What We Know So Far: Supreme Leader’s Compound Hit and Iran’s Retaliatory Strikes

The US and Israel have launched a large-scale attack on Iran.

President Donald Trump said the US had begun “major combat operations” and urged Iranians to overthrow their clerical rulers once they were complete.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the compound of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had been destroyed in “a powerful, surprise strike” and that there were many signs that he was “gone”.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said earlier that Khamenei was alive “as far as I know”. He also denounced the strikes as “wholly unprovoked, illegal, and illegitimate”.

Iran responded to the attack by launching missiles towards Israel and four Gulf Arab countries which host US military bases: Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE.Media caption,

Videos shared online show aftermath of strikes

What is happening in Iran?

Shortly after 09:30 local time (06:00 GMT) on Saturday, Iranian media reported explosions in the capital, Tehran. Pictures showed smoke over the city’s Jomhouri Square and Hassan Abad Square.

Explosions were also reportedly heard in several other cities across the country, including Karaj, near Tehran, Isfahan and Qom in the centre of the country, and Kermanshah in the west.

Videos circulating on social media showed people running in panic near sites of explosions. The sound of screams and crying could be heard in the background.

Footage from Tehran verified by the BBC showed explosions within 1km (0.6 miles) of Leadership House, the compound of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ultimate power in Iran.

Satellite imagery obtained by the BBC also showed signs of significant damage in the compound, including blackened buildings, debris and a column of smoke.

It was not immediately clear whether Khamenei was there at the time of the strikes.

When asked about the supreme leader’s health on Saturday afternoon, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei told the BBC he was “not in a situation to confirm anything”.

The office of President Masoud Pezeshkian in the capital was also reportedly targeted. Iranian state TV said President Masoud Pezeshkian was “safe” and he later put out a statement.

An Israeli military official later briefed journalists that Israeli and US forces had targeted three gatherings of Iranian officials, and that several senior figures had been eliminated.

Despite a near-total internet blackout that monitors detected late on Saturday morning, several further waves of strikes and explosions were reported throughout Saturday.

Iran’s state news agency, Irna, said there were explosions in Tehran, Karaq and Qom, as well as the western provinces of Lorestan, Hamadan, Kermanshah and Ilam; Tabriz in the north west; and parts of the southern Gulf province of Hormozgan, including Qeshm Island.

There were also reports of blasts in the western city of Dezful; the outskirts of Shiraz and Kerman in the south; Kordestan and West Azerbaijan in the north-west; the central province of Markazi; Qazvin and Zanjan in the north, and Sistan Baluchestan in the south-east.

On Saturday evening, a spokesman for the Iranian Red Crescent told local media 24 of Iran’s 31 provinces had been hit in US and Israeli strikes.

He also said a total of 201 people had been killed and 747 others injured across the country as of 20:45 (17:15 GMT), without providing a regional breakdown.

State media said at least 85 people had been killed in an Israeli strike on a primary school for girls in Minab, Hormozgan province. The BBC has not been able to verify the reports.

Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation has said the country’s airspace is closed until further notice.

What have the US and Israel said?

The first statement on Saturday morning came from Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, who said his country had “launched a pre-emptive strike against Iran to remove threats” and warned Israelis to prepare for retaliatory missile and drone attacks.

Just over an hour later, Trump posted a video on Truth Social confirming US involvement in the strikes and saying the objective was “to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime”.

“We’re going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally again obliterated. We’re going to annihilate their navy. We’re going to ensure that the region’s terrorist proxies can no longer destabilise the region or the world and attack our forces,” he added.

“And we will ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.”

It came after weeks of threats from Trump that he would order military action if Iran did not agree a new deal over its nuclear programme.

Iran has said repeatedly that its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful and that it does not seek to obtain nuclear weapons.

Trump also told members of Iran’s armed forces could either lay down their weapons and be given “complete immunity”, or “face certain death”.

He also urged Iranian civilians to stay in their homes and prepare to overthrow the clerical establishment.

“When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel and the US had “operation to remove the existential threat posed by the terrorist regime in Iran”.

Thanking Trump, he reiterated his message that Iran “must not be allowed to arm itself with nuclear weapons that would enable it to threaten all of humanity”.

And he similarly said the strikes would “create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their destiny into their own hands”.

“The time has come for all segments of the people in Iran… to rid themselves of the yoke of tyranny and bring about a free and peace-seeking Iran.”

