Author: Gist Correspondent

The United States and Israel on Saturday launched coordinated strikes on targets across Iran, triggering explosions and thick plumes of smoke over parts of Tehran and sharply escalating tensions in the Middle East.

The attacks followed mounting frustration in Washington over stalled negotiations with Tehran on its nuclear and missile programmes. US President Donald Trump said the objective was to neutralise what he described as imminent threats, while Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz characterised the operation as a “preventive strike.”

In a video message posted on social media, Trump said the US military had begun “major combat operations” inside Iran. He vowed to dismantle Iran’s missile capabilities, saying Washington would “destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry,” and warned that Iran’s naval assets would also be targeted.

Trump offered Iran’s military what he called a stark choice of “immunity” or “certain death,” while telling the Iranian people that “the hour of your freedom is at hand.”

Iranian state television reported that President Masoud Pezeshkian was unharmed, while the Fars news agency said at least seven missile impacts were recorded in Tehran’s Keshvardoost and Pasteur districts. An office worker, speaking anonymously to AFP, said he saw two Tomahawk missiles flying at low altitude toward their targets.

AFP journalists in Tehran reported hearing loud blasts and seeing two large columns of smoke rising over the city centre. Iran’s health ministry said ambulances were dispatched to affected areas, but there was no immediate confirmation of casualties.

As the strikes unfolded, Iran, Iraq and Israel closed their airspaces to civilian traffic. US embassies in Qatar and Bahrain urged American citizens to take shelter, while sirens sounded in Jerusalem and Israeli authorities issued emergency alerts to residents.

The operation came amid a significant US military buildup in the region, including the deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford toward Israel’s coast.

The strikes occurred a day after US–Iran talks in Geneva. Trump said on Friday that Iran was “not willing to give us what we have to have.” However, Oman, which mediated the talks, painted a more optimistic picture, saying Iran had agreed to zero stockpiling of uranium and to convert existing stockpiles into fuel. Oman’s foreign minister, Badr Albusaidi, said the steps would render disputes over enrichment levels moot.

The escalation follows weeks after Iranian authorities violently suppressed mass protests, leaving thousands dead, according to rights groups.

Iran had agreed to limits on low-level uranium enrichment under the 2015 nuclear deal, which Trump withdrew from during his first term.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to visit Israel on Monday for talks focused on Iran, the State Department said. In a departure from long-standing practice, Rubio will travel without reporters.

In his State of the Union address earlier this week, Trump alleged Iran was developing missiles capable of striking the United States. Rubio later warned it would be a “very big problem” if Tehran refused to discuss its missile programme, though Iran has insisted the talks remain confined to nuclear issues.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said progress would require “seriousness and realism” from Washington and cautioned against “miscalculation and excessive demands.”

The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said it would hold technical discussions with Iran on Monday and urged Tehran to cooperate “constructively,” according to a confidential report seen by AFP.