US and Israel attack Iran as Trump says ‘major combat operations’ under way – live

Key events

Show key events only

Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature

Iran’s foreign ministry issued a statement condemning the attacks as a violation of the UN charter and calling on all states, especially Islamic states, to condemn America’s aggression firmly and for the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to assume his responsibilities.

The ministry said the Iranian people would be proud that they had tried to do all they could to prevent the criminal aggression through diplomacy

“Now is the time to defend the homeland and confront the enemy’s military aggression. We have been more prepared for defence than ever before, as we promised.

“All member states of the United Nations, especially regional and Islamic countries, members of the Non-Aligned Movement and all states that feel responsible for international peace and security, are expected to firmly condemn this act of aggression and take immediate and collective action to confront it, which has undoubtedly exposed the peace and security of the region and the world to an unprecedented threat.”

US navy fleet 'subject to missile attack' in Bahrain

Bahrain has confirmed that the US navy’s fifth fleet in Manama has come under attack.

Iran launch missiles at US base in Bahrain - report

Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency has reported that Iran conducted missile attacks on a US base in Bahrain.

The US navy’s fifth fleet headquarters is located in the capital Manama.

Gulf countries close airspace

Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE have closed their airspace after reports of explosions across the region.

So far, there have been reports of explosions in Abu Dhabi in the UAE, Manama in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.

The UK should resist being drawn into a conflict in the Middle East, a senior Labour MP has said.

Dame Emily Thornberry, chairwoman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme she did not think the US-Israeli strikes were legal.

She said: “As far as I’m aware, we’re not involved in this. There’s not been British agreement to be involved in this, and I think that’s the right thing to do. I don’t think that there’s a legal basis for for this action.”

She added: “They were not under imminent threat, and so it’s therefore difficult to to see what the legal justification is.”

Asked whether the UK should resist being drawn into the conflict, Dame Emily said: “Absolutely, unless we’re attacked ourselves, which, as I say, unfortunately this morning, we don’t know whether we will be because there may be attacks by the Iranians on Western bases in the Arab Gulf, and so then the situation may change.

“We just don’t know.”

The US strike on Iran revealed Donald Trump’s “true colours”, Dmitry Medvedev said in one of the first reactions from Moscow.

Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s security council and former president, accused Washington of using negotiations with Tehran as a pretext for military action.

“No one was ever really interested in negotiating,” he wrote on Telegram.

The joint US–Israel attack on Iran has put Vladimir Putin in a very tough spot.

Tehran is one of Moscow’s staunchest allies and has supported Russia’s war effort in Ukraine by supplying drones and missiles.

Meanwhile, Iran recently signed an arms agreement with Russia to acquire thousands of advanced shoulder-fired missiles to strengthen its air defences.

But despite the risk of losing a key ally, Putin is unlikely to directly confront Trump. The Kremlin leader does not want to alienate him, viewing his support as crucial to increasing pressure on Ukraine to concede to Russia’s demands in the ongoing war with Kyiv.

Iranian officials 'main target' of US-Israel strikes - reports

Iranian officials were the main target of the US-Israel strikes on Iran, sources have told Reuters news agency and the New York Times.

Three Israeli officials familiar with the matter said that if the US and Israel want to kill Iran’s top officials, they had to try and do so in the first wave of strikes, the New York Times reported.

Explosions have now been reported in Kuwait, again another location with multiple US military bases. There are as many as 13,500 US troops stationed in the country, according to some estimates.

Added to the list of airlines cancelling flights after the Iran attacks (see here) is Air France, which has suspended flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut today.

Various media are reporting explosions in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi in the UAE, both places where there are US military bases. These reports are yet to be confirmed.

Authorities in Qatar – another location which houses a US military base – have issued mobile phone alerts urging people to stay indoors, according to Al Jazeera. Earlier, the Qatar defence ministry said that an Iranian missile was intercepted by its air defence systems.

