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Thu, Mar 5, 2026
Breitbart

**Livewire** Trump: 'Major Combat Operations' Underway to 'Obliterate' Iranian Missile Factories

**Livewire** Trump: 'Major Combat Operations' Underway to 'Obliterate' Iranian Missile Factories

The United States has launched a major military operation alongside Israeli forces against the Islamist regime in Iran on Saturday, in what is being described as one of the largest regional concentrations of “American military firepower in a generation”. U.S. President Donald Trump has confirmed that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “is dead” and has called on the people of Iran to rise up and topple the government in Tehran.

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**Live updates below. All updates in Eastern time**

9:05 AM: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that the interim council government formed in the wake of the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has “started its work”, the Times of Israel reported. Pezeshkian said that the Iranian military still plans to “crush the enemy’s bases”.

8:50 AM: At least one person has been killed and 32 wounded in Kuwait amid Iranian strikes, Health Ministry spokesman Abdullah al-Sanad said on Sunday. Those injured were “all of foreign nationalities” the ministry said in a statement.

7:45 AM: At least six people were reportedly killed, and around 20 were injured during an Iranian missile strike on the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, located about 20 miles west of Jerusalem. According to the Magen David Adom ambulance service, among those injured was a young girl, who is in serious condition, the Times of Israel reports.

7:30 AM: According to shipping data tracked by the Times of London, at least 150 ships are currently stranded on either side of the Strait of Hormuz sea passage chokepoint between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Saturday afternoon that the critical oil route would be shut down amid the conflict with the United States and Israel.

Meanwhile, in an interview with the BBC, British Defence Secretary John Healey said that the UK’s “primary aim” is to ensure that Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon, but refused to say whether London views the U.S.-Israeli strikes as legitimate. He said that it will be “for the U.S. to set out the legal basis of the action that it took”.

7:05 AM: Jerusalem’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz, said on Sunday that strikes will continue against Iran “for as long as necessary” and will only cease once the “objectives are achieved”, the Times of Israel reports.

“We all hope that the activity will also lead to the outcome we want, that the Iranian people will be able to remove this regime for themselves, for us, and for the entire world,” he said.

7:00 AM: Russia’s Vladimir Putin sent public condolences to mourn the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, whom he described as an “outstanding statesman” who helped improve relations between Moscow and Tehran. The Russian leader said that the U.S.-Israeli strikes against the Iranian regime were a “cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law.”

6:55 AM: At least nine people have been killed after police opened fire on a pro-Iranian Shiite Muslim mob that stormed the U.S. consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi on Sunday in response to the killing of Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei.

6:44 AM: The Islamist Iranian regime has continued to strike targets across the Middle East following the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, reportedly including in the Qatari capital Doha, Dubai, Bahrain, and Iraq. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that it plans on “continuously targeting extensive US and Zionist regime [Israel] military and security targets with more advanced missiles.”

The U.S. Embassy in the Bahraini capital of Manama has urged American citizens to avoid hotels after a reported Iranian strike on the Crowne Plaza hotel in the city.

1:10 AM: Iran’s Secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security (SCNS), Ali Larijani, said on Sunday that the Islamist regime will form a “temporary leadership council” in the wake of the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during U.S-Israel strikes.

The alleged architect of the recent violent crackdown on anti-regime protests earlier this year said that the council will be formed by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, alongside Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i and a jurist selected from the Guardian Council.

“We had a meeting yesterday and some arrangements were made, and the leadership council will be formed today. God willing, a period of enlightenment will be provided for the nation,” Larijani said.

12:45 AM: U.S. President Donald Trump has warned the Iranian regime not to launch more strikes on Sunday, as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) vowed to do.

“THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE! Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP,” he wrote on Truth Social.

12:00 AM: The Wall Street Journal reports that the United States and Israel patiently waited for the “rare opportunity” of senior political and military leaders holding a meeting with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei so that multiple top targets could be killed simultaneously. That opportunity “finally came on Saturday,” the paper reported.

