

www.theguardian.com

 

[Cam's iconCam]

Seems like we might have a war. I guess there's always been proxy wars going on, but this is beyond that now.

 

[Webster]

[a href="[URL]https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2026/02/28/confirmed-ayatollah-ali-khamenei-is-dead-n2672068[/URL]"](Townhall)[/a] Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in an Israeli strike Saturday as part of a massive joint military operation between the U.S. and Israel, Israel's ambassador to Washington told U.S. officials.

An Israeli official confirmed to Axios that Khamenei is dead, according to Israeli intelligence.

Why it matters: The 86-year-old Khamenei led Iran for 35 years, making him one of the world's longest-serving authoritarian rulers. His death is a massive blow to the regime and could accelerate its collapse, which U.S. and Israeli officials have stated as a goal of their operation.

The big picture: Khamenei's killing sets off an immediate succession crisis with no clear answer.

Under Iran's constitution, a council of clerics is meant to select a new supreme leader — but Israel's strikes also targeted senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders and political leaders, leaving the regime's chain of command in disarray.

Israeli officials say they assess the Iranian minister of defense and the commander of the IRGC were also among those killed in targeted strikes on Saturday.

 

[Webster]

(The Guardian) 7:56pm Summary
--Donald Trump announced that Iran’s supreme leader had been killed in US-Israeli strikes launched on Tehran. The US president announced the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ruled Iran as supreme leader since 1989, in a post on Truth Social. “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” Trump wrote. He said that the goal of the military campaign, which began on Saturday morning with a barrage of missiles and airstrikes, was regime change.
--Iran has not confirmed Khamenei’s death, and had earlier denied that he had been killed. Khamenei had not been heard from since the strikes began, and satellite images have showed extensive damage and black smoke at Khamenei’s compound in Tehran. Iranian state media is reporting that the ayatollah’s daughter, son-in-law and grandchild were killed.
--Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, had earlier said there were “many signs” Khamenei was “no longer alive”, and Israeli officials briefed media that his body had been recovered.
--The US-Israeli operation began with waves of air attacks across Iran and have plunged the Middle East into a new regional conflict with no certain timeline or outcome. Trump said heavy bombing on Iran will continue through the week or “as long as necessary”, and urged Iranians to “take back your country”. Netanyahu also urged Iranians to “seize the opportunity” to topple the regime.
--More than 200 Iranians have been killed in the US-Israeli operation, and over 747 injured. At least 108 children were killed in an attack on an Iranian girls’ elementary school in Minab, southern Iran.
--Israel identified seven Iranian officials it said it had killed, including Ali Shamkhani, adviser for security affairs; Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps; and Aziz Nasirzadeh, minister of defence. The IDF statement at that time did not make any mention of Khamenei.
--In response to the attack, Iran unleashed retaliatory strikes, launching missiles and drones at US bases, including the headquarters of the US navy’s fifth fleet in Bahrain, Israeli residential areas, and targets in other Gulf countries including the Fairmont hotel in Dubai, a high-rise building and a naval base in Bahrain, Kuwait’s main airport, and Qatar. One person died and more than 21 were injured after a strike hit a residential building in Tel Aviv. Flights across the Middle East have been disrupted as countries across the region closed their airspaces, leaving hundreds of thousands of travellers stranded. Damage was sustained at Dubai’s international airport, while one person was killed and seven injured at Abu Dhabi’s international airport.
--The US military said it had no reported casualties and minimal damage from Iran’s retaliatory strikes.
--A senior Trump administration official said the US had chosen to launch strikes against Iran on Saturday because its ballistic missiles programme presented an “intolerable” threat to US forces and allies in the region and that the US had information that Iran was considering a pre-emptive strike.

 

[Webster]

US-Israel war on Iran: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei confirmed dead by state media – latest reports

US president says Khamenei’s death is ‘justice for the people of Iran’ as he repeats call for regime change

www.theguardian.com