President Donald Trump announced the largest military intervention of his two terms in the Oval Office on Saturday, saying the United States is launching sweeping attacks on the Iranian military and calling on the Iranian people to rise up and seize control of their government.
The U.S. military has launched “major combat operations” in Iran, Trump said in a video posted to Truth Social, with the goal of stopping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and protecting American personnel and interests abroad and at home.
“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 declared from behind a podium dressed in a navy suit and wearing a baseball cap emblazoned with “USA” on it.
Israel announced it was also participating in the military offensive, and The Associated Press reported that Israel had launched a daylight attack on Tehran, Iran’s capital, on Saturday. The Israel Defense Forces also posted on X that Iran had launched missiles toward Israel, underscoring the possibilities of wider war in a Middle East already riven with tensions and conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday the joint attack with the U.S. was to “remove an existential threat posed” by Iran. He added that the attacks were aimed at ending “the threat of the Iranian ayatollah’s regime.”
Trump acknowledged there may be American casualties as a result of the U.S. military intervention labeled “Operation Epic Fury,” but said the mission was necessary to protect America and its allies in the future.
Trump acknowledged there may be American casualties as a result of the U.S. military intervention labeled “Operation Epic Fury,” but said the mission was necessary to protect America and its allies in the future.
“The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties. That often happens in war,” Trump stated. “We’re doing this not for now. We’re doing this for the future and it is a noble mission.”
This is the eighth military intervention of Trump’s second term in office and runs counter to his campaign promise to end costly foreign wars. The president set broad goals in his video address and called for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Iranian military forces to lay down their arms, making clear this was not a limited U.S. attack. Indeed, he called it “massive” in the video statement.
“We will ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon…this regime will soon learn that no one should challenge the strength and might of the U.S. Armed Forces,” Trump said.
Iran fired retaliatory missiles at Israel, Qatar and Abu Dhabi in response to Trump’s announcement, news agencies reported. And Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen announced that they would resume strikes on shipping in the Red Sea, which drove up shipping prices in the past.
The Iranian foreign ministry claimed the U.S. and Israel had targeted “defensive and civilian facilities” and that the offensive occurred while Iran was “engaged in a diplomatic process” with the United States. It called on the United Nations and its Security Council to take quick action.
“Once again, the sacred and resilient homeland of Iran has been subjected to criminal military aggression by the United States and the Zionist regime,” the foreign ministry said.
“As always, we are prepared. The armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will respond decisively and powerfully to this aggression,” it added.
Trump pointed to the on-again-off-again nature of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear operations, and said the government had “rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions.” He stated the country had attempted to rebuild its nuclear industry following U.S. attacks on its nuclear facilities in Operation Midnight Hammer.
“We can’t take it anymore,” Trump said, warning that Iran was continuing to build long-range missiles that could not only threaten U.S. allies in Europe but “could soon reach” U.S. shores.
Trump called on the Iranian people to take action, describing the U.S. military offensive as “their moment for action” and “probably your only chance to act for generations.” The operation comes in the wake of a brutal crackdown by Iran’s government on its own population after nationwide protests against its government.
“Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take,” Trump declared.
Democrats are likely to criticize Trump for not receiving authorization from Congress, as President George W. Bush did before attacking Afghanistan and Iraq after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The announcement of such a broad campaign could prove politically risky to Trump, particularly if the operation drags on and U.S. service members are killed.
The U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq showed the limits of American air power.
While strikes had an immediate impact, U.S. ground forces were needed in both countries to drive the Taliban and and Saddam Hussein from power. Bloody civil wars ensued in both countries that killed tens of thousand of people. Trump has intensified his threats against Tehran over the past month, calling for regime change and signaling plans for a second direct attack on the Islamic Republic to be carried out by what the president promised would be a “massive armada.” The second strikes in eight months come after Trump repeatedly and publicly urged Iran to accept his terms for a nuclear weapons agreement and threatened retaliation if it did not. At the first meeting of his new “Board of Peace,” Trump warned “bad things will happen” if Iran did not agree to a nuclear program deal. A central focus of U.S. forces will be to secure the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway through which roughly 20 percent of the world oil supply passes. Only 21 miles wide at one point, an Iranian attempt to close the strait or limit oil tankers passing through it could increase oil prices globally. The U.S. Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, will try to keep the strait open and counter any Iran attacks. In the first strikes, Trump directed U.S. forces to bomb three nuclear sites in Iran in June 2025. A U.S. intelligence report said Iran’s nuclear program was set back only a few months — not “completely and fully obliterated” as Trump had claimed. Trump has publicly clashed in recent weeks with Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, as each threatened the other with military action. On Feb. 17, Khamenei posted a photoshopped image of the USS Gerald R. Ford at the bottom of the ocean. The world’s largest warship, the Ford is the second aircraft carrier Trump was sent to the Middle East as part of the armada assembled within striking distance of Iran. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met in Geneva, Switzerland, for negotiations on Feb. 26 regarding Iran’s nuclear program, with Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi serving as mediator. Al-Busaidi said discussions on a technical level were to take place next week in Vienna. Araghchi had issued a stark warning to Trump in January, saying his country was ready for war with the U.S. “My message is: Do not repeat the same mistake that you did in June,” Araghchi said in a Fox News interview, referring to the U.S. attack on three Iranian nuclear sites last summer. “You know, if you try a failed experience, you will get the same result.” The U.S. government issued a security alert on Jan. 12, directing Americans to leave Iran by land immediately on the heels of the government’s bloody crackdown on demonstrators amid a worsening economic crisis. Several foreign embassies in Tehran, including the British embassy, have since temporarily closed or reduced operations. The U.S. military action against Tehran is the latest chapter in Trump’s personal history with Iran, which repeatedly threatened to assassinate Trump after he ordered the January 2020 drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, who was Iran’s military and intelligence chief. Because of Iran’s death threats, Trump was provided additional Secret Service protection during the 2024 presidential campaign. Soon after he was elected president in November 2024, the Biden Justice Department criminally charged an alleged Iranian government asset in a murder-for-hire plot to kill Trump. On Feb. 4, 2025, the newly sworn-in president said he had instructed his advisers that if Iran assassinated him, the country would “get obliterated.” This is Trump administration’s second major foreign intervention. Earlier this year, U.S. forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in an operation that killed nearly 40 people. The U.S. has also struck dozens of boats it accused of illegal narco-trafficking in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing 144 people, according to a MS NOW tally based on U.S. government figures.
Erum Salam is breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian and is a graduate of Texas A&M University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Follow her on X, Bluesky and Instagram.
David Rohde
David Rohde is the senior national security reporter for MS NOW. Previously he was the senior executive editor for national security and law for NBC News. Recommended
Mounting tensions