A short while ago, Israel confirmed Iran had launched retaliatory missile attacks. We’re getting images sent to us from Israel now:

A person takes shelter as sirens sounded in Jerusalem. Photograph: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images

Israelis enter an underground shelter. Photograph: Rami Shlush/Reuters

A man carries two children as he runs to take shelter after sirens sounded in Tel Aviv. Photograph: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images

'No red lines' in Iran's response to attacks, says official

A senior Iranian official said there would be “no red lines” to the regime’s response to the Israeli and US strikes on Iran.

“We are telling Israel clearly to prepare for what is coming,” the official told Al Jazeera.

“Our response will be public, and there are no red lines… All American and Israeli assets and interests in the Middle East have become legitimate targets.”

Flights suspended and airspaces closed in region

• Wizz Air has suspended all flights to and from Israel, Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE and Amman in Jordan, effective immediately until 7 March.

• Lufthansa has suspended flights to and from Dubai, Tel Aviv in Israel, Beirut in Lebanon and Muscat in Oman this weekend.

• KLM has cancelled flights from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv.

• Oman Air has suspended all flights to Iran and Israel.

• Kuwait has suspended all flights to Iran until further notice.

• Israel has cancelled all civilian flights and closed its airspace.

A former UK national security adviser said US and Israeli strikes against Iran were not “legal in a way that the UK would recognise”.

Lord Peter Ricketts told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “None of this, I think, is in any sense legal in a way that the UK would recognise.

“There was really no imminent threat to the US. This is action that they chose to undertake, or were dragged into it by the Israelis.”

Lord Ricketts added that the Israeli government had “pre-empted any risk that the US-Iranian negotiations were going to reach some sort of deal on the nuclear programme”.

What we know so far

• The US has launched “major combat operations” in Iran, designed to eliminate “imminent threats” from the country’s regime, Donald Trump announced on Saturday.

• The operation is “massive and ongoing”, the US president said in a video on social media, pledging to use “overwhelming strength and devastating force” to destroy Iranian missiles and ensure it cannot develop a nuclear weapon.

• Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacks aimed to “remove the existential threat” posed by the Iranian regime, as he urged the people of Iran to topple the government.

• A short time beforehand, Israel said it had launched “preventative” strikes on Iran.

• Sirens were sounded in Israel as the IDF said Iran had fired a “barrage of missiles” in retaliation.

• Explosions were heard in Tehran, the Iranian capital, where smoke could be seen rising on the skyline, and several other cities. Iran has closed its airspace.

• “The hour of your freedom is at hand,” Trump told Iranian citizens, urging them to “take over your government” once the operation is over.

• Talks between the US and Iran on Tehran’s nuclear programme ended inconclusively on Friday, with a suggestion that further discussions would be held next week. Trump had said he was “not happy” with the progress of discussions.

• Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is not in Tehran, and has been transferred to a secure location, an official told Reuters on Saturday.

Netanyahu: Attacks on Iran to remove 'existential threat'

Netanyahu said the attacks on Iran were aimed at removing an “existential threat” as he thanked his “great friend” Trump.

He said:

Israel and the United States embarked on an operation to remove the existential threat posed by the terrorist regime in Iran. I thank our great friend, president Donald Trump, for his historic leadership.

Netanyahu: US-Israel attacks against Iran will allow Iranians to topple Ayatollah regime

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a recorded speech to the nation, saying the joint US-Israeli attacks against Iran will allow for the Iranian people to topple the regime and establish a “free, peace-seeking Iran”.

He said:

For 47 years, the Ayatollah regime has cried ‘Death to Israel’, ‘Death to America’. It spilled our blood, murdered many Americans and slaughtered its own people. We must not allow this murderous terrorist regime to arm itself with nuclear weapons that will allow it to endanger all of humanity.

It’s time for all the people of Iran – Persians, Kurds, Azeris, Balochis and Akhvakhs – to shed from themselves the burden of tyranny and bring forth a free and peace-seeking Iran.

Netanyahu said the operation will allow for the Iranian people “to seize their fate”.

The IDF is reporting that Iran is continuing to launch a “barrage of missiles” at Israel.