TEHRAN/WASHINGTON — Israel launched a daylight attack on Iran’s capital on Saturday, with witnesses reporting smoke rising near the offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the conflict rapidly widened into a coordinated U.S.-Israeli military operation. Iranian state media and multiple international outlets reported explosions in Tehran, while Israel said it had carried out a pre-emptive strike against Iran.
The United States soon confirmed it was not merely backing Israel from the sidelines. President Donald Trump said Washington was carrying out “major combat operations” in Iran as part of what Reuters described as a broader campaign targeting Iranian missile systems and naval forces. Trump said the strikes were intended to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities, hit its naval assets, and degrade the regional networks Washington links to Tehran.
The attack followed months of visible U.S. military buildup in the region. Reuters and AP reported that Washington had assembled a large force of fighter jets, warships and other military assets near Iran as negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program faltered. The deployment had been widely interpreted as an attempt to pressure Iran into a deal, but it has now become the backbone of direct military action.
Iran had tried to keep talks focused narrowly on the nuclear file, insisting it has the right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes and refusing to negotiate over its ballistic missile program or support for armed groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas. Reuters reported before the strike that this basic disagreement had become the core obstacle in diplomacy between Tehran and Washington.
Trump argued Saturday that earlier military action had failed to eliminate Iran’s capabilities, saying Tehran had sought to rebuild parts of its nuclear program and continue long-range missile development. He framed the current assault as an ongoing campaign rather than a one-off strike. Reuters said Trump also warned that American casualties were possible and urged Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to surrender. One detail in your draft is broadly right but now incomplete: this is not only an Israeli strike. The latest confirmed reporting says the United States and Israel launched coordinated attacks, and Iran has already begun retaliating with missile and drone fire toward Israel and U.S. positions in the region.
