Trump declares major combat operations against Iran after joint strikes

President Donald Trump said the U.S. military had begun “major combat operations” against Iran after massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes hit Iranian military targets and sent the region into its most dangerous escalation in years.

U.S. Central Command said Operation Epic Fury began at 1:15 a.m. ET on Feb. 28 and initially targeted Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command-and-control facilities, air defenses, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields. The strikes were designed to blunt Iran’s ability to project force, and Trump said the objective was to defend the American people by eliminating what he described as “imminent threats” from the Iranian regime.

The attack came after weeks of unsuccessful diplomatic negotiations between Washington and Tehran. The U.S. and Israel said the campaign aimed to weaken Iran’s missile arsenal and prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon, but the immediate effect was to widen the conflict rather than contain it.

Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on Israel, U.S. bases in the region and other countries in the Gulf. In its latest statement, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it struck a U.S. base in retaliation after a U.S. strike near Sirik in Hormozgan province, on the outskirts of Bandar Abbas Airport, close to the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state media said the retaliatory strike came at about 4:50 a.m. local time, but did not publicly identify the air base that was hit.

The spiral drew an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Feb. 28, where officials warned that the U.S.-Israeli strikes and Iran’s counterattacks could ignite a wider war in the Middle East. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the military action and said it risked igniting “a chain of events no one could control.” Officials said most Gulf states intercepted the Iranian strikes, but the United Arab Emirates reported one civilian killed by debris from an intercepted missile.

The Strait of Hormuz remained the most volatile pressure point in the confrontation. With Iran warning of consequences for one of the world’s most important shipping lanes, the fighting now carried immediate risks far beyond the battlefield.