The United States military launched targeted strikes against the Islamic Republic of Iran, following the escalation of tensions between the two powers and an apparent breakdown in diplomatic negotiations.
President Donald Trump posted an eight-minute video to Truth Social announcing the “massive and ongoing” attacks, identified as Operation Epic Fury, which are targeting Iran’s military and its nuclear program, as well as to facilitate a change in its government.
“Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people,” the president declared in the video posted Saturday at 2:30 a.m. EST. “Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas and our allies throughout the world.”
“We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground,” Trump vowed. “We are going to annihilate their navy, we are going to ensure that the region’s terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region and the world.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also issued a video statement that Israel launched a “joint operation” with the U.S. against the “existential threat” posed by Iran. The operation would, he said, “create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their destiny into their own hands.”
The U.S. ally’s military subsequently announced it “identified missiles launched from Iran toward Israel.” U.S. Embassy staff in Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Manama were reportedly instructed to shelter in place; staff at the U.S. embassy in Israel were instructed Friday they should immediately depart the country.
The assault was supported by an armada of American naval and air assets recently amassed within striking distance of their targets. The Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and its strike group sailed into the Mediterranean Sea, complementing that of carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea. Fourteen destroyers, in addition to dozens of support vessels, fighter jets, unmanned drones, helicopters, and defense systems, further manifested Trump’s Jan. 13 promise on Truth Social to “Iranian Patriots” that “HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”
Trump hinted at consequences for Iran if the ongoing negotiations in Switzerland failed to make meaningful progress, remarking at Friday’s convening of the Board of Peace in Washington, “It’s proven to be, over the years, not easy to make a meaningful deal with Iran. Otherwise bad things happen.”
“We’re going to make a deal or get a deal one way or the other,” Trump said Thursday to a room full of the nation’s governors.
Trump claimed Friday that 32,000 Iranians had been killed after the regime cracked down on weeks of widespread protests and unrest over the deteriorating national economy. At one point, Trump has claimed, Iran was set to execute over 800 detained dissidents until the president publicly weighed in on their behalf. Iran’s top prosecutor on Jan. 23, however, called Trump’s claim “completely false.”
While Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, admitted Feb. 14 that thousands of Iranians had been killed during chaos, he blamed Trump for having “openly encouraged” the dissidents’ uprising by offering “military support.” He also called Trump a “criminal” responsible “both for the casualties and the damage,” Reuters reported.
The Americans constantly say that they’ve sent a warship toward Iran. Of course, a warship is a dangerous piece of military hardware. However, more dangerous than that warship is the weapon that can send that warship to the bottom of the sea.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) February 17, 2026
The strike follows U.S. military action in June 2025 targeting Iran’s weaponized uranium enrichment capabilities. Operation Midnight Hammer involved seven B-2 stealth bombers flying 37 hours across the world armed with 14 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators bunker-busting munitions.
Trump has ordered seven military strikes in other nations since returning to the White House in January 2025.
This is a breaking news report, which will be updated.
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