Signs show that Khamenei is ‘no longer with us’, says Netanyahu
Netanyahu says airstrikes have destroyed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s compound and adds that “all indications show this tyrant is no longer with us”.
While not explicitly confirming Khameini’s death, this contradicts reports from the Iranian foreign ministry earlier claiming that the supreme leader and Iran’s president were both “safe and sound”.
We’ll bring you clarity on this as soon as we get it.
Key events
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Signs show that Khamenei is ‘no longer with us’, says Netanyahu
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‘The American people are being lied to again’, Bernie Sanders says
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Netanyahu speaks after US-Iraeli strikes on Iran
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Iran requests emergency IAEA meeting over ‘wrongful acts of aggressors’
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Erdoğan says US-Israeli strikes on Iran violate its sovereignty
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Kuwait says three army personnel injured in earlier attack on base
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IDF issues evacuation order for Iran’s Isfahan industrial zone
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US military says ‘minimal damage’ and no American casualties in Iran retaliation
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Macron urges diplomacy and says France was not involved in strikes on Iran
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Iran says supreme leader and president ‘safe and sound’
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201 people killed and 747 injured in Iran, media reports
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Death toll rises to 85 after strike on Iranian school
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US secretary of state Rubio briefed Democratic and Republican ‘gang of eight’ on strikes, says White House
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Iran closing Strait of Hormuz, EU naval officials reported as saying
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UN security council to hold emergency meeting
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Netanyahu and Trump hold phone call
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Iran supreme leader and president still alive, says foreign minister
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Maps: US-Israeli joint military operation in Iran, and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes
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Regime change in Iran is ‘mission impossible’, says Tehran foreign minister
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Summary of developments so far
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British planes ‘in the sky’ in Middle East protecting our people, interests and allies, says Starmer
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Reactions from US lawmakers after Trump strikes Iran
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UK, Germany and France condemn Iranian attacks
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Pictured: Tehran compound of Iran’s supreme leader heavily damaged
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Analysis: Trump’s unprovoked attack on Iran has no mandate – or legal basis
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World leaders react to attacks
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Iran will ‘teach aggressors lesson they deserve’, says Tehran foreign minister
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Iran missile strikes Kuwait base hosting Italian troops, official says
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Oman foreign minister ‘dismayed’ by attacks, tells US ‘this is not your war’
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Saudi Arabia condemns Iran attacks against Gulf nations
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40 killed in girls’ school in Iran after US-Israel attack, state media says
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Bahrain authorities evacuate people from US base location
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Airlines that have cancelled flights to the region
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British Airways cancels flights to Tel Aviv and Bahrain
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What we know so far
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Iran’s supreme leader and president were targets of attack – reports
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Analysis: Yet another mid-talks attack jeopardises chances of Iran taking Trump seriously
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Foreign office issues warning to British nationals in region amid attacks
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One person killed in Abu Dhabi, says UAE defence ministry
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Iran targets US bases in Kuwait, UAE, Qatar and Bahrain
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US navy fleet ‘subject to missile attack’ in Bahrain
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Iran launch missiles at US base in Bahrain – report
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Gulf countries close airspace
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Iranian officials ‘main target’ of US-Israel strikes – reports
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‘No red lines’ in Iran’s response to attacks, says official
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Flights suspended and airspaces closed in region
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What we know so far
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Netanyahu: Attacks on Iran to remove ‘existential threat’
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Netanyahu: US-Israel attacks against Iran will allow Iranians to topple Ayatollah regime
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‘Take over your government’, Trump tells Iranian people
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Iran launched missiles at Israel, says IDF
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Schools and workplaces closed in Jerusalem until Monday
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‘We are going to raze their missile industry to the ground’ – Trump
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Lay down your arms or ‘face certain death’, Trump tells Revolutionary Guards
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US military has launched ‘major combat operations’ in Iran – Trump
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Mobile phone services cut in Iran
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Blasts heard in several cities – reports
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Images show smoke rising from Tehran
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Iran closes its airspace
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Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is not in Tehran
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Loud blasts and columns of smoke in Tehran, report AFP journalists
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Israel strikes Iran
Addressing the “courageous” Iranian people, Netanyahu says the strikes will help them “unshackle themselves from tyranny”.
They have a “once in a generation chance” to overthrow the Iranian regime, he says.
He urges Iranians to “take to the streets en masse” and “get the job done”.
It is “high time you come together” and “unite for a historic mission”, he says.
This is an opportunity to do something. Do not sit with your arms crossed, because this moment will come and you will be demanded to go out of the streets in the masses, because you have to complete this work, and you have to bring down and eradicate this regime.
Netanyahu says Revolutionary Guard commanders and senior nuclear officials were destroyed.
