Iran live updates: Announcing 'major' US operation, Trump calls for regime change
The U.S. and Israel have launched a joint attack on Iran, officials say.
President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Saturday, with daytime strikes in the joint U.S.-Israel attack targeting military and government sites, officials said.
The massive operation sparked threats of retaliation by Iran and reports of incoming missiles and drones around the region.
"Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people," Trump said in a video statement.
U.S. officials said the operation could potentially last days, and Trump acknowledged that there may be American casualties.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian were both targeted in the U.S.-Israeli attack, according to three sources briefed.
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WATCH: Trump announces 'major operation' in Iran
President Donald Trump announced the "massive and ongoing operation" targeting Iran.
Watch the full announcement:
Rubio made rounds to Gang of 8 Friday after classified briefing last week
Sec. Rubio told lawmakers in a Gang of 8 classified briefing last week that President Donald Trump had not made up his mind about potential military action against Iran, two sources told ABC News.
One source said there were still several outstanding questions during last week's briefing including whether this would be a joint military operation and whether the U.S. would be able to coalesce other nations.
Rubio made the rounds on Friday to members of the Gang of 8 to inform them the operation was in fact a go, sources said.
The Gang of 8 is comprised of leaders from both parties from the Senate and House of Representatives and the chairs and ranking minority members of the Senate and House committees for intelligence.
-ABC News' Rachel Scott and Anne Flaherty
China condemns US-Israeli attack on Iran
China said it is "highly concerned" over the military strikes launched by the U.S. and Israel on Saturday, calling for an immediate stop to the military action.
"Iran’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity should be respected. China calls for an immediate stop of the military actions, no further escalation of the tense situation, resumption of dialogue and negotiation, and efforts to uphold peace and stability in the Middle East," a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
-ABC News' Karson Yiu
Iran says death toll in strike on elementary school rises to 57
The toll from a strike on a girls’ elementary school in Minab, Iran, has risen to 57 students dead and 60 others injured, according to Iran's semiofficial Tasnim News Agency, which cited the local governor.
Iran claims the school was struck during the U.S.-Israeli military operation on Saturday.
It was unclear whether any teachers had been killed or injured, the Tasnim News Agency reported, citing the Minab governor.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted a photo on X purportedly showing the aftermath of a strike on a girls’ elementary school in the south of Iran on Saturday.
Araghchi said the school was “bombed in broad daylight, when packed with young pupils.”
"Dozens of innocent children have been murdered at this site alone,” he added. "These crimes against the Iranian People will not go unanswered.”
-ABC News' Somayeh Malekian
Senate should return to Washington and vote on war powers resolution, Sen. Tim Kaine says
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., is calling on the Senate to return to Washington immediately to vote on a war powers resolution to check the president's authority to wage war with Iran, calling the military action "idiotic."
“Has President Trump learned nothing from decades of U.S. meddling in Iran and forever wars in the Middle East? Is he too mentally incapacitated to realize that we had a diplomatic agreement with Iran that was keeping its nuclear program in check, until he ripped it up during his first term?," Kaine said in a statement Saturday.
“For months, I have raised hell about the fact that the American people want lower prices, not more war—especially wars that aren’t authorized by Congress, as required by the Constitution, and don’t have a clear objective. These strikes are a colossal mistake, and I pray they do not cost our sons and daughters in uniform and at embassies throughout the region their lives," he added.
Iran says Trump has turned 'America First' into 'Israel First'
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the U.S.-Israel strikes were “wholly unprovoked, illegal, and illegitimate.”
"Trump has turned 'America First' into 'Israel First'—which always means 'America Last,’ Araghchi wrote in a post on X Saturday. "Our Powerful Armed Forces are prepared for this day and will teach the aggressors the lesson they deserve."
Araghchi shared a screenshot of an October 2012 social media post from President Donald Trump.
“Now that Obama’s poll numbers are in tailspin - watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. He is desperate," Trump wrote in the post on X.
