Mark Mazzetti

So they were kind of road testing these different justifications for war right up to the eve of the attack.

Right.

Obviously, the stated rationales have been dubious, but the attack, of course, happened anyway.

So, Mark, take us through the attack and how it unfolded.

So just after one in the morning Eastern time, the United States and Israeli militaries launched a coordinated assault on Iran against the nuclear sites, missile sites, government buildings, senior leaders.

There was a sort of division of labor here.

Israel was going after the senior leaders of Iran.

So would be the supreme leader, senior IRGC commanders, upper echelon of the political leadership.

The United States was more focused on military targets, ballistic missile targets, nuclear sites around the country.

And can you tell us, Mark, what do we know about what exactly was hit?

We're recording late afternoon on Saturday, and we want to be careful about what we can confirm and what we can't.

We certainly know there has been damage to government facilities and various other military facilities in Iran.

There is satellite footage of the supreme leader's compound, which appears to be flattened.

And there's no question from the targets that the goal was to change the leadership in Iran.

There are also reports of a school being hit in Iran with dozens of civilian casualties.

We will know more, much more in the coming days about this first wave of strikes and the damage that was done.

And we are certainly also anticipating further waves of strikes in the coming days.

David, talk about the response from Iran so far.

So basically, all of this is happening overnight, at least East Coast time, where we are.

And Trump releases a video that a lot of folks in the U.S.