According to the Journal, intel officials identified Saturday as having three high-priority meetings at the Ayatollah’s compound, marking a very “unique” set of circumstances. Thus, Washington and Jerusalem reportedly decided to take the unusual step of launching strikes during broad daylight. The report claimed that 30 Israeli bombs were dropped on Khamenei’s compound, reducing it to rubble.

10:35 PM: Iranian state media has confirmed that Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Mohammad Pakpour and Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani were killed during U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.

10:15 PM: U.S. President Donald Trump told CBS News on Saturday evening that there are “some good candidates” to replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during American-Israeli strikes on the Islamist Iranian regime.

When pressed on who he had in mind, President Trump said: “I know exactly who, but I can’t tell you.”

10:05 PM: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran has vowed retribution against the “murderers” of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying that it will wage the “most ferocious offensive operation in history” against Israel and U.S. bases in the region, according to the Times of Israel.

“The hand of revenge of the Iranian nation for a severe, decisive and regrettable punishment for the murderers of the Imam of the Ummah will not let go of them,” the IRGC reportedly said in a statement.

9:55 PM: Speaking to reporters in Sydney on Sunday morning local time, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “will not be mourned”. He added that the slain Iranian Supreme Leader “was responsible for orchestrating attacks on Australian soil”.

The Anglosphere nations of Australia and Canada were among the earliest international supporters of President Donald Trump’s decision to strike at the Iranian regime on Saturday.

9:30 PM: U.S. Central Command has released fresh footage of American strikes on Iranian military infrastructure, saying that it delivered “swift and decisive action as directed.” Earlier, CENTCOM reported that U.S. forces suffered zero casualties during the retaliatory attacks from Iran.

9:10 PM: Iranian state media Nour News has announced that there will be 40 days of public mourning and seven days of holiday to honor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whom they have confirmed was killed amid U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.

“This great scholar and mujahid sacrificed his life for the advancement of Iran and Islam and will be gathered with the Imam and the Commander of the Martyrs, God willing,” the state outlet said of Khamenei.

8:45 PM: Iranian state media has confirmed that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in U.S-Israeli strikes, saying: “To Allah we belong and to Him we shall return,” the New York Times reported.

8:20 PM: Iranian state media has reportedly admitted that multiple members of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s family were killed during U.S-Israeli strikes, including his daughter, grandchild, daughter-in-law, and son-in-law, according to Reuters. So far, state media has yet to confirm President Donald Trump’s assertion that the Supreme Leader was killed on Saturday.

7:50 PM: U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said that Operation Epic Fury in Iran should demonstrate to the enemies of the United States that if they threaten “Americans anywhere in the world — as Iran has — then we will hunt you down, and we will kill you.”

Secretary Hegseth described the strikes on the Islamist regime as “the most lethal, most complex, and most-precision aerial operation in history.”

“The Iranian regime had their chance, yet refused to make a deal — and now they are suffering the consequences. For almost fifty years, Iran has targeted and killed Americans, always seeking the world’s most powerful weapons to further their radical cause. Last night, unlike any previous president, President Trump began dealing with this cancer,” he wrote.

“The United States did not start this conflict, but we will finish it,” Hegseth continued. “We will not tolerate powerful missiles targeting the American people. Those missiles will be destroyed, along with Iran’s missile production. The Iranian navy will be destroyed. And, as President Trump has said his entire life, Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.”

“Our warriors are the best in the world, and they are fully unleashed to achieve our objectives. May God’s providence protect them in this vital mission.”

6:40 PM: Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon told an emergency Security Council meeting that Jerusalem and Washington struck Iran on Saturday to prevent “an existential threat before it became irreversible.”

“We acted out of necessity,” he said, according to the Times of Israel, adding: “Diplomacy was exhausted.”

Meanwhile, Iranian ambassador to the U.N. Amir Saeid Iravani alleged that Israel and the United States had committed “war crimes” during an “unprovoked and premeditated aggression against Iran”. Among the war crimes listed by the Iranian diplomat was an alleged attack on an Iranian girls’ elementary school in Minab, which Iranian officials claimed killed over 100 people. U.S. Central Command has said that it is investigating the reports, but said that “Unlike Iran, we have never — and will never — target civilians.”