He says they will continue to hit “thousands of targets” in Iran’s “terrorist regime”.
Signs show that Khamenei is ‘no longer with us’, says Netanyahu
Netanyahu says airstrikes have destroyed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s compound and adds that “all indications show this tyrant is no longer with us”.
While not explicitly confirming Khameini’s death, this contradicts reports from the Iranian foreign ministry earlier claiming that the supreme leader and Iran’s president were both “safe and sound”.
We’ll bring you clarity on this as soon as we get it.
‘The American people are being lied to again’, Bernie Sanders says
Senator Bernie Sanders has denounced the US attack on Iran, comparing the justifications offered by Donald Trump to the lies used to justify previous US wars on Iraq and Vietnam that ended in disaster.
In a statement on social media, in which he called on his colleagues in the US Senate to deny the authorization for war Trump has not sought, Sanders wrote:
“President Trump, along with his right-wing extremist Israeli ally Benjamin Netanyahu, has begun an illegal, premeditated and unconstitutional war. Tragically, Trump is gambling with American lives and treasure to fulfill Netanyahu’s decades-long ambition of dragging the United States into armed conflict with Iran,” Sanders said.
“The Senate must reconvene immediately and vote on a pending War Powers Resolution which I will strongly support,” he added, before noting that “this attack against Iran is a clear violation of international law and will create increased instability in an already dangerous world.”
“The American people were lied to about Vietnam. The American people were lied to about Iraq. The American people are being lied to again today and once again, it is ordinary people who will pay the price,” he added. “We must not allow Trump to force us into another senseless war. No war with Iran.”
Netanyahu speaks after US-Iraeli strikes on Iran
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is speaking now in a televised address.
He says that Israel’s military campaign in Iran will go on “as long as it is needed”, and claims the conflict will bring about “true peace”.
He says everyone knows that “such a murderous regime” should not have nuclear weapons that can “continue threatening the entire humankind”.
“We would like to thank the brave Iranian people, that they are being freed of those horrific ties with that regime,” he says.
Here are some satellite images showing strike damage at air, naval and missile sites in Konarak, southern Iran.
Iran requests emergency IAEA meeting over ‘wrongful acts of aggressors’
Earlier, Iran called for an emergency meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog to discuss “baseless” US and Israeli claims against its atomic programme used as one of several justifications for Saturday’s strikes.
“In light of ongoing acts of aggression by the US and Israeli regimes … [Iran] called for an urgent extraordinary meeting” of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors, Iran’s mission to the agency said on X above an image of its formal request letter.
“Baseless claims, vicious threats and wrongful acts of aggressors against Iran’s peaceful nuclear program shall be addressed by the Board immediately,” it added.
Erdoğan says US-Israeli strikes on Iran violate its sovereignty
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said on Saturday that US-Israeli attacks on Iran violated Iran’s sovereignty and targeted the peace of Iranian people, adding that he was saddened and concerned.
In a speech in Istanbul, Erdoğan said Iran’s attacks on Gulf countries were also unacceptable, and he warned that without restraint and diplomacy the region risked being “dragged into a circle of fire”.
He called for urgent action to prevent further bloodshed, adding that Ankara will accelerate diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire and revive negotiations.
Kuwait says three army personnel injured in earlier attack on base
Three Kuwaiti soldiers were injured by shrapnel when a base housing US personnel was targeted earlier on Saturday, a Kuwait defence ministry spokesman has said, after Iran hit the Gulf in retaliation for US and Israeli attacks.
Earlier, the health ministry said 12 people had been injured during and in the aftermath of the strikes. It was unclear if the three soldiers were among the toll.
“Shrapnel fell at Ali Al Salem Air Base after air defence forces engaged ballistic missiles and drones, resulting in minor injuries to three members of the armed forces and some material damage,” said Colonel Saud Al-Atwan.
The strikes also hit Kuwait’s international airport, the civil aviation authority said, causing minor injuries.
IDF issues evacuation order for Iran’s Isfahan industrial zone
Earlier, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) put out an urgent alert on its Farsi page on X, warning “all personnel” in an industrial zone in Iran’s Isfahan region to “immediately evacuate”, saying it would imminently attack “military infrastructure” there.
“Urgent alert to all people located in the ‘G’ industrial zone in the Isfahan region … in a few minutes, the Israeli army will attack military infrastructure in this zone,” the post reads. It includes a map showing the targeted area, warning people to “immediately evacuate this area”.
The IDF told residents of the Mazraeh village to stay inside their homes until the morning, and to avoid approaching the industrial zone after the attack.