-ABC News' Somayeh Malekian
Oman foreign minister: 'I urge the United States not to get sucked in further'
The Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al Busaidi, who had been mediating U.S.-Iran talks and had traveled to Washington, D.C., on Friday, posted on X saying, "I am dismayed" and that "Active and serious negotiations have yet again been undermined."
"I urge the United States not to get sucked in further. This is not your war," he said.
-ABC News' Lama Hasan
Iran's ayatollah and president targeted: Sources
Three sources briefed on the U.S.-Israeli attack told ABC News that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian were both targeted.
US has intercepted Iranian missiles targeting bases and allies: Official
The U.S. has intercepted multiple Iranian missiles that were targeting U.S. bases and allies in the Middle East according to a U.S. official.
One source in the region said 14 Iranian missiles were launched toward the United Arab Emirates and were intercepted.
The source said Iran has launched missiles against Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE and Qatar.
-ABC News' Jonathan Karl and Luis Martinez
Rubio notified some members of the Gang of 8 before Iran attack
Secretary of State Marco Rubio reached out to some members of the so-called Gang of 8 to notify them of the operation in Iran before it was underway, multiple Congressional offices confirmed to ABC News.
Members of the Gang of 8 include the top bipartisan House and Senate leaders and the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees.
On Tuesday, hours ahead of the president's State of the Union address, Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe virtually briefed the Gang of 8 on Capitol Hill on Iran.
Immediately following the briefing, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters: "This is serious, and the administration has to make its case to the American people."
-ABC News' Mariam Khan, Jay O'Brien and Lauren Peller
'All I want is freedom for the people,' Trump tells The Washington Post
In a brief phone call with a reporter from The Washington Post just after 4 a.m. on Saturday, President Donald Trump told the paper that all he wants is "freedom for the people" of Iran.
“All I want is freedom for the people,” Trump said when asked about what he hoped his legacy would be as a result of the U.S. operation. "I want a safe nation, and that’s what we’re going to have."
Defense secretary, Joint Chiefs chairman with Trump at Mar-A-Lago
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are at Mar-A-Lago with President Trump monitoring today’s strikes, according to a source familiar.
-ABC News' Luis Martinez
Another wave of missiles launched from Iran toward Israel: IDF
The IDF says it has identified another wave of "missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel. "
Sirens sounded in central Israel.
UAE reports 1 civilian death after Iran missile strikes
The United Arab Emirates' ministry of defense said a civilian was killed as a result of fallen debris after "a blatant attack involving Iranian ballistic missiles."
The statement from the ministry said "air defence systems dealt with the missiles with high efficiency and successfully intercepted a number of missiles."
In Israel, the national emergency service said at least one person suffered blast injuries on Saturday.
The man, who injured in northern Israel, was in “mild condition,” according to the service.
The emergency service said its teams also treated "several individuals who were injured on their way to protected spaces, all fully conscious, as well as to people suffering from anxiety across the country."
Iran's state broadcaster IRIB reported that five girls were killed when Israeli strikes targeted an elementary school in the southern city of Minab on Saturday.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
IRGC claims it targeted US bases in region
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said its missiles and drones targeted the headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, other U.S. military bases in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as well as "military and security centers in the heart of the occupied territories," according to Iran’s semiofficial Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC.
Bahrain says missile attack targeted US Navy fleet service center
Bahrain’s state-run news agency said Saturday that the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet’s service center was targeted in a missile attack Saturday.
IDF says strikes on dozens of military targets in Iran
The joint Israeli-U.S. strike on Iran "included an attack on dozens of military targets and was carried out as part of a broad, coordinated, and joint attack against the regime," a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
The IDF statement emphasized close cooperation with the U.S.
"In the months leading up to the attack, close joint planning was carried out between the IDF and the US Army, which enabled the broad attack to be carried out with maximum synchronization and coordination between the armies," the IDF statement said. "The IDF, across all its systems, has a rigorous and long-term preparation process for the operation, both in the defense systems and in the various attack plans."
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