6:20 PM: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told an emergency meeting of the Security Council in New York that Operation Epic Fury has “specific and strategic objectives” in Iran, including the dismantling of Tehran’s missile capabilities that threaten allies, degrading the regime’s naval abilities to prevent Iran from destabilizing international waters, to thwart its proxy network of terrorists, and to ensure that the Islamist regime can “never” threaten the world with nuclear weapons.

“This is a moment in history that requires moral clarity, and President Trump has met the moment,” Waltz said, adding that the strikes were “lawful actions”.

The ambassador also said that “no responsible nation can ignore persistent aggression and violence”, citing attacks conducted by Iran on “hundreds of U.S Marines in Lebanon, thousands of troops in Iraq,” the taking of American hostages, and the dozens of assaults on ships in the Red Sea.

“Iran has armed and financed militant organizations that undermine lawful governments and destabilize an already fragile region. Iran’s continued pursuit of advanced missile capabilities coupled with its refusal to abandon nuclear ambitions despite diplomatic opportunities presents a grave and mounting danger,” Waltz said.

“With his death, the Islamic Republic has effectively come to an end and will soon be consigned to the dustbin of history,” the son of the late Shah of Iran said.

Pahlavi, who is widely tipped to lead a potential interim government should the Islamist regime fall in Tehran, said that “any attempt by the remnants of the regime to appoint a successor to Khamenei is doomed to failure from the outset. Whoever they place in his stead will have neither legitimacy nor survival; and without doubt, they will also be complicit in the crimes of this regime.”

He redoubled his call for the military, security, and police forces to stand down and abandon the “collapsing regime” and take their “last chance to join the people” and “ensure Iran’s stable transition to a free and prosperous future; and to have a share in building that future.”

“This marks the beginning of our great national celebration; but it is not the end of the road. Stay vigilant and prepared. The time for a massive and decisive presence in the streets is very near. Together, united and steadfast, we will secure the final victory, and we will celebrate Iran’s freedom across our Ahura-created homeland.”

5:15 PM: The Times of Israel reported that a woman in her 40s was killed during an Iranian ballistic missile strike on the city of Tel Aviv. According to the Magen David Adom ambulance service, 20 others were injured during the attack, including a man in his 40s who is in serious condition.

4:45 PM: U.S. President Donald Trump has confirmed that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “is dead”. Writing on his Truth Social platform, President Trump described Khamenei as “one of the most evil people in History.”

“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. He was unable to avoid our Intelligence and Highly Sophisticated Tracking Systems and, working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do,” President Trump wrote.

“This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country. We are hearing that many of their IRGC, Military, and other Security and Police Forces, no longer want to fight, and are looking for Immunity from us,” he continued.

“As I said last night, ‘Now they can have Immunity, later they only get Death!’ Hopefully, the IRGC and Police will peacefully merge with the Iranian Patriots, and work together as a unit to bring back the Country to the Greatness it deserves. That process should soon be starting in that, not only the death of Khamenei but the Country has been, in only one day, very much destroyed and, even, obliterated. The heavy and pinpoint bombing, however, will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

4:40 PM: Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that President Donald Trump has spoken with the leaders of the UK, Kuwait, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to discuss the military operation in Iran. Meanwhile, the White House has released its first photograph of President Trump monitoring the strikes in Iran.

4:05 PM: NBC reporter Kristen Welker said that she asked U.S. President Donald Trump if he could confirm the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. She said that President Trump responded by saying: “I’ve spoken to a lot of people. We feel that is a correct story… A large number of their leaders have also been killed.”

Welker further reported that President Trump confirmed that a large number of the Iranian leadership have been killed and said that the operation is already being seen as a “success”.

