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Iran hits back with missiles targeting Israel, US bases; Trump urges Iranians to seize power

By CP StaffSaturday, February 28, 2026

A man holds a picture of Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reading “ELIMINATED” as members of the Iranian community and supporters celebrate on Feb. 28, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. President Donald Trump announced that the United States and Israel had launched an attack on Iran Saturday morning. Israel and the United States have said Khamenei was killed in the strikes. Mario Tama/Getty Images

Updated at 4:45 p.m. ET, Feb. 28, 2026: President Donald Trump confirmed in a lengthy post on Truth Social late Saturday afternoon that Iran’s 86-year-old supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is dead. Earlier in the day, a senior Israeli official confirmed that 40 senior leaders of the Iranian regime were also killed in targeted Israeli and U.S. strikes. News agencies in Iran, however, claim that Khamenei is alive and remains “steadfast and firm in commanding the field.”

In a statement on Truth Social, Trump said in part: “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead. This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS.

“He was unable to avoid our Intelligence and Highly Sophisticated Tracking Systems and, working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do. 

“This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country,” he said. “Hopefully, the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] and Police will peacefully merge with the Iranian Patriots.” Read the president’s post in full here. 

Updated at 3:15 p.m. ET, Feb. 28, 2026: Forty senior leaders of the Iranian regime, including Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, have been killed in targeted Israeli and U.S. strikes, a senior Israeli official has said. In Tel Aviv, Israel, more than 20 people were injured from a missile that hit a residential building, according to Israel’s emergency response service.

Earlier Saturday, Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi told NBC News that, “as far as I know,” Khamenei and senior officials are alive. Iran’s Tasnim and Mehr news agencies also reported that Khamenei was well and “steadfast and firm in commanding the field,” according to the Qatari government-run news outlet Al Jazeera. United Nations peacekeepers and civilians stand near the wreckage of an Iranian rocket that was reportedly intercepted by Israeli forces in the southern Syrian countryside of Quneitra, near the Golan Heights, close to the town of Ghadir al-Bustan. The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, with Israel’s public broadcaster reporting that supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been targeted, as the Islamic republic retaliated with barrages of missiles at Gulf states and Israel. | Bakr ALKASEM/AFP via Getty Images

Original report:

The United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes across Iran on Saturday, targeting senior military leaders and calling for political change in the country. Iran responded by firing missiles toward Israel and several Gulf nations that host U.S. bases, raising fears of a wider regional conflict.

Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel and U.S. bases in Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The U.S. military intercepted multiple Iranian missiles, The Wall Street Journal reports. 

President Donald Trump, speaking from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida Saturday morning, said the operation aimed to eliminate what he called an imminent security threat and prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. In a video message, he urged Iranian security forces to surrender and encouraged Iranians to overthrow their government once the bombing stopped.

Reports from regional sources said Iran’s defense minister, Amir Nasirzadeh, and Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammed Pakpour were killed in the strikes. Israeli officials said they also targeted Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian, though the outcome was unclear. Iran denied Khamenei had been harmed, saying he was expected to deliver a speech.

An Iranian source told Reuters that several senior Revolutionary Guards and political figures were killed. Iranian state media reported that 40 people died in a strike on a school, a claim Reuters could not independently confirm.

Iran condemned the attacks as illegal and unprovoked.

In a letter to the United Nations, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi urged the Security Council to take immediate action to stop what he called unlawful aggression by the United States and Israel. He said “[Benjamin] Netanyahu and [Donald] Trump’s war on Iran is wholly unprovoked, illegal and illegitimate.”

Araghchi warned that the country’s armed forces were prepared to “teach the aggressors the lesson they deserve,” according to The Telegraph. 

Iran has retaliated by launching missiles at Israel and at Gulf Arab countries. Explosions were reported in several oil-producing states, which said they intercepted incoming missiles, Reuters reports. A senior Revolutionary Guards commander, Ebrahim Jabbari, said Iran had used only “scrap missiles” so far and promised a stronger response.

The Pentagon said the first wave of attacks — part of what it called “Operation Epic Fury” — primarily targeted Iranian officials.

Israel said it hit strategic air‑defense systems in western Iran. 

The U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency said it had seen no radiological impact from the strikes or Iran’s retaliation, though it did not confirm whether nuclear facilities were targeted.

In a televised statement Saturday, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer stressed that the U.K. has taken no part in the strikes in Iran, but said British planes “are in the sky today as part of coordinated regional defensive operations to protect our people, our interests and our allies” in the Middle East.

“We’ve stepped up protections for British bases and personnel to their highest level,” Starmer added. 

Condemning the actions of the Iranian regime, Starmer said, “They have murdered thousands of their own people, brutally crushed dissent, and sought to destabilize the region. Even in the United Kingdom, the Iranian regime poses a direct threat to dissidents and to the Jewish community.

He continued, “Over the last year alone, they have backed more than 20 potentially lethal attacks on U.K. soil. So it is clear they must never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon. That remains the primary aim of the United Kingdom and our allies, including the US.”

Following the strikes in Iran, the U.S. Transportation Department advised commercial vessels to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, citing “significant military activity.” The agency said U.S.‑flagged, owned or crewed ships should stay at least 30 nautical miles from U.S. military vessels to avoid misidentification.

Trump, in his speech Saturday morning, referenced decades of U.S.–Iran tensions, including the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, and said the current operation is intended to ensure Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon. He warned Iranians to remain sheltered because “bombs will be dropping everywhere,” but added, “When we are finished, take over your government.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the joint operation would “create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their destiny into their own hands.”

Iran’s leadership had already been under pressure following mass anti‑government protests in January, which were met with a severe crackdown.