US, Israel unleash ‘Epic Fury’ on Iran

The United States and Israel launched a major attack on Iran on Saturday, and US President Donald Trump called on the Iranian public to "seize control of your destiny" by rising up against the Islamic leadership that has ruled the nation since 1979.Iran retaliated by launching missiles and drones toward Israel and US military bases in the region. Israel's military said Iran fired "dozens" of missiles, with many intercepted and no serious injuries reported. Barrages continued after sundown. Gulf states that host US bases also said they successfully countered the missile attacks. Reports at the time of going to press said Israel had launched a new wave of strikes targeting Iran missile launchers.

Waves of large explosions shook the Iranian capital, Tehran, starting around 9am local time - 1 am in Washington - and witnesses described chaos in the streets as people rushed to seek shelter, find loved ones or flee the city. Israel's military said it had, in part, targeted a gathering of senior Iranian officials in the opening strikes.Satellite imagery showed a plume of smoke and extensive damage at the high-security compound of Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader.

Though the status of Iran's leadership was not immediately known, Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told NBC News that Khamenei and Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, were still alive "as far as I know".Iran's defence minister Amir Nasirzadeh and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Gen Mohammad Pakpour were likely killed in the strikes, The Times of Israel reported. Pakpour was appointed by Khamenei after his predecessor Hossein Salami was one of several key military figures killed in an Israeli strike during the 12-day war in June 2025.

There was no confirmation from Tehran.Even if Iran's top leaders are killed, regime change is not guaranteed. Neither the US nor Israel have articulated a vision for what new leadership might look like. Democrats decried that Trump had taken action without congressional authorisation. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the Trump administration had briefed several Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress in advance of the attack.While the UN Security Council was set to meet, Araghchi in a letter said "all bases, facilities, and assets of the hostile forces in the region shall be regarded as legitimate military objectives". Iran requested an urgent session of the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors about "these threats to safeguarded nuclear facilities", according to a letter posted by the semiofficial Tasnim news agency.

The UN's nuclear watchdog said on X it was closely monitoring developments and had seen "no evidence of radiological impact".Tensions have soared in recent weeks as American warships moved into the region. Trump said he wanted a deal to constrain Iran's nuclear programme at a moment when the country is struggling at home with growing dissent following nationwide protests. nyt & agencies World leaders fear broader escalation after attack Brussels: European leaders held emergency security meetings and scrambled to protect their citizens in the Middle East after US and Israeli strikes on Iran on Saturday that triggered global concerns of escalation into a broader conflict.French President Emmanuel Macron called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting in response to the US and Israeli strikes in Iran. Germany and the U.K. are holding their own emergency meetings Saturday to discuss the situation. The European Union is evacuating some staff from the region and European leaders are planning to coordinate further responses.The responses come after the US and Israel launched a major attack on targets across Iran, and US President Donald Trump called on the Iranian people to "take over your government" - an extraordinary appeal that suggested they could be seeking to end the country's theocracy after decades of tensions.The strikes by the US create a dilemma for its democratic allies. While European leaders firmly oppose Iran's nuclear program and crackdowns by its hard-line theocracy, they are loath to embrace unilateral military action by Trump that could breach international law and unleash a broader conflict.Trump's strikes on Iran last June, and the arrest of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro last month, caused a similar quandary.It was unclear whether US allies were given any advance warning of the attacks. The German government said it was only given notice Saturday morning. France's junior defense minister said France knew something would happen, but didn't know when."The escalation underway is dangerous for everyone. It must stop,? Macron said in a statement. France, which has military presence in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan, would offer military aid to its partners in the Middle East, the president said."The outbreak of war among the United States, Israel and Iran has serious consequences for peace and international security,? Macron said.He called on Iran's leadership to commit to negotiations on its nuclear and ballistic programs."The Iranian people should also be able to build their future freely. The massacres perpetrated by the Islamic regime disqualify it, and necessitate that the people be given a voice."British Prime Minister Keir Starmer chaired a meeting of the government's emergency committee on Saturday morning."We do not want to see further escalation into a wider regional conflict," a U.K. government spokesperson said, reiterating Britain's support for a negotiated solution to Iran's nuclear ambitions. Britain was not involved in the strikes.The German government's crisis management team was also due to meet.Responding to the attack, the European Union's top diplomat called the conflict in the Middle East "perilous" and said she was working with Israeli and Arab officials to pursue a negotiated peace."Iran's regime has killed thousands. Its ballistic missile and nuclear programs, along with support for terror groups, pose a serious threat to global security," said Kaja Kallas, foreign policy chief of the 27-nation bloc, in a post on social media.Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told Norwegian broadcaster NRK that he was concerned the failure of negotiations between the US and Iran meant a "new, extensive war in the Middle East" would happen.Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Madrid rejected "the unilateral military action by the United States and Israel, which represents an escalation and contributes to a more uncertain and hostile international order."

He said Spain "likewise" rejected the actions of the Iranian regime.European Union leaders issued a joint statement Saturday calling for restraint and engaging in regional diplomacy in hopes of "ensuring nuclear safety.""We call on all parties to exercise maximum restraint, to protect civilians, and to fully respect international law," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa.The Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons condemned the US and Israeli strikes on Iran in harsher words."These attacks are totally irresponsible and risk provoking further escalation as well as increasing the danger of nuclear proliferation and the use of nuclear weapons," said its executive director, Melissa Parke.Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim condemned Israeli strikes on Iran and accompanying US military action, warning that the escalating conflict has pushed the Middle East to the "edge of catastrophe."Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday condemned what he described as "unwarranted attacks" on Iran during a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi.Russia's Foreign Ministry called the strikes "a pre-planned and unprovoked act of armed aggression against a sovereign and independent UN member state," demanding an immediate halt to the military campaign and a return to diplomacy.