What to know about the latest US-Israeli attacks on Iran
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3:50 AM on Saturday, February 28
By BRIAN MELLEY and ANGELA CHARLTON
The U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, triggered retaliatory strikes on multiple countries in the region and has reverberated around the world.
Related violence has expanded to a growing number of places, with a rising death toll. Israeli strikes targeted Tehran. Iran fired drones and missiles at Israel and sites around the Gulf, prompting three close U.S. allies to say they are ready to defend their interests in the region. On Monday people fled southern Lebanon after Israel launched multiple strikes and Jerusalem warned villagers there to evacuate.
The joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, which started Saturday, stoked fears of a wider war and damage to the world economy. Global reaction ranged from jubilation to condemnation.
The strikes came two days after the latest U.S.-Iran talks, as Trump pressured Tehran for a deal to constrain its nuclear program. A senior White House official said Sunday that “new potential leadership” in Iran has suggested they are open for talks with the U.S. and that President Donald Trump says he is “eventually” willing to talk. The official said on condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration deliberations.
For now, though, Trump said in a video posted Sunday that the operation in Iran — “one of the most complex, most overwhelming military offensives the world has ever seen” — will continue until “all of our objectives” are achieved.
Iran’s provisional governing council is expected to name a new supreme leader. Iran’s theocracy has struggled with growing dissent following nationwide protests over the economy that morphed into anti-government ones.
In Tehran on Sunday, the streets were largely deserted as people sheltered during heavy airstrikes, witnesses told The Associated Press, speaking anonymously for fear of retribution.
Israel said it had worked with the United States for months to plan the attacks. The U.S. military said targets in Iran included Revolutionary Guard command facilities, air defense capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and military airfields.
One of the first strikes hit near the offices of the 86-year-old Khamenei, who had ruled since 1989 and held ultimate power. Iranian state media reported Khamenei’s death, without details. Israel said that it also killed dozens of other top Iranian military officials.
Iranian state media said more than 200 people have been killed. In southern Iran, at least 165 people were killed when a girls’ school was struck, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. The Israeli military said it was not aware of strikes in the area. The U.S. military said it was looking into the reports.
The Trump administration has asserted that Iran had been rebuilding its nuclear program, which Tehran has insisted is for peaceful purposes.
Iran launched retaliatory missiles and drones targeting Israel and nearby Arab Gulf countries hosting U.S. forces. Three U.S. service members have been killed, according to U.S. Central Command.
“You have crossed our red line and must pay the price,” Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said in a televised address Sunday.
The island kingdom of Bahrain said Monday that one person was killed by shrapnel from an intercepted missile.
Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, says it has intercepted 61 missiles and 34 attack drones launched against it. Some fire has gotten through, striking buildings and the naval base.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called on the United Nations to ensure accountability from the United States and Israel for their role in Khamenei's killing.
Eleven people have been killed in Israel as loud explosions caused by missile impacts or interceptions could be heard in Tel Aviv. Israel’s rescue services said that nine people were killed and more wounded in a strike that hit a synagogue in the central town of Beit Shemesh.
Iran’s foreign minister has suggested his country’s military units are acting independently from any central government control after being pressed about attacks on Gulf Arab nations that have served as intermediaries for Tehran in the past.
An Iraqi Shiite militia claimed a drone attack Monday targeting U.S. troops at the airport in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, further widening the retaliation over the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Roads in southern Lebanon and leading out of Beirut’s southern suburbs were gridlocked early Monday with people fleeing after Israel launched a barrage of strikes in retaliation for missiles launched across the border by Hezbollah.
The Israeli military on Monday also urged people in nearly 50 villages in eastern and southern Lebanon to evacuate ahead of possible retaliatory strikes after Hezbollah fired into Israel.
The Israeli military called on civilians to move at least 1,000 meters (1,100 yards) away from villages to open areas.
Trump listed grievances stretching back to the beginning of the Islamic Republic following a revolution in 1979 that turned Iran from one of America’s closest allies in the Middle East into a foe. Iran’s ballistic missile program and support for armed proxies in the region were other issues he cited.
Tensions had escalated in recent weeks as the Trump administration built up the largest force of American warships and aircraft in the Middle East in decades.
Trump said “heavy and pinpoint bombing” in Iran would continue through the week or longer. He told Iranians to take cover, but urged them to later rise up and topple the Islamic leadership.
Britain, France and Germany said in a joint statement Sunday that they are ready to work with the United States and its partners to help stop Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone strikes.
The strikes elicited mixed global reactions, including angry protests, celebrations and calls by world leaders for a return to negotiations and peace.
At least 22 people were killed in clashes with police in northern Pakistan and in the southern port city of Karachi after hundreds of protesters stormed the U.S. Consulate there, authorities said.
Shipping companies suspended their vessels’ traffic through the Suez Canal. The strikes could rattle global markets, particularly if Iran makes the Strait of Hormuz unsafe for commercial traffic. A fifth of worldwide traded oil passes through the strait.
There were global repercussions from disrupted air travel in the region, with hundreds of thousands of travelers stranded or diverted to other airports after Israel, Qatar, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain closed their airspace.
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Melley reported from London and Charlton from Paris. Sarah El Deeb in Beirut, Amir Radjy in Cairo, Matthew Lee in Washington, Foster Klug in Tokyo and AP journalists around the world contributed to this report.