3:55 PM: Fox News has reported that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was assassinated and killed during an Israeli air strike on his compound in Tehran. According to the Jerusalem Post, pictures of the Ayatollah’s body taken from the rubble were shown to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

An Israeli military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin told the New York Times that they had killed several top Iranian defense officials, including Defence Minister Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh, Revolutionary Guards Corps chief Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, and Ali Shamkhani, a top advisor to Khamenei. Defrin did not mention the Supreme Leader among the killed, according to the Times.

3:45 PM: U.S. Central Command has reported that zero U.S. casualties were recorded during retaliatory strikes from Iran on Saturday.

CENTCOM further reported that strikes against U.S. Military facilities only incurred “minor” damage and that no operations were impacted. Central Command described Operation Epic Fury as the “largest regional concentration of American military firepower in a generation.”

***

Original story below…

Joint American-Israeli strikes against Iran took place over night, with U.S. President Donald Trump addressing both the nation and the people of Iran. Announcing the strikes to eliminate “imminent threats from the Iranian regime” which “directly endangers the United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world”, Trump said: “A short time ago, the United States Military began major combat operations in Iran”.

Iranian retaliatory strikes have been launched against Israel.

The strikes are intended to destroy Iran’s stockpiles of missiles and to ‘obliterate’ Iran’s missile production industry, the President said. Most importantly, Trump said, was preventing Iranian nuclear-tipped long-range missiles from ever threatening the American mainland or America’s allies in Europe.

TEHRAN, IRAN – FEBRUARY 28: (EDITORS NOTE: Retransmission with alternate crop.) A plume of smoke rises after an explosion on February 28, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. After explosions were seen in the Iranian capital, the office of the Israeli Defense Minister issued a statement saying it had launched a preemptive strike against the country. (Photo by Getty Images)

President Trump said:

Iran is the world’s no.1 state sponsor of terror and has recently killed tens of thousands of its own people [… which is] developing long range missiles that can now threaten our very good friends and allies in Europe, our troops stationed overseas, and could seen reach the American homeland.

… for these reasons the United States military has undertaken a massive and ongoing operation to prevent this very wicked radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests. We’re going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It’s going to be totally, again, obliterated.

While noting “every possible step” to minimise threat to U.S. military personnel had been taken, President Trump warned the combat operations afoot were of sufficient scale that there may be casualties. He said:

I do not make this statement lightly, the Iranian regime seeks to kill. The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties. That often happens in war.

But we’re not doing this for now, we’re doing it for the future and it is a noble mission. We pray for every service member as they selflessly risk their lives to ensure Americans and our children will never be threatened by a nuclear-armed Iran. We ask God to protect all of our heroes in harm’s way and we trust that with his help the men and woman of the armed forces will prevail.

The U.S. President called on the armed forces, paramilitary, and police of Iran to lay down their weapons. If they did so they would receive “complete immunity” and be treated fairly, he said, but else would face “certain death”. To the Iranian people, he called on them to take this opportunity to rise up against the government, stating “the hour of your freedom is at hand” and that a second opportunity to take control was likely not coming. He said:

Stay sheltered, don’t leave your home, it’s very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will, probably be your only chance for generations… now is the time to seize control of your destiny

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed his people early Saturday morning stating the joint strikes with the U.S. were to remove the “existential threat”. Netanyahu said: “For 47 years, the Ayatollah regime has called out ‘Death to Israel’ and ‘Death to America.’ It has shed our blood, murdered many Americans, and massacred its own people… This murderous terror regime must not be allowed to arm itself with nuclear weapons that would enable it to threaten all of humanity”, reports The Times of Israel.

Air raid sirens sounded across Israel as Iran launched retaliatory ballistic strikes, it was stated. The Israeli Defence Force said in a series of statements of what it said were multiple Iranian “barrages”: “A short while ago, the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward Israel… At this time, the IAF is operating to intercept and strike threats where necessary to remove the threat.”

Additionally, the BBC reports blasts were heard in Bahrain’s Manama, the home port of the U.S. Fifth Fleet.

People watch as smoke rises on the skyline after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026.(AP Photo)

This story is developing, more follows 

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