eight-minute recorded video<\/a> message on Truth Social, Trump outlined a maximalist strategy that would prevent what he called \u201cthis very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cWe are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. \u2026 We are going to annihilate their navy. We are going to ensure that the region\u2019s terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region or the world, and attack our forces,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we will ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n
He urged Iranians to take over their government, telling them that \u201cthe hour of your freedom is at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will be probably your only chance for generations. … For many years, you have asked for America\u2019s help, but you never got it. No president was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump also said U.S. military forces \u201cmay have casualties,\u201d adding, \u201cThat often happens in war.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran issued a series of statements, with the Iranian Foreign Ministry saying that \u201cIranians have never surrendered to aggression\u201d and that Iran\u2019s response \u201cwill be decisive, and aggressors will regret their hostile actions.\u201d <\/p>\n
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who was leading Iran\u2019s delegation in Oman-brokered negotiations, said the war on Iran was \u201cwholly unprovoked, illegal, and illegitimate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTrump has turned \u2018America First\u2019 into \u2018Israel First\u2019\u2014 which always means \u2018America Last,\u2019 \u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur powerful armed forces are prepared for this day and will teach the aggressors the lesson they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Iranians](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1772312651_140_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Iranians protest on Saturday in Tehran against attacks on Iran by Israel and the United States.<\/p>\n
(Majid Saeedi \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s military said its attacks comprised the largest military flyover in its history, with some 200 warplanes dropping hundreds of munitions on approximately 500 objectives. <\/p>\n
Yet it was unclear if the attacks on Iran\u2019s leadership had hit their mark. Speaking to NBC News, Araghchi said Khamenei and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian were still alive, \u201cas far as I know.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cAll high-ranking officials are alive,\u201d Araghchi said, adding that perhaps a small number of commanders were killed.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo everybody is now in its position, and we are handling this situation, and everything is fine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Besides the capital, explosions could be heard in other cities, including Isfahan, Karaj, Kermanshah, Qom and Urmia, according to Iranian state media. An attack on the city of Minab struck a girls\u2019 school, killing at least 75 students and injuring dozens of others, IRNA said. Iran\u2019s Red Crescent later said 201 people were killed in attacks across the country, and that 24 out of Iran\u2019s 32 provinces were hit. <\/p>\n
Cellphone and internet communications were disrupted shortly after the attacks began, but have since been restored.<\/p>\n
Iran struck back across the Middle East, with barrages reported on U.S. bases in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Debris from one of those missiles killed one person in the UAE; another struck a hotel in Dubai. A Kuwaiti airport was hit but no injuries reported.<\/p>\n
Iran also dispatched multiple waves of missiles to Israel, with residents in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon seeing vapor trails crisscrossing the skies above and the explosive sounds of interceptions. <\/p>\n
The waves of ordnance spurred airspace closures across the region, with many airlines suspending service to affected countries and leaving tens of thousands of people stranded. <\/p>\n
Araghchi informed his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein on Saturday that Tehran will limit its response to U.S. military bases in the region, and that Iran was acting in self-defense.<\/p>\n
But the attacks nevertheless infuriated Arab governments. Many came out with statements excoriating Iran for what they described as an unprovoked attack on their sovereignty. <\/p>\n
In a sign of the rapidly expanding impact of the war, messages purporting to be from Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were sent to ships ordering them to stay away from the Strait of Hormuz with \u201cimmediate effect.\u201d <\/p>\n
Shuttering the Strait, a strategic passageway through which one-fifth of global oil supplies pass, would likely lead to an immediate spike in energy prices and disrupt other shipping. <\/p>\n
The opening salvos of what promises to be a lengthy campaign come two days after the U.S. and Iran concluded a third round of Oman-brokered negotiations in Geneva aimed at reducing tensions and stopping the prospect of war.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Trump expressed displeasure with the pace of the talks, saying the Iranian side were not negotiating in \u201cgood faith\u201d or giving in to U.S. demands. But Oman\u2019s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said a deal was \u201cwithin reach.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Albusaidi expressed dismay that \u201cactive and serious negotiations have yet again been undermined.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cNeither the interests of the United States nor the cause of global peace are well served by this. And I pray for the innocents who will suffer,\u201d he said in a statement on X. \u201cI urge the United States not to get sucked in further. This is not your war.\u201d<\/p>\n
The American strikes on Iran drew immediate reaction on Capitol Hill as Democrats and a small bloc of Republicans accused the White House of sidelining Congress on actions they fear will trigger a broader conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the president\u2019s own words, \u2018American heroes may be lost.\u2019 That alone should have demanded the highest level of scrutiny, deliberation, and accountability, yet the president moved forward without seeking congressional authorization,\u201d Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) called on lawmakers to back a measure he is co-sponsoring with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) that would compel the administration to seek congressional approval before engaging in any further activity in Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Congress must reconvene on Monday to vote on Thomas Massie and my war powers resolution to stop this war,\u201d Khanna said in a video posted on X early Saturday. \u201cThe American people are tired of regime change wars that cost us billions of dollars and risk our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Democrats warned of constitutional overreach, other lawmakers rallied behind the president, framing the strikes as necessary force against a long-standing adversary.<\/p>\n
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement that Trump had taken \u201cdecisive action against the threat posed by the world\u2019s leading proliferator of terrorism, the Iranian regime.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a pivotal and necessary operation to protect Americans and American interests,\u201d Wicker said.<\/p>\n
Secretary of State Marco Rubio notified some members of Congress\u2019 Gang of Eight, which are the top four leaders in the House and Senate and top Democrats and Republicans on the House and Senate intelligence committees, according to CBS News.<\/p>\n
The White House did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment on when and whom it notified in Congress prior to the attacks.<\/p>\n
By the end of the day, the streets of Tehran appeared all but abandoned, with residents hunkering down for a night punctuated by the sounds of blasts reverberating across the capital.<\/p>\n
Bulos reported from El Obeid, Sudan, Ceballos from Washington, D.C., and special correspondent Mostaghim from Tehran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEHRAN\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The U.S. and Israel struck targets across Iran on Saturday in what President Trump called a \u201cmassive and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[92289,42455,1794,62892,7363,6709,12397,19378,340,92287,48,52,51,47,50,49,92288,346,10263,2281,435],"class_list":{"0":"post-198437","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-86-year-old-khamenei","9":"tag-armed-group","10":"tag-attack","11":"tag-capital","12":"tag-country","13":"tag-deal","14":"tag-explosion","15":"tag-iran","16":"tag-israel","17":"tag-israeli-strike","18":"tag-la","19":"tag-la-headlines","20":"tag-la-news","21":"tag-los-angeles","22":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","23":"tag-los-angeles-news","24":"tag-nuclear-program","25":"tag-office","26":"tag-region","27":"tag-u-s","28":"tag-united-states"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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