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By\u00a0Jon Gambrell, Konstantin Toropin, Josh Boak And Aamer Madhani The Associated Press\n <\/p>\n
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 The U.S. and Israel launched a major attack on Iran on Saturday, and President Donald Trump urged the Iranian public to \u201cseize control of your destiny\u201d by rising up against the Islamic leadership that has ruled the nation since 1979.<\/p>\n
Iranian state media, citing the Red Crescent, on Saturday evening said at least 201 people had been killed and more than 700 injured. Iran retaliated by firing missiles and drones toward Israel and U.S. military bases in the region, and exchanges of fire continued into the night.<\/p>\n
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told NBC News that Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian are alive \u201cas far as I know,\u201d and called the attack \u201cunprovoked, illegal and absolutely illegitimate.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a video announcing the \u201cmajor combat operations,\u201d Trump told Iranians that \u201cwhen we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.\u201d<\/p>\n
The strikes during the holy fasting month of Ramadan opened a stunning new chapter in U.S. intervention in Iran, marking the second time in eight months that the Trump administration has attacked the Islamic Republic during talks over its nuclear program.<\/p>\n
About 12 hours after the attacks began, the U.S. military reported no U.S. casualties and minimal damage at U.S. bases despite \u201chundreds of Iranian missile and drone attacks.\u201d It said targets in Iran included Revolutionary Guard command facilities, air defense capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields.<\/p>\n
The targets also included members of Iran\u2019s leadership, according to a U.S. official and another person briefed on the attacks who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing operation. There was no immediate information on whether top officials were killed.<\/p>\n
Even if Iran\u2019s top leaders are killed, regime change is not guaranteed. Neither the U.S. nor Israel have articulated a vision for what new leadership might look like.<\/p>\n
Democrats decried that Trump had taken action without congressional authorization. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the administration had briefed several Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress in advance.<\/p>\n
The U.N. Security Council said it would meet Saturday afternoon. In a letter to the council, Araghchi said \u201call bases, facilities, and assets of the hostile forces in the region shall be regarded as legitimate military objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran also requested an urgent session of the International Atomic Energy Agency\u2019s Board of Governors about \u201cthese threats to safeguarded nuclear facilities,\u201d according to a letter posted by the semiofficial Tasnim news agency.<\/p>\n
The U.N.\u2019s nuclear watchdog said on X it was closely monitoring developments and had seen \u201cno evidence of radiological impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Iran was in a \u201cnear-total internet blackout<\/a>,\u201d advocacy group NetBlocks said, complicating connections with the outside world<\/a>.<\/p>\n Months of rising tensions<\/p>\n The immediate trigger for Saturday\u2019s strikes appeared to be the unsuccessful latest round of nuclear talks. But they also reflected dramatic changes that have left Iran\u2019s leadership in its weakest position since the Islamic Revolution nearly half a century ago.<\/p>\n Israeli and American strikes last June greatly weakened Iran\u2019s air defenses, military leadership and nuclear program. A regionwide war, sparked by Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, has left Iran\u2019s network of proxies across the Middle East greatly weakened. U.S. sanctions and global isolation, meanwhile, have decimated Iran\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n Iran responded to the latest strikes by launching missiles and drones targeting Israel<\/a> and strikes targeting U.S. military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. Israel\u2019s military said Iran fired \u201cdozens\u201d of missiles at Israel, with many intercepted and no serious injuries reported. Emergency responder Magen David Adom noted 89 \u201clightly injured\u201d people.<\/p>\n At least three explosions were heard Saturday evening near the Intelligence Ministry building in northern Tehran, witnesses said, adding that air defense systems had begun operating in the area. Israel\u2019s military said it had begun a new wave of strikes against missile launchers and aerial defense systems in central Iran.<\/p>\n In southern Iran, at least 85 people were reported killed after a girls\u2019 school was struck, and dozens more were wounded, the local governor told Iranian state TV.<\/p>\n Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said he was \u201caware of reports\u201d that a girls\u2019 school was struck and they were looking into them.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s state news agency IRNA said at least 15 people were killed in the southwest, quoting the governor of Lamerd, Ali Alizadeh, as saying a sports hall, two residential areas and a hall near a school were hit.<\/p>\n Flights across the Middle East were disrupted<\/a>, and air defense fire thudded over Dubai, the United Arab Emirates\u2019 commercial capital. Shrapnel from an Iranian missile attack on the UAE capital killed one person, state media said.<\/p>\n Attack was coordinated between Israel and U.S.<\/p>\n \u201cActive and serious negotiations have yet again been undermined,\u201d Oman\u2019s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, a key mediator of the nuclear talks in Switzerland and Oman, said on X. \u201cNeither the interests of the United States nor the cause of global peace are well served by this.\u201d<\/p>\n Israel said the operation has been planned for months with the United States. Air Force pilots were striking \u201chundreds of targets across Iran\u201d in coordination with U.S. strikes, Israeli military chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said in a statement.<\/p>\n Targets in the Israeli campaign included Iran\u2019s military, symbols of government and intelligence targets, according to an official briefed on the operation, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic information on the attack.<\/p>\n Trump, in seeking to justify the military action, claimed Iran has continued to develop its nuclear program, despite asserting last year the program had been \u201cobliterated\u201d by an earlier round of strikes.<\/p>\n He acknowledged Saturday that there could be American casualties, saying \u201cthat often happens in war.\u201d It was a notable statement from a U.S. leader who swept into office on an \u201cAmerica First\u201d platform and vowed to keep out of \u201cforever wars.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump listed grievances beyond the nuclear program, saying he was aiming to \u201cannihilate\u201d the Iranian navy and destroy regional proxies supported by Tehran. He called on the paramilitary Iranian Revolutionary Guard to lay down arms, saying members would be given immunity or face \u201ccertain death\u201d if they didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Iran had said it hoped to avert a war, but maintained its right to enrich uranium. Its leaders did not want to discuss other issues, such as its long-range missile program or support for armed groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.<\/p>\n Trump had threatened military action but held off following Iran\u2019s recent crackdown on protests spurred by economic grievances that evolved into a nationwide, anti-government push against the ruling clerics.<\/p>\n The Human Rights Activists News Agency says it confirmed more than 7,000 deaths<\/a> in the crackdown and is investigating thousands more. The government has acknowledged more than 3,000 killed.<\/p>\n Now, Iranians are likely to be wary about taking to the streets again because the Revolutionary Guard has demonstrated its ruthlessness, said Kamran Matin, an expert on Iran at the University of Sussex in southern England.<\/p>\n Regional effects<\/p>\n