Later, Netanyahu announced that the initial strikes had “eliminated senior officials in the ayatollahs’ regime, Revolutionary Guards commanders, senior figures in the nuclear programme”.

The US military’s Central Command said in a statement on Saturday evening that US and Israeli forces had begun striking targets to “dismantle the Iranian regime’s security apparatus, prioritising locations that posed an imminent threat”. They reportedly included command-and-control facilities, air defence capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) meanwhile announced that about 200 fighter jets had taken part in what it called an “extensive attack against the missile array and the defence systems” in western and central Iran.

The jets simultaneously dropped hundreds of munitions on about 500 targets, including aerial defence systems and missile launchers, and severely degraded Iran’s offensive capabilities, it added.

The IDF’s chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, said the Israeli and US political and military leadership had undertaken a “deep and comprehensive joint operational planning process” for Saturday’s attacks since the 12-day war between Israel and Iran last June, during which the US carried out strikes on three key Iranian nuclear facilities.

How has Iran responded?

Iran’s foreign minister accused Israel and the US of launching a war that was “wholly unprovoked, illegal, and illegitimate”.

“Our powerful armed forces are prepared for this day and will teach the aggressors the lesson they deserve,” Araghchi wrote on X.

The Iranian defence ministry also vowed to deliver a “crushing and regret-inducing” to what it called the “savage attack” by Israel and the US.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency cited the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) as saying its forces had responded to the strikes by striking multiple sites in Israel as well as five major US military facilities in the region – Al Udeid airbase in Qatar, Al Dhafra airbase in the United Arab Emirates, the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait, and Muwaffaq Salti airbase in Jordan.

The IRGC also said its naval forces a US combat support vessel had come under “severe blows” from missiles, and that a US FP-132 radar system in Qatar had been “completely destroyed”, according to the report.

The European Union’s naval mission in the region, EUNAVFOR ASPIDES, meanwhile said that the IRGC had sent radio messages to vessels warning that “no ship is allowed to pass the Strait of Hormuz” in the Gulf, through which about 20% of global oil and gas shipments pass.

US Central Command said that its forces had “successfully defended against hundreds of Iranian missile and drone attacks” on Saturday.

It added that no US casualties or combat-related injuries had been reported and that damage to US installations in the region was “minimal and has not impacted operations”.

In Israel, Israeli media reported that Iran launched about 150 ballistic missiles towards Israel, mostly in small salvos, as well as dozens of attack drones.

Air defence systems intercepted a number of the missiles, while others struck open areas, they added.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said it treated a teenager for shrapnel-related injuries in central Israel, and that a man was injured by a blast shockwave in the north. A second person in the north was injured after falling from a height in the wake of a missile impact, it added.

The UAE’s defence ministry said its air defence systems dealt with a “blatant attack involving Iranian ballistic missiles” and intercepted a number of them.

However, a Pakistani civilian was killed by falling debris in the city of Abu Dhabi, local authorities said. Another four people were injured at the landmark Palm development in Dubai.

Kuwait’s defence ministry said three Kuwaiti soldiers were injured by shrapnel when Ali Al Salem airbase, which houses US personnel, was targeted by Iranian missiles and drones.

A drone also struck Kuwait’s international airport, causing minor injuries and some material damage.

Bahrain’s interior ministry said three residential buildings in Manama and Muharraq were damaged by drone attacks and falling debris from an intercepted missile.

The Bahraini government also reported that the service centre of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet was subjected to a missile attack.

Qatar said its armed forces had intercepted several waves of missiles launched towards the country. A number of explosions were heard in the capital, Doha.

Is it safe to travel to the region?

Major airlines have diverted or cancelled flights to the Middle East, citing safety, and have apologised to customers.

Wizz Air has suspended flights until 7 March in Israel, Dubai and Abu Dhabi and Amman in Jordan, and in Saudi Arabia until Tuesday.

British Airways has cancelled flights to Tel Aviv and Bahrain until Wednesday, while Saturday’s service to Amman is grounded.

Kuwait’s aviation authority said it was halting all flights to Iran until further notice, according to state media.

Emirates has temporarily suspended its operations to and from Dubai. Lufthansa, Air India, Virgin Atlantic and Turkish Airlines have also announced cancellations.

Some countries in the region – including Iraq and Jordan – have also closed their airspace. The UAE said it has “partially and temporarily” closed its airspace as a precaution, state media reported.

Meanwhile, the UK Foreign Office travel guidance for Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Oman, is now advising travellers to “remain vigilant, follow local authority advice and take shelter if advised”.

Source: BBC