What we know so far about the US-Israel attacks and Iran's retaliation

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been killed after Israel and the US launched a "massive" and ongoing attack against Iran's leadership and military.

US President Donald Trump has urged Iranian forces to lay down their arms, and for Iran's people to rise up against its government.

Iran has responded by firing ballistic missiles and drones at US assets and allies across the region, targeting Israel, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.

On Sunday, Israel said it had launched fresh attacks on "the heart of Tehran", as Iranian attacks across the region also continued.

Here's what we know.

Trump has said the aim of the operation is to "ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon".

"We're going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally again obliterated," he said in an eight-minute video posted on Truth Social on Saturday morning.

He also warned Iran's armed forces to lay down their weapons in return for "complete immunity", or "face certain death".

He then urged Iranian people to prepare to overthrow the clerical establishment: "When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations."

The massive military operation - which the US has dubbed Operation Epic Fury - comes after weeks of threats from Trump that he would order military action if Iran did not agree to a new deal over its nuclear programme.

Iran has repeatedly said its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful.

The US military Central Command said they wanted to "dismantle the Iranian regime's security apparatus, prioritising locations that posed an imminent threat".

Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel and the US had launched the "operation to remove the existential threat posed by the terrorist regime in Iran".

Explosions have been reported in vast parts of the country since Saturday morning, with 24 of Iran's 31 provinces being hit, according to a spokesman for the Iranian Red Crescent who was quoted by local media.

Videos circulating on social media show explosions and plumes of black smoke in multiple areas across the country, including the capital, Tehran.

Explosions were also heard in Karaj, Isfahan and Qom in the centre of the country, and Kermanshah in the west.

Locations reportedly targeted include Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) facilities, air defence capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said about 200 fighter jets had taken part in an "extensive attack against the missile array and the defence systems" in western and central Iran.

The jets simultaneously dropped hundreds of munitions on about 500 targets, it added.

On Saturday evening, Netanyahu said in a televised address that "we destroyed the compound of the tyrant Khamenei in the heart of Tehran".

Trump later wrote on Truth Social: "Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead."

His death was confirmed in a statement from Iran's Supreme National Security Council, which was read out by several state broadcast channels on Sunday morning local time.

The office of President Masoud Pezeshkian in the capital was also reportedly targeted in the first wave of strikes. Iranian state TV said the president was "safe" and he later put out a statement.

Iran is also experiencing a near-total internet blackout, meaning getting reliable and up-to-date information out of the country is difficult.

Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation has said its airspace is closed until further notice.

More than 200 people have been killed and more than 700 injured across the country, according to the Red Crescent on Saturday.

At least 108 people have died in an explosion at a school in southern Iran, according to a local prosecutor.

Meanwhile, around 40 Iranian officials were killed in the strikes, according to an intelligence source and a military source cited by CBS News, the BBC's US partner.

The IDF has named seven senior Iranian defence officials as among those killed, including Iran's Defence Council secretary Ali Shamkhani, Defence Minister Brig Gen Aziz Nasirzadeh and IRGC commander Gen Mohammad Pakpour.

The IRGC has since named a new commander in chief, Ahmad Vahidi.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Israel and the US of launching a war that was "wholly unprovoked, illegal, and illegitimate".

"Our powerful armed forces are prepared for this day and will teach the aggressors the lesson they deserve," he wrote on X.

Iran has used ballistic missiles and drones to launch wide-scale attacks on US allies and assets across the Gulf, after its supreme leader was killed in the ongoing US-Israel air offensive launched on Saturday morning.

Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait - all home to US military bases - said they had intercepted missiles fired towards them, but falling debris appeared to have caused widespread damage.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency cited the IRGC as saying its forces had responded to the strikes by hitting multiple sites in Israel as well as five major US military facilities in the region - Al Udeid airbase in Qatar, Al Dhafra airbase in the UAE, the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait, and Muwaffaq Salti airbase in Jordan.

The IRGC also said a US combat support vessel had come under "severe blows" from missiles, and that a US FP-132 radar system in Qatar had been "completely destroyed".

The EU naval mission in the region, EUNAVFOR ASPIDES, meanwhile said that the IRGC had sent radio messages to vessels warning that "no ship is allowed to pass the Strait of Hormuz" in the Gulf, through which about 20% of global oil and gas shipments pass.

Centcom said that its forces had "successfully defended against hundreds of Iranian missile and drone attacks".

It added that no US casualties or combat-related injuries had been reported and that damage to US installations in the region was "minimal and has not impacted operations".

In Israel, local media reported that Iran launched about 150 ballistic missiles towards Israel, mostly in small salvos, as well as dozens of attack drones.

Air defence systems intercepted a number of the missiles, while others struck open areas, they added.

The IDF said two Israelis have been killed and 456 injured in Iran's retaliatory strikes.

On Sunday, Alireza Arafi was named interim supreme leader.

The formal selection of a new Supreme Leader does not happen by direct vote but by a body of 88 senior clerics known as the Assembly of Experts.

They are elected by direct vote every eight years.

Under the Iranian Constitution, these clerics must select the new Supreme Leader as soon as possible, but this may prove difficult for safety reasons while the country is under attack.

Thousands of flights have been grounded to and from the region, in one of the most serious disruptions to global travel since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Of about 4,218 flights scheduled to land in the region on Saturday, 966 were cancelled, according to data by aviation analytics company Cirium.

It said that 716 flights out of 4,329 Sunday's scheduled flights have already been cancelled.

Wizz Air has suspended flights until 7 March in Israel, Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE, Amman in Jordan, and in Saudi Arabia until Tuesday.

British Airways has cancelled flights to Tel Aviv and Bahrain until Wednesday.

In a statement, Swiss International Air Lines said: "Swiss and the Lufthansa Group airlines will suspend flights to Tel Aviv, Beirut [in Lebanon], Amman, Erbil [in Iraq], and Tehran until 7 March."

Kuwait's aviation authority said it was halting all flights to Iran until further notice, according to state media.

Emirates has temporarily suspended its operations to and from Dubai. Lufthansa, Air India, Virgin Atlantic and Turkish Airlines have also announced cancellations.

Some countries in the region - including Iraq and Jordan - have also closed their airspace. The UAE said it has "partially and temporarily" closed its airspace as a precaution, state media reported.

With additional reporting by BBC Persian.

Source: BBC
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