America and Israel Launch Attacks on Iran After Hours

[Strawberry Man]

US and Israel launch an attack on Iran, as President Donald Trump confirms "major combat operations" are under way.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz says his country launched a "pre-emptive" attack on Tehran, announcing a state of emergency in Israel in anticipation of retaliatory strikes.

Washington has been ramping up the pressure on Tehran to agree to a new deal on its nuclear programme. Trump said on Friday he was "not happy" with Iran's negotiating position during nuclear talks.

Donald Trump has confirmed that the US has launched "major combat operations" against Iran in an eight-minute video on Truth Social.

He said Tehran's "menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world".

"For 47 years," Trump adds, "the Iranian regime has chanted 'Death to America' and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed."

He references the US embassy crisis from 1979 and 1981, where 66 hostages were held for 444 days, as well as other incidents with Tehran.

"It's been mass terror, and we're not going to take it any longer", he adds, before claiming that Iran attempted to rebuild its nuclear programme and was developing long-range missiles.

Trump then says "we are going to destroy their missiles" and "annihilate their navy", and adds that while steps have been taken to avoid casualties, "Americans may be lost".

He tells the Islamic Revolutionary Guard to "lay down their arms" or "face certain death".

Addressing the people of Iran, Trump says "the hour of your freedom is at hand" and warns them "bombs will dropping everywhere".

"When we are finished, take over your government, it will be yours to take", he adds.

"This will be, probably, your only chance for generations. For many years, you have asked for America's help, but you never got it.

"No president was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight."

 

[Strawberry Man]

Read a transcript of Trump's full statement, which he shared in a video on his Truth Social network, below.

Spoiler

"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 basis overseas and our allies throughout the world. 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 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. The regime's proxies have continued to launch countless attacks against American forces stationed in the Middle East in recent years, as well as U.S. naval and commercial vessels in international shipping lanes. It's been mass terror, and we're not going to put up with it any longer.

From Lebanon to Yemen, and Syria to Iraq, the regime has armed, trained and funded terrorist militias that have soaked the earth with blood and guts. And it was Iran's proxy, Hamas, that launched the monstrous October 7 attacks on Israel, slaughtering more than 1000 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 program at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.

After that attack, we warned them never to resume their malicious pursuit of nuclear weapons, and we sought repeatedly to make a deal. We tried. They wanted to do it. They didn't want to do it. Again, they wanted to do it. They didn't want to do it. They didn't know what was happening. They just wanted to practice evil.

But Iran refused, just as it has for decades and decades, they rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions, and we can't take it anymore.

Instead, they attempted to rebuild their nuclear program 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.

For these reasons, the United States military is undertaking a massive and ongoing operation to prevent this very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests. 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 destabilize 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. It's a very simple message. They will never have a nuclear weapon.

This regime will soon learn that no one should challenge the strength and might of the United States Armed Forces. I built and rebuilt our military in my first administration, and there is no military on earth even close to its power, strength or sophistication. My administration has taken every possible step to minimize the risk to U.S. personnel in the region. Even so, and I do not make this statement lightly, the Iranian regime seeks to kill. The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties. That often happens in war. But we're doing this, not for now. We're doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission.

We pray for every service member as they selflessly risk their lives to ensure that Americans and our children will never be threatened by a nuclear armed Iran. We ask God to protect all of our heroes in harm's way, and we trust that, with his help, the men and women of the armed forces will prevail. We have the greatest in the world, and they will prevail.

To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces and all of the police, I say tonight that you must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity, or in the alternative, face certain death. So lay down your arms. You will be treated fairly with total immunity, or you will face certain death.

Finally, to the great, proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand. Stay sheltered. Don't leave your home. It's very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be, probably, your only chance for generations.

For many years, you have asked for America's help, but you never got it. No president was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight. Now you have a president who is giving you what you want, so let's see how you respond. America is backing you with overwhelming strength and devastating force. Now is the time to seize control of your destiny and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is close within your reach. This is the moment for action. Do not let it pass.

May God bless the brave men and women of America's Armed Forces. May God bless the United States of America. May God bless you all. Thank you."

 

[Crabtree]

It's like 2003 all over again. This could escalate very quickly. Hopefully Britain doesn't get involved.

 

[Black Sheep]

The world would be a better place if America and Israel were removed from the planet.

 

[Franco Pinion]

Donald Trump has confirmed the death of the Iranian supreme leader on Truth Social.

"Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead," he says.

The US president says Khamenei "was unable to avoid" US intelligence and tracking systems, and "there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do".

Trumps calls the move "the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country" - meaning regime change.

Washington is hearing that many of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, military and other security and police forces "no longer want to fight", he claims.

Trump suggests he would now be willing to give them "immunity".

He adds that, along with the supreme leader's death, the country of Iran "has been, in only one day, very much destroyed and, even, obliterated".

However, heavy bombing will continue "uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary", the president adds.

Iranian sources earlier denied reports that Khamenei had been killed, saying he was "commanding the field", but Israeli officials said his body had been found.

 

[Abomb]

That regime has been funding Islamic terrorism in the West for decades.

It's also involved in funding organised crime and has close ties with China and Russia, who are always trying to undermine the West.

The Iranian regime has been influencing more than we think about daily. The problem is whether it fall now that the Ayatollah is dead or will it just install a new leader and start engaging in asymmetric attacks in the West through terrorist activities.

Could this get worse with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dead, and who succeeds him?

 

[Boot Cleaner]

So, what do we predict the endgame is for Trump's war on Iran?

It's all looking rather messy.

 

[Gemma]

So, what do we predict the endgame is for Trump's war on Iran?

It's all looking rather messy.

That is a very good question.

I don't think Trump knows the answer.

 

[David76]

So, Trump apparently said to CBS that the war is practically complete.

"They've shot everything they have to shoot, and they better not try anything cute, or it's going to be the end of that country…If they do anything bad, that would be the end of Iran, and you'd never hear the name again." - spoken like a true statesman.

Probably will just declare victory and do Cuba next.

 

[Dylan]

So, the war that was "pretty much over" is, in fact, far from over as the Marines are being called in.

This is going to be a long one, I think.

Jeremy Bowen's analysis is a fascinating read. He concludes:

Trump might learn that starting wars is much easier than ending them. It is hard to know when to stop if you don't know exactly where you're going.

It is even harder to do that when the US, the world's most powerful country seems to have gone to war without a coherent political strategy, under a president who the evidence suggests is making it up as he goes along.

Jeremy Bowen: Trump has called for an Iran uprising but the lessons from Iraq in 1991 loom large

The US president might learn that starting wars is much easier than ending them, writes the BBC's international editor.

www.bbc.co.uk