BREAKING: Explosions Shake Iran as US and Israel Launch Coordinated Attack

BREAKING: Explosions Shake Iran as US and Israel Launch Coordinated Attack
Courtesy of BBC
The United States and Israel have carried out a joint military strike on Iran, with powerful explosions reported across the capital, Tehran.

According to the Fars News Agency, several missiles hit University Street and the Jomhouri district in Tehran. An Al Jazeera correspondent on the ground confirmed seeing plumes of smoke rising from different parts of the city.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported additional explosions in the northern Seyyed Khandan district of Tehran. Other local media outlets indicated that strikes were recorded in multiple parts of the country, including Ilam Province in western Iran.
US President Donald Trump stated that the operation was intended to “eliminate imminent threats from the Iranian regime.”
“Short time ago, US military began major combat operation in Iran. Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating threats from the Iranian regime,” he said.
Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, said the missile strikes were aimed at removing threats to the State of Israel.
A US official told Al Jazeera that the assault was conducted as a joint military mission involving both nations. The United States had reportedly assembled a significant deployment of fighter aircraft and naval assets in the region in a bid to pressure Iran over its nuclear programme. Another US official told Reuters that the strikes were executed by both air and sea.
The Associated Press reported that one of the targeted locations in Tehran was near the offices of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Reuters quoted an official as saying Khamenei was not in Tehran at the time and had been relocated to a secure location.
Al Jazeera correspondent Maziar Motamedi, reporting from Tehran, said mobile phone communications had been disrupted in several districts of the capital. “No calls are possible at present,” he noted.
Sirens Sound in Israel
An Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran is preparing what was described as a “crushing” retaliation.
As warning sirens blared across Israel and a nationwide state of emergency was declared, the Israeli military announced it had issued a proactive alert to prepare citizens for the possibility of missile attacks directed at the country.
The Israel Airports Authority confirmed that Israeli airspace had been closed to civilian traffic and urged the public to avoid traveling to airports.
Meanwhile, the US Embassy in Qatar directed all personnel to shelter in place and advised American citizens to do the same until further notice. Iraq’s Ministry of Transport also announced the closure of the country’s national airspace.
According to an Israeli defence official cited by Reuters, the operation had been months in planning, with the launch date determined weeks earlier, even as diplomatic engagements between the US and Iran were ongoing.
Mehran Kamrava, director of the Iranian Studies Unit at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies and a professor at Georgetown University in Qatar, said Israel appeared to have launched the attack in a move designed to derail negotiations. (Al Jazeera)