Trump: we've begun combat strikes, regime change operations in Iran

President Donald Trump released a video on Truth Social at 2:30 a.m. ET this morning announcing that major U.S. combat operations in Iran were underway. At the end he demanded disarmament by Tehran: "lay down your arms and you will be treated fairly with total immunity or you will face certain death." He also said to "the people of Iran" that "when we are finished the government is yours to take. Your hour of freedom is at hand."

This operation would clearly go beyond the 2025 "Operation Midnight Hammer" in which Trump claimed this morning that the U.S. had "obliterated" Iran's nuclear program. This time he said the U.S. would to "raze their missile industry to the ground” and “annihilate their navy.”

"The men and women of our armed forces will prevail," Trump said before closing the video.

Israel is also involved in the strikes according to reports. Its leadership was saying this morning that they are not engaged in regime change. “However, individuals involved in directing attacks, promoting violence, or executing plans to destroy Israel can be considered legitimate targets if they are part of the operational war machine,” an Israeli military official told reporters.

The Iranian retaliation is reportedly already underway. According to Al Jazeera at around 6:30 a.m. ET the Israelis reported waves of incoming missiles from Iran: "At this time, the Israeli Air Force is operating to intercept and strike threats where necessary to remove the threat.”

Al Jazeera is also reporting an Iranian strike on a U.S. military base in Bahrain, with video showing plumes of smoke. "Two missiles were intercepted over Qatar and explosions were reportedly heard in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia," said the news organization.

After taking nearly eight minutes to run down every Iranian crime for which the U.S. was obligated to attack the country today including the 1980 hostage crisis, killing U.S. troops in the Iraq War, "mass terror," and allegedly working towards (not having) ballistic missiles that can hit to United States, Trump said the negotiations over the nuclear program hadn't worked out, that the Iranians would not foreswear their nuclear weapons program, and this was the only way to assure Iran wouldn't someday get those nuclear weapons. "They just want to practice evil," he said about the talks, which had gone into a third round on Thursday.

This was reminiscent of the June Midnight Hammer attacks in which the U.S. and Iran had also been engaged in multiple rounds of talks when the White House said the Iranians were being intransigent and attacked. Please note, their chief envoy, foreign minister Abbas Araghchi had said numerous times this month that Iran "neither seeks to manufacture nor acquire nuclear weapons"

Dozens of airstrikes are hitting Iran right now, according to officials. Explosions are being heard in the capital of Tehran and smoke is rising from the district that houses the National Security Council and the presidential palace, according to the New York Times, which also reported satellite imagery indicating a black plume of smoke and "extensive damage" at the secure compound of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran. Iranian officials have released a statement saying "senior regime officials, including the heads of the armed forces, are in perfect health.”

According to another statement on the Iranian news agency Fars, an Iranian military spokesperson said this morning that “we will teach Israel and America a lesson they have never experienced in their history. Any base that helps America and Israel will be the target of the Iranian armed forces.”

World reactions starting pouring in, most ranging from opposing the strikes to warning about escalation to outright support. “The regime in Tehran had every opportunity to prevent a violent scenario,” said Ukraine’s foreign ministry on X, adding: “We reaffirm our unwavering position: we wish security, prosperity, and freedom to the Iranian people, as well as stability and prosperity to the Middle East.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu weighed in this morning, calling Iran an “existential threat.”

“The time has come for all sections of the people in Iran… to remove the yoke of tyranny … and bring a free and peace-loving Iran.”

This story is developing and is being updated.