The first bombs hit central Tehran on Saturday morning local time, as the working week began. Local footage shows civilians running in horror as blasts rocked the capital, many close to the compound of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.
US President Donald Trump and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that 89-year-old Khamenei, who has ruled Iran since 1989 and recently quashed protests with a bloody crackdown leaving thousands dead, is now dead himself.
Iranian state media has now confirmed Khamenei’s death, but did not comment on its cause.
The attack follows an assault on Iranian nuclear facilities in June last year and a rapid US military buildup that began in January and includes the deployment of two aircraft carriers, the USS Gerald R Ford and the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Here is how the attack unfolded.
February 26
A third round of negotiations between Iran and the US facilitated by Oman in Switzerland conclude with Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi saying in a social media post that “significant progress” had been made.
Later he told CBS that he was confident that a peace deal was within reach after Iran agreed that it would degrade current stockpiles of enriched nuclear material, and cease stockpiling further material.
February 27
Trump says he prefers diplomacy, but warns military options remain open to him.
February 28
5.30PM AEDT
Around this time, the first strikes are reported to have hit Iran, with locals reporting hearing blasts in Tehran and other cities and military sites around the country.
6.30PM AEDT
Trump releases a video address confirming the attack.
“A short time ago the United States began major combat operations in Iran,” he said. “Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard terrible people.”
He urged Iranians to revolt. “When we are finished, take over your government,” Trump said. “It will be yours to take. This will probably be your only chance for generations.”
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz confirms Israel has launched a “preemptive attack against Iran to remove threats against the state of Israel.”
Israel calls the attack Operation Roaring Lion, while the US labels its action Operation Epic Fury.
The AFP reports strikes in Tehran appear to target the offices of Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Schools and workplaces in Israel are closed as Iran launches missiles and drones in retaliation, with air raid sirens sounding across the country.
Al Jazeera reports Iranian missile attacks launched on facilities linked to US forces across the region, including Al Udeid airbase in Qatar, Al-Salem airbase in Kuwait, Al-Dhafra airbase in the United Arab Emirates and the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain as well as sites in Jordan.
Over the coming hours, blasts were reported across the region as Iran stuck back, with a fire breaking out at the luxury Fairmont The Palm Hotel in Dubai, the UAE’s largest city, as well as at the Dubai International Airport where four people were injured according to the Dubai Media Office.
March 1
12.07AM AEDT
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi says on X that dozens of children were killed when a missile hit a girls primary school in southern Iran.
Minutes later, a ministry of health spokesman, Hossein Kermanpour, says that in “the most bitter news”, 60 children were killed and 80 wounded. State media later reports the death toll to be over 100.
1.35AM AEDT
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemns the attacks.
“I condemn today’s military escalation in the Middle East. The use of force by the United States & Israel against Iran, and the subsequent retaliation by Iran across the region, undermine international peace & security,” says his statement.
“All Member States must respect their obligations under international law, including the Charter of the @UN. The Charter clearly prohibits ‘the threat of the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.’
“I call for an immediate cessation of hostilities & de-escalation. Failing to do so risks a wider regional conflict with grave consequences for civilians & regional stability. I strongly encourage all parties to return immediately to the negotiating table.”
2.53AM AEDT
The Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reports that ships in the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz, through which 25 per cent of the world’s seaborne oil moves, are “receiving repeated high-frequency messages from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stating that no ship is permitted to pass”.
5:09AM AEDT
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says there are “many indications” that Ayatollah Khamenei is dead.
5.45AM AEDT
The Israel Defence Forces claim to have conducted “the largest military flyover in IDF history” in its attack on Iran, with 200 jets striking the missile array and the aerial defence systems of the C in western and central Iran, hitting over 500 targets.
8.19AM AEDT
An IDF spokesman confirms it had launched coordinated strikes in cooperation with the US on gatherings of senior figures of Iran’s regime.
The spokesman claimed the strikes had killed figures including defence council secretary Ali Shamkhani, Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander Mohammad Pakpour, Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, Khamenei’s chief military secretary Mohammad Shirazi, Iranian emergency military intelligence chief Saleh Asadi and chairman of the SPND (Iran’s nuclear weapons research organisation) Hossein Jabal Amelian.
Appearing on NBC news on Saturday night in the US, Trump says he believes reports of Khamenei’s death are true.
Later he posts on Truth Social, “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead. This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS.”
Israeli officials said Israel targeted Khamenei’s sons, but intelligence assessments suggest they survived the strikes, including Mojtaba Khamenei, who has been discussed as a possible successor to his father, Axios has reported.
In Tehran, reports of Khamenei’s death is greeted with celebrations in the street by some residents, according to CNN, while government supporters gather to condemn the killing.
Analysts with the Washington DC-based think tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies write that they expected Operations Epic Fury and Roaring Lion are likely to be the start of a prolonged conflict with Iran.
“The U.S.-Israel coalition has moved beyond proliferation targets and is seeking to destroy the Iranian government entirely. This conflict has already spread across the Middle East, involving strikes in more than half a dozen countries within the first few hours.
“U.S. and Israeli strikes may have significantly reduced the risk of short-term Iranian proliferation, but kinetic strikes may introduce new types of proliferation risks.”
with Angus Dalton, Cormac Lally, Aresna Villanueva and Nathan Perri
