US and Israel strike Iran
U.S. President Donald Trump has urged to the Iranian people to “take over your government.”
The United States and Israel carried out a large-scale strike on Iran on Saturday, and U.S. President Donald Trump urged the Iranian people to take charge of their future by standing up against the Islamic regime that has governed the country since 1979.
The attacks marked a remarkable and unprecedented phase in American involvement in Iran and represented the second occasion in the past eight months that the Trump administration has employed military force against the Islamic Republic.
LIVE UPDATES: U.S. and Israel attack Iran
Some of the initial attacks on Iran appeared to target locations near the offices of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Smoke was visible rising over the capital, Tehran, as Iranian media reported that strikes were taking place across the country. It was not immediately known whether the 86-year-old leader was present in his offices at the time of the assault.
In a video declaring the start of “major combat operations,” Donald Trump addressed the Iranian people, saying that once the military action concluded, they should assume control of their government themselves, calling it an opportunity that might not come again for generations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed that goal, saying, “Our joint operation will create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their fate into their own hands.”
