US and Israel strike Iran, explosions across Tehran spark regional missile reprisals

The United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran Saturday, Feb. 28, producing explosions across Tehran and other cities and triggering immediate Iranian missile and drone retaliation aimed at Israel and U.S. military facilities across the Gulf, officials and state media said.

Airbus satellite imagery cited by CNN showed black smoke rising over the compound of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and PBS reported the first apparent strike occurred near Khamenei’s offices. Edition CNN, citing two Israeli sources, said Israel’s strikes targeted senior Iranian figures, including Khamenei, President Masoud Pezeshkian and armed forces chief Abdolrahim Mousavi. Those attributions have not been independently confirmed by Iranian authorities.

Al Jazeera reported explosions in multiple Iranian cities and said missiles struck districts that house key government ministries and military compounds. Iranian state media and NBC reported smoke and blasts in central Tehran, widespread traffic as parents rushed to collect children from schools, and an internet blackout across much of the country, a monitoring group told NBC.

Iran responded, Al Jazeera and NBC said, with waves of missiles and drones fired toward Israel and at military bases in the Middle East where U.S. forces are stationed. Edition CNN listed Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates as among the countries Iran struck. Kuwait’s Ministry of Defence told Al Jazeera that Ali al-Salem Air Base was attacked by ballistic missiles and that Kuwaiti air defenses intercepted all of the incoming missiles.

Israeli authorities reported intercepting incoming missiles as well. Channel 12, cited by Al Jazeera, said a nine‑storey building in northern Israel was hit after intercepts and that one man suffered minor injuries from interceptor shrapnel. NBC reported explosions heard in Dubai and noted sheltered populations in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem after air-raid alerts.

U.S. and allied officials framed the strikes as sweeping and severe. CNN described President Donald Trump’s assessment that the campaign would “lay waste to the country’s military, obliterate its nuclear program, and could even topple its regime.” In remarks carried by PBS and NBC, Trump urged Iranians to “take over your government.” NBC also quoted Trump saying, “We may have casualties in future,” and said U.S. officials described the strikes as significant and possibly lasting several days.

Iranian officials denied some U.S. claims and sought to limit wider escalation. NBC reported Iran’s foreign minister telling NBC News that Tehran was “willing to de-escalate and is only attacking American military bases” and that the supreme leader was still alive “as far as I know.” The foreign minister also told NBC that dozens of children had been killed in a strike on a school, a claim NBC attributed to Iranian officials and agencies and that remains unverified.

The strikes unfolded amid sensitive diplomacy. Edition CNN noted that Oman’s foreign minister had said hours earlier that a breakthrough in talks with the U.S. had brought a peace deal “within our reach.” International reaction was swift: NBC reported condemnation of the escalation from the U.K., Germany, France and the U.N. secretary-general.

With communications disrupted in Iran and multiple governments reporting attacks or interceptions across the Gulf, the short-term humanitarian and geopolitical consequences remain uncertain. Journalists and analysts say casualty counts, the identity of specific targets and the full scope of damage will require independent verification from defense ministries, hospital sources and satellite imagery in the days ahead.