US and Israel attack Iran; Tehran retaliates
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hi, I'm Tara Oakes in Liverpool. It's Saturday, February 28th. Today, the United States and Israel launch strikes on Iran. We look at the situation on the ground and at President Trump's aims and the risks he faces from a drawn-out campaign. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the frontlines in 10 minutes, seven days a week.
What triggered the US and Israel's attacks on Iran?
Thank you.
The United States and Israel have launched what President Trump is describing as a major combat operation in Iran, plunging the Middle East into a new conflict that Trump says will end a security threat to the US and offer Iranians a chance to topple their rulers. Smoke plumes rise over Tehran's skyline after explosions were heard in the capital as part of what the US has dubbed Operation Epic Fury. And in Tel Aviv, people rush to shelters as Iran launches retaliatory attacks against Israel. In a video shared on Truth Social, President Trump cites decades of grievances with Iran, from a 1979 embassy hostage crisis, when 52 Americans were held for 444 days, to attacks blamed on Tehran ever since.
Trump says the strikes are aimed at destroying Iranian missiles and annihilating its navy, coming after a failure to get a breakthrough in talks this week.
I'll say it again. They can never have a nuclear weapon. 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.
Trump has warned that American lives may be lost in this military action and urged Iranians to stay sheltered.
Stay sheltered. Don't leave your home. It's very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere.
The Pentagon says the operation will last multiple days. Iran is vowing crushing retaliation, with Iran's Revolutionary Guard saying all US bases, resources, and interests in the region are considered legitimate targets for the Iranian army. It says it struck Israeli and US bases with Iranian missiles, and its operation would continue until its enemy was, quote, decisively defeated. The strikes came as Iranians were starting their working week. Our Middle East editor Edmund Blair describes the panic.
Well, it was a weekday, so kids were at school, people were at their offices, and it certainly created what sounds like havoc from the reporting we're getting from on the ground. We've already heard reports of queues at gas stations, people trying to fill up their cars. We've heard of people racing to try and get money out of banks, but finding that cash machines aren't working. We've heard some people racing to go and collect their children from school. And the sense we get from the people that we've spoken to is that there is a real sense of fear about what's coming next, what the future holds, with enormous uncertainty about both the strikes that we've seen and then what comes later.
A source has told Reuters that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is not in Tehran and has been transferred to a secure location. An Iranian source close to the establishment says several senior commanders in Iran's Revolutionary Guards and political officials have been killed. Reuters could not independently confirm the report. Here's Edmund on the response from Iran's government.
In terms of their military response, we have already seen it, that they have said that they have fired missiles towards Israel and they've also said that US bases around the regions are targets. And we have heard explosions around the Gulf, which is where the US has bases.
So what happens next? Here's Edmund with more.
I think what is really interesting about what we've seen from President Trump is citing a long history of disputes with Iran and also saying that while he was urging Iranians to stay sheltered, For now, he said that when the dust settles, that would be the time to overthrow and change their government. That's the same message from Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu. So I think we can see the direction of travel from the US and Israeli perspective.
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