US, Israel strike Iran, trigger retaliations

The United States and Israel on Saturday launched "major combat operations" against Iran, plunging the war-torn Middle East into a new round of violent conflicts, reported Xinhua.

Iran has retaliated with a series of counterattacks against Israel and U.S. targets across the region, with explosions reported in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Saudi Arabia, among other countries.

U.S. President Donald Trump said the objective "is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats" from Iran, and the Israeli Defense Ministry said the country launched a "preemptive" strike against Iran "to remove threats to Israel."

The Israeli military said in a statement that some 200 fighter jets completed an "extensive attack" against the missile array and the defense systems in western and central Iran, marking the largest military flyover in the history of the Israeli Air Force.

In Tehran, missiles hit areas near the offices of both Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian. Several Iranian high-ranking officials were killed, according to the Israeli military. However, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said almost all Iranian officials, except one or two commanders, are "safe and sound and alive."

At least 24 of Iran's 31 provinces were affected by U.S. and Israeli strikes, the Iranian Red Crescent Society reported, adding that at least 201 people were killed and 747 injured in the joint attacks on Iran.

The airstrikes struck a girls' school in southern Iran, and Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said up to 160 people could have been killed there. Iran's president condemned the incident as "inhumane."

Another attack killed at least 15 people in a sports hall in Iran's southern Fars province, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

"In response to the aggression by the hostile and criminal enemy against the Islamic Republic of Iran," the country's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said, "Iran's large-scale missile and drone attack against Israel has started."

The Iranian armed forces said all U.S. military bases in the region are legitimate targets for Iran. According to the Fars news agency, Tehran struck military installations in several Gulf Arab countries hosting U.S. military forces, including Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, and Bahrain. It specifically named Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar and the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain as targets.

An IRGC official said Iran had struck 14 U.S. bases and killed hundreds of U.S. soldiers. Yet Al Jazeera cited a spokesperson for the U.S. military's Central Command as saying that those claims are false.

Iranian media reported that the IRGC has closed the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, declaring the vital oil and gas waterway unsafe due to U.S. and Israeli attacks.

At least two buildings in the greater Tel Aviv region have been hit by Iranian missiles, according to Israel's Ynet news website. So far no fatalities have been reported.

In Kuwait, the Defense Ministry said three members of its armed forces were injured after debris fell at Ali Al Salem Air Base in the country's northwest, which had earlier been targeted by Iranian ballistic missile attacks. UAE state media said one person had been killed in Abu Dhabi, but gave no details.

In response to the sharp regional escalation, Kuwait, Qatar, and Syria, among others, temporarily closed their airspace as a precautionary measure. Several major airlines, including EgyptAir, Emirates, Turkish Airlines, and Saudi Arabian Airlines, canceled a number of flights to key regional hubs due to airspace closures.

The spike in tensions has drawn a flurry of reactions from across the world. In a phone call with his Iranian counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov condemned the "unprovoked armed attack" by the United States and Israel on Iran, and urged an immediate halt to the strikes.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the escalating tensions risk expanding the scope of the conflict and plunging the entire region into chaos. The only way to ensure security and stability, it added, lies in diplomacy and dialogue.

Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi, the mediator of recent Iranian-U.S. negotiations, expressed his dismay in a post on social media. "Active and serious negotiations have yet again been undermined," he said, urging the United States not to get sucked in further.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is closely monitoring the developments in the Middle East. In a statement on X, the nuclear watchdog urged "restraint to avoid any nuclear safety risks to people in the region."

Labeling the regional situation an "immense danger," the Arab League urged all parties involved to work toward rapid de-escalation and spare the region from the devastating consequences of further instability and violence.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk condemned Saturday's strikes in the Middle East and urged all parties to return to negotiations, saying that attacks would only bring "death, destruction and human misery."

The UN Security Council decided to hold a meeting later in the day regarding the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, where UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will act as the speaker.

In a letter to the UN secretary-general, Araghchi said the council must "address the U.S. and Israeli regime's acts of aggression" and "take the necessary and immediate measures to halt this unlawful use of force."

Oil markets, currently closed for the weekend, are bracing for significant price swings next week. Experts worry that the potential for disruption to global oil supplies could trigger a sharper price spike and more prolonged market impact.

The latest flare-up came after the United States and Iran wrapped up their third round of indirect talks earlier this week and agreed to resume negotiations next week.

It is reminiscent of last June when, during negotiations between Washington and Tehran, Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran and triggered the "12-day war," during which the United States bombed Iran's critical nuclear facilities.