Alex Ritson

Until next time, goodbye.

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I'm Alex Ritson and at 14 hours GMT on Saturday the 28th of February, these are our main stories. The US and Israel have launched what Donald Trump calls major combat operations against Iran, bombing Tehran and Iran says five other cities.

This will be probably your only chance for generations. Also in this podcast, the Israeli military says Iran is trying to retaliate. There have been explosions in Bahrain where the US has a navy base. We'll bring you international reaction to the strikes, plus reporting from our correspondents in the region and analysis from our team, including experts from BBC Persian.

It was a little before 10 o'clock on a bright Tehran morning when the first missiles struck, arriving out of a clear blue sky. Blasts were heard in cities across Iran as the United States and Israel carried out multiple strikes. In a video message on social media, President Trump accused the Iranian regime of waging an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder targeting the United States.

This will be probably your only chance for generations. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also had a message for the people of Iran.

Yhdessä Yhdysvaltojen kanssa voimme vahvistaa terroriregiimiä. Voimme luoda tilanteita, joilla voidaan vahvistaa Iranin ihmisiä. Tämä on sinun mahdollisuus luoda uuden ja vahvan Iranin. Pitäkää itseäsi. Pitäkää itseäsi. Pitäkää itseäsi. Pitäkää itseäsi.

What is Iran's opposition saying? Reza Pahlavi is the son of Iran's last shah and is a leading critic of the Iranian regime. He's currently in exile in the US and addressed the Iranian people directly.

Now that the Islamic Republic is collapsing, my message to the country's military, police and security forces is clear. You've sworn an oath to protect Iran and the Iranian people, not the Islamic Republic and its leaders. Your duty is to defend the people, not a regime that's taken our homeland hostage through repression and crime. Join the people and help bring about a stable and secure transition.

Otherwise you will go down with Khameneen's sinking ship and his regime. To find out more about the reaction inside Iran, I spoke to G.R. Gold from BBC Persian.

This is a joint operation between the US and Israel. The US will have access presumably to the intelligence of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency. The US has indicated this is about regime change. What are the chances that the Ayatollah will have been hit by any of these strikes?

GR Gold from BBC Persian. Middle East analyst Sebastian Usher gave us his assessment of the unfolding situation.

of smoke rising from various areas, particularly in the capital, whether members of the leadership, the political, the military leadership, have been targeted successfully. There does seem to be a sense that that was what the Israeli mission may have been to some extent. We know that the US is also very much trying to target the offensive capability of Iran in terms of its ballistic missiles, but we're seeing...

Järjestelmällä 12-vuotiaiden loppuun alussa Israelin ja Iranin jälkeen, jossa oli Yhdysvaltain osallistuminen loppuun alussa, jossa oli järjestelmällä 12-vuotiaiden jälkeen Israelin ja Iranin jälkeen, jossa oli järjestelmällä 12-vuotiaiden jälkeen, jossa oli järjestelmällä 12-vuotiaiden jälkeen,

We're waiting to see if any of Iran's proxies in the region take action. They've all been markedly weakened over the past year and a half. Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iranian-affiliated militias in Iraq. One of those groups in Iraq has said that it will target US military bases soon. They didn't do that in the 12-day war.

Hasbulla, there is going to be a statement, a speech made by the leader of Hasbulla in a few hours. We'll see what he says, but I think it's pretty clear that the capabilities of Hasbulla are much less than they were two years or so ago. Also, again, Hasbulla didn't.

Kiitos puheenjohtaja.

but how they will respond. We've heard from Jordan, I think we've heard from a couple of other Gulf countries, that they are ready to take whatever military action they deem necessary. I mean, clearly they do not want to get involved in any direct military confrontation with Iran if they can avoid it. Their voices were very strong in trying to dissuade the US from taking this action.