The United States and Israel launched a series of strikes on multiple locations in Iran, including the capital, Tehran, on the morning of Saturday, February 28, according to U.S. officials.
The strikes resulted in the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as well as up to 40 top Iranian officials. This included Ali Shamkhani, a top advisor to Khamenei, and General Mohammad Pakpour, head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s judiciary confirmed. Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian is “safe and sound” according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
201 people have been killed and 747 injured according to Iran’s Red Crescent at the time of reporting. A strike on Minab, southern Iran, struck a school, killing at least 148 children according to local reports.
Those figures are expected to rise as U.S. attacks escalate. “The hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Iran reacted with retaliatory strikes across the Middle East with explosions detected over the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq and Israel. After the UK agreed to allow the US to use its military bases, an unmanned drone attack on the UK Akrotiri Base in Cyprus “caused limited damage” according to official.
The first recorded American casualties came as the death toll from an Iranian strike on a makeshift operations center at Shuaiba port in Kuwait rose to six US service members, U.S. Central Command announced Monday. A further three people were killed in the UAE and one in both Kuwait and Bahrain. 11 have been killed in Israel, according to Israeli rescue services. Three U.S. F-15s were also mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses on March 1 with all six aircrew ejecting safely, according to U.S. Central Command. The airspace over several Middle Eastern countries has been closed and flights into and out of the region have been cancelled.
Israel announced an “offensive campaign against Hezbollah,” said the Israeli army’s chief of staff, Eyal Zamir. It has issued forced displacement orders for the Dahiyeh suburbs of Beirut and at least 53 villages and towns in southern Lebanon as hundreds of thousands of people flee. Lebanese authorities say Israeli air attacks have killed 31 people and wounded 149 others so far.
This comes after Hezbollah, who for more than 15 months did not respond to continuing Israeli attacks, struck back Sunday with a few rockets that did not result in any casualties.
This escalation follows weeks of threats of military intervention made by the Trump Administration in the wake of decades of tensions. It is the second combined strike effort by the US and Israel in eight months, coming after a 12-day war in June 2025.
“Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime,” said Trump.
The US Department of Defense posted on X that the joint military operation was named “Operation Epic Fury”. It came after the US’ most significant military buildup in the Middle East since the Iraq War and in the wake of the Trump Administration’s successful kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, January.
President Trump has said the ongoing US strikes on Iran could last four weeks. Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said: “It’s always been a four-week process. We figured it will be four weeks or so. It’s always been about a four-week process so – as strong as it is, it’s a big country, it’ll take four weeks – or less.”
Iran’s regime was born out of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that culminated in the ousting of the last Shah of Iran and the overthrow of the Iranian monarchy. The Iranian people have held protests across Iran at various times over the years with protests that began in December 2025 being stopped with a brutal crackdown by Iranian authorities and the internet being cut off in January.
Iranians have taken to the streets to celebrate the death of Khamenei who had been in control of the country for over 36 years. Many hope for the return of Reza Pahlavi, son of the last Shah of Iran.
“They trust me as a transitional leader. Not as the future king or future president or future whatever, I’m totally focused on my mission in life, which is let me bring the country to a point that they can make that free choice. That would be enough for me having said mission accomplished.” Pahlavi said in an interview with CBs News’ “60 Minutes”.
There is, however, much uncertainty around the stability of the region and the Iranian people’s future as the Iranian regime struggles to keep control.
“I do not believe Donald Trump has good intentions or a plan as it pertains to the future of Iran,” said Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari, an Arizona Democrat and one of two members of Congress with Iranian heritage said on X.
In Milwaukee, dozens took to the streets on Saturday to protest the conflict, believing the U.S. should not be involved in another war in the Middle East.