By Phil Stewart, Parisa Hafezi, Emily Rose and Andrew Mills
WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM/DUBAI/DOHA, Feb 28 (Reuters) – The United States and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday, targeting its top leaders and calling for the overthrow of its government, while Iran responded with missiles fired at Israel and neighbouring Gulf countries.
President Donald Trump, who in the biggest foreign-policy gamble of his presidency launched the war against a foe Washington has jousted with for generations, said the strikes were aimed at ending a security threat and ensuring Iran could not develop a nuclear weapon.
He called on Iranian security forces to lay down their weapons and invited Iranians to topple their government once the bombing ended.
Tehran called the strikes, which began in the morning hours and hit targets in different areas of the country, unprovoked and illegal. Iran’s Al-Alam television said Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – yet to be heard from by Saturday evening – was due to give a speech soon.
In cities across Iran, explosions caused widespread panic. Residents rushed to collect children from school and flee areas that might be targeted.
“We are scared, we are terrified. My children are shaking, we have nowhere to go, we will die here,” mother-of-two Minou, 32, said weeping as she spoke to Reuters by phone from the northern city of Tabriz.
Iran responded by launching missiles at Israel and at several Gulf Arab allies of the United States that host American bases.
Iran issued a warning to shipping that the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passage through which around a fifth of global oil consumption passes, had been closed. Traders expected a sharp jump in oil prices. Airlines cancelled flights in Middle East.
Tehran promised a stronger response to come, with a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander, Ebrahim Jabbari, saying it had so far used only “scrap missiles” and would soon unveil unforeseen weapons.
The U.N. Security Council was due to meet in New York on Saturday. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
Israel’s military said its pilots had hit hundreds of targets throughout Iran including strategic defence systems already damaged in strikes last year. It said three sites where leaders had been meeting were struck simultaneously, and several senior figures were killed.
Iran’s Defence Minister Amir Nasirzadeh and Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammed Pakpour were killed in the Israeli attacks, three sources familiar with the matter said.
The first wave of strikes in what the Pentagon named “OPERATION EPIC FURY” mainly targeted Iranian officials, a source familiar with the matter said.
An Israeli official said Khamenei and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian were both targeted but the result of the strikes was not clear. A source with knowledge of the matter had earlier told Reuters that Khamenei was not in Tehran and had been transferred to a secure location.
An Iranian source close to the establishment said several senior commanders in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and political officials had been killed.
In addition, a girls’ primary school in the southern Iranian town of Minab was hit, killing 85 people, according to the local prosecutor cited by state media. Reuters could not independently confirm the reports. Israel’s military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
TRUMP SAYS ‘BOMBS WILL BE DROPPING EVERYWHERE’
In a video message published on social media, Trump cited Washington’s decades-old dispute with Iran and Iranian attacks, dating to the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran during the 1979 Islamic revolution that brought the clerics to power.
Trump said the aim was “eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime”. He urged Iranians to stay sheltered because “bombs will be dropping everywhere”, but added: “When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the joint U.S.-Israeli attack “will create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their destiny into their own hands” and “remove the yoke of tyranny”.
Iran’s clerical leaders were already in a difficult position after mass anti-government demonstrations in January, which led to a crackdown in which thousands of people were killed in the worst domestic unrest since the era of the 1979 revolution.
Protesters had again taken to the streets in recent days in remembrance of those killed the previous month.
Israeli military operations over the past two years have already killed some of Iran’s senior military officials and severely weakened several of Tehran’s once-feared proxy forces across the Middle East.
After Israel pounded Iran in a 12-day air war last June joined by the United States, the U.S. and Israel had warned that they would strike again if Iran pressed ahead with its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. The threats were backed up in recent weeks by a U.S. military buildup in the region, even as Iranian and U.S. officials held nuclear talks.
Eyal Zamir, the Israeli armed forces chief of staff, said that over the past months, he had been involved in preparing joint battle plans against Iran in coordination with senior leaders in the U.S. military. An Israeli defence official said the launch date had been decided weeks ago.
MISSILES FIRED AT ARAB GULF STATES
Oil markets have been closely watching the standoff between Washington and Tehran to try and determine if supplies will be impacted. Jorge Leon, head of geopolitical analysis at Rystad Energy predicted prices could shoot up by $10-20 per barrel when markets open on Monday unless there were signs of de-escalation.
Iran, the third-largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumps about 4% of global oil supplies, and a far larger share is shipped past its coast through the strait leading out of the Gulf.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said all U.S. bases and interests in the region were within Iran’s reach and that Iran’s retaliation would continue until “the enemy is decisively defeated”.
In Israel, sirens and mobile phone warnings sent Israelis rushing to air raid shelters as Iran launched a series of missile barrages. There were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties.
Loud booms sounded in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, an oil producer and close U.S. ally, and several blasts were heard in the business capital Dubai, where one of the city’s plush hotel districts was also hit.
Nada AlGarhy, 30, said she and her husband had been at the Waldorf Astoria hotel on Dubai’s luxury Palm development for Iftar, the evening meal during the fasting month of Ramadan, when they heard a loud explosion.
Bahrain said the service centre of the U.S. Fifth Fleet – base for American naval forces in the region – had been subjected to a missile attack. Video footage showed a thick grey plume of smoke rising from near the island state’s coastline.
Qatar said it had downed all missiles targeting the country and that it had a right to respond. Kuwait confirmed a missile attack on a U.S. military base there.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Michael Georgy, James MacKenzie; Editing by Barbara Lewis, Sam Holmes, Timothy Heritage, Peter Graff)
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