UNITED State President Donald Trump has announced that American forces had launched what he described as “major combat operations” against Iran, marking a dramatic escalation in tensions between Washington.
In a televised statement released Saturday morning, Trump said the United States military had begun large-scale operations aimed at eliminating what he called “imminent threats” posed by the Iranian government to American citizens, troops, and allied nations.
“A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran. Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people. Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world.
“They’ve rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions, and we can’t take it anymore. Instead, they attempted to rebuild their nuclear programme and to continue developing long-range missiles that can now threaten our very good friends and allies in Europe, our troops stationed overseas, and could soon reach the American homeland. Just imagine how emboldened this regime would be if they ever had and actually were armed with nuclear weapons as a means to deliver their message,” he said.
The ICIR reports that on Saturday, explosions were heard in the Iranian cities of Kermanshah, Lorestan, Tabriz, Isfahan and Karaj.
Defence Minister Israel Katz had said “The State of Israel launched a pre-emptive attack against Iran to remove threats to the State of Israel.”
The attack follows a 12-day air war between Israel and Iran in June and repeated U.S.-Israeli warnings that they would strike again if Iran pressed ahead with its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
According to President Trump, the operation targets Iran’s missile capabilities, naval assets, and military infrastructure linked to regional militant groups.
“We are going to destroy their missiles and raise their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally, again, obliterated. We’re going to annihilate their navy. We’re going to ensure that the region’s terrorist proxies can no longer destabilise the region or the world and attack our forces, and no longer use their IEDs or roadside bombs, as they are sometimes called to so gravely wound and kill thousands and thousands of people, including many Americans. And we will ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon,” he added.
The president framed the campaign as a continuation of longstanding US policy aimed at stopping Iran’s nuclear ambitions, referencing earlier strikes on nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.
“And it was Iran’s proxy, Hamas, that launched the monstrous October 7th attacks on Israel, slaughtering more than 1,000 innocent people, including 46 Americans, while taking 12 of our citizens hostage. It was brutal, something like the world has never seen before. Iran is the world’s number one state sponsor of terror and just recently killed tens of thousands of its own citizens on the street as they protested.
“It has always been the policy of the United States, in particular my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon. I’ll say it again, they can never have a nuclear weapon. That is why in Operation Midnight Hammer last June, we obliterated the regime’s nuclear programme at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan,” Trump said.
In his address, Trump justified the military action by citing decades of hostilities between the United States and Iran, including the 1979 U.S. embassy hostage crisis in Tehran, the 1983 bombing of US Marine barracks in Beirut, and attacks on American forces and vessels in the Middle East.
“For 47 years, the Iranian regime has chanted, Death to America, and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder, targeting the United States, our troops, and the innocent people in many, many countries. Among the regime’s very first acts was to back a violent takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, holding dozens of American hostages for 444 days. In 1983, Iran’s proxies carried out the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut that killed 241 American military personnel.
“In 2000, they knew and were probably involved with the attack on the USS Cole. Many died. Iranian forces killed and maimed hundreds of American service members in Iraq,” he explained.
He also accused Iran of backing militant groups across Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq and linked Tehran to the October 7 attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel, adding that Iran has previously denied directing such attacks and maintains that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.
Trump issued a direct warning to members of Iran’s security forces, urging them to lay down their weapons and promising immunity if they complied, also addressing Iranian civilians, urging them to remain indoors as military operations continue.
The US president acknowledged the possibility of American casualties, describing the operation as a “noble mission” necessary to protect future generations from the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.
The announcement is expected to trigger urgent reactions from world leaders amid fears that direct U.S.–Iran conflict could destabilise the Middle East, disrupt global oil markets, and draw regional powers into a broader confrontation.
An Iranian official has told the Reuters news agency that Tehran is preparing for counterattacks that are set to be crushing.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was reportedly not in Tehran when missiles from US and Israel hit Iran.
He has reportedly been transferred to a secure location.
However, responding to the attack, Ebrahim Azizi, Head of National Security Commission of the Iranian parliament, said Israel and America had gone down a path which is no longer in their control.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.