Israel and US's looming war on Iran finally comes to a head with waves of air strikes

Israel and the US launched a massive wave of strikes on Iran early on Saturday, abruptly derailing indirect talks between Washington and Tehran that sought to avert a broader escalation.

The strikes, which early Israeli reports said were targeting Iran's leadership,  have killed dozens of people, including many children following an attack on a school.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes sought to "neutralise an existential threat from the Ayatollah regime". Netanyahu also appeared to urge defections from the Iranian armed forces and minority groups, saying that the time was "now" to rise up.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, framed the attacks as being aimed at regime change - a goal he had once adamantly rejected - but also focused on the threat to the US, including Iran's nuclear and missile programmes.

Speaking to Iranians, Trump said: "When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take."

"This will be, probably, your only chance for generations," Trump said. "The hour of your freedom is at hand."

In his televised address, the president also said that Iran's missiles would be "obliterated", and that the US would "annihilate" the Iranian navy.

Omani Foreign Minister Bader Al-Busaidi, who had been at the forefront of mediation efforts, expressed his "dismay" on social media.

"Active and serious negotiations have yet again been undermined. Neither the interests of the United States nor the cause of global peace are well served by this. And I pray for the innocents who will suffer," Al-Busaidi said on X. A day earlier.

The Omani minister had earlier expressed optimism that a deal could be achieved between the US and Iran.

Iran leadership 'safe'

Israel's army said it targeted multiple sites where senior Iranian officials had gathered in Tehran on Saturday morning, as it launched strikes against its arch-foe. The army said it was still conducting analysis into the impact of the strikes.

Israeli media outlets said the targets included Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Masoud Pezeshkian, and top Khamenei aide Ali Shamkhani.

"In our opening salvo, we went after targets that are high-profile, people involved in the plans to destroy Israel," an Israeli security source told journalists, speaking on condition of anonymity.

However, Iran has put out statements saying that Khamenei was not in Tehran and had been evacuated, while state media said Pezeshkian was "safe and sound".

Analysts have noted that a potential failure of Israel's decapitation strikes may indicate the level of preparedness of Tehran this time round, after having previously lost several top political and military leaders to US and Israeli strikes.

So far, the deaths reported by Iranian sources have largely been those of civilians, including at least 51 people at a girls' school in the southern county of Minab, according to state media and local officials.

Iran retaliates

Iran's retaliation came swiftly, with missiles hitting capital cities in US-allied Gulf states, killing at least one person.

Blasts echoed over Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha, Kuwait, and Manama, where plumes of smoke were seen pouring from the Juffair area which houses a major US naval base.

One civilian died in Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE, after being struck by falling debris, according to the ministry of defence.

The oil-and-gas-rich Arab monarchies across the Gulf sea from Iran are long-term allies of Washington and host several US military facilities.

Several blasts rattled Qatar, home to Al-Udeid, the region's biggest US military base. Qatar's defence ministry said it had "repelled a number of attacks".

Al-Udeid includes the forward elements of CENTCOM, the regional US military command, as well as its air forces and special operations forces.

Iran fired missiles at Al-Udeid last June after US strikes targeted Iranian nuclear facilities during a brief war with Israel, but with prior warning, giving forces time to retreat to safety.

The UAE said it reserved the right to respond to the Iranian attacks, slamming them as a "dangerous escalation". Several missiles were intercepted, it said.

Abu Dhabi also hosts US forces at the Al-Dhafra base, while witnesses in the neighbouring emirate of Dubai heard an explosion and saw missiles streak across the sky.

"It was a big explosion and it made the windows shake," one witness told AFP, requesting anonymity, echoing a similar account from another Dubai resident.

In Kuwait, an Iranian missile attack caused "significant damage" to the runway at an air base hosting Italian air force personnel, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani was quoted by the ANSA news agency as saying.

"The Italian air force members at the Kuwait base that was attacked with missiles from Iran are all safe. They were all in the bunker," Tajani told reporters.

Kuwait's Ali Al-Salem base hosts Italian air force personnel taking part in the Task Force Air Kuwait since 2019, providing surveillance operations against the Islamic State group in Iraq.

Saudi Arabia also condemned "brutal Iranian aggression", official media said. AFP journalists heard several explosions in Riyadh.