US military says ‘minimal damage’ and no American casualties in Iran retaliation
The US military suffered no combat casualties after Iran retaliated against US-Israeli strikes with hundreds of missiles and drones, US Central Command has said.
Following the initial wave of US and partner strikes, CENTCOM forces successfully defended against hundreds of Iranian missile and drone attacks.
There have been no reports of US casualties or combat-related injuries. Damage to US installations was minimal and has not impacted operations.
Macron urges diplomacy and says France was not involved in strikes on Iran
French president Emmanuel Macron has told an emergency defence council he chaired late on Saturday that “France was neither warned of nor involved in” the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, “just like all the other countries in the region and our allies”.
At the meeting, held at the Élysée Palace in Paris, he also urged a diplomatic solution.
I hope we can take all necessary initiatives so that diplomacy prevails. Nobody can think that the issues of Iran’s nuclear programme, ballistic [missile] activities, regional destabilisation efforts can be simply solved with strikes.
It followed a joint call the French president had earlier with British PM Keir Starmer and German chancellor Friedrich Merz that resulted in a joint statement condemning Iran for its retaliatory attacks on Gulf nations.
They did not comment on US and Israeli attacks on Iran. Britain, France and Germany simply said that they didn’t take part in the strikes.
Iran says supreme leader and president ‘safe and sound’
Iran’s supreme leader and its president are both “safe and sound”, according to a spokesperson from the country’s foreign ministry.
He just told Sky News:
They are all safe and sound.
Yes, we have had some more some commanders who have been martyred as the result of this terrorist act of aggression.
But what matters is that the Iranian nation, our armed forces, our brave armed forces are taking necessary measures to defend Iran in the most strongest way possible.
The same spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, had earlier told the BBC that he was “not in a position to confirm” whether members of Iran’s senior leadership targeted by the US and Israel were unharmed.
Several hours ago, Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, told NBC News that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and president Masoud Pezeshkian were still alive “as far as I know”.
All high ranking officials are alive. So everybody is now in its position, and we are handling this situation, and everything is fine.
Israel said earlier that its strikes targeted the Iranian regime leadership and military commanders, including Khamenei and Pezeshkian.
Satellite imagery has shown extensive damage and black smoke at Khamenei’s compound in Tehran.
His whereabouts and those of the president remain unknown, though Iranian media reported earlier that Khamenei is due to speak today.
The Italian defense minister, Guido Crosetto, was stuck in Dubai with his family on Saturday as flights were suspended after US and Israeli attacks on Iran, a source close to the ministry told Reuters.
The minister left Rome on Friday evening aboard a civilian flight to join his family, already in Dubai on holiday. He was scheduled to return to Italy on Saturday afternoon.
The Italian carrier ITA Airways said it had suspended flights to and from Dubai until Sunday.
The House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, has denounced the choice to strike Iran without approval from US Congress.
Jeffries said in a statement that “Iran is a bad actor and must be aggressively confronted for its human rights violations, nuclear ambitions, support of terrorism and the threat it poses to our allies like Israel and Jordan in the region”, but added that outside of “exigent circumstances”, the president “must seek authorization for the preemptive use of military force that constitutes an act of war”.
Trump “failed to seek Congressional authorization prior to striking Iran”, Jeffries said. He also said that the latest round of strikes “has left American troops vulnerable to Iran’s retaliatory actions”.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement that “the American people are once again dragged into a war they did not want by a president who does not care about the long-term consequences of his actions. This war is unlawful. It is unnecessary. And it will be catastrophic.”
She then addressed Trump directly, saying: “Mr President: this was not an inevitability. This is a deliberate choice of aggression when diplomacy and security were within reach. Stop lying to the American people.”
201 people killed and 747 injured in Iran, media reports
Iranian media is reporting that 201 people have been killed and 747 people have been injured in the US-Israeli attacks.
Israeli emergency services have reported 94 wounded, including a teenager who was lightly wounded by shrapnel and others affected by blasts. The organization reported that it has provided medical treatment to 89 wounded in minor condition so far.
US senator Tim Kaine of Virginia has questioned whether Trump has learned anything “from decades of US meddling in Iran and forever wars in the Middle East.”
“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,” Kaine said in a statement. “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.”
Kaine also called for the Senate to “immediately return” to the Capitol and vote on whether to authorize or limit US strikes against Iran.
Senator Adam Schiff said in a statement that “Donald Trump is drawing our country into yet another foreign war that Americans don’t want and Congress has not authorized. And he has acknowledged that as a result, American troops may be lost.”
He added: “Senators Kaine, Paul, Schumer and I have introduced another War Powers Resolution to prevent U.S. Armed Forces from taking further action against Iran without authorization from Congress. We should return to session immediately and vote on the resolution.”
