Trump confirms U.S. and Israel launching military strikes on Iran

The president said the U.S. operations in Iran could result in the loss of American lives.

"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 doing this not for now. We're doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission," Mr. Trump said in his video statement shared on social media.

The U.S. Embassy in Qatar told its staff to shelter in place on Saturday.

"We recommend all Americans do the same until further notice," the embassy said on X, encouraging people to shelter in secure locations and "keep a low profile" amid the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.

Located across the Persian Gulf from Iran, Qatar is a key U.S. ally and hosts a large contingent of American forces. Iran retaliated against last June's U.S. strikes on its nuclear sites by launching a missile attack on the U.S.'s Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz issued a state of emergency across Israel on Saturday, warning people to "obey the instructions of the Home Front Command."

Katz said "a missile and drone attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate future."

By Michal Ben-Gal

In an eight-minute Truth Social video, Mr. Trump said the U.S. is "undertaking a massive and ongoing operation to prevent this very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests."

The president said the U.S. will "destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry," "annihilate their Navy" and "ensure that the region's terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region."

He said the U.S. had "sought, repeatedly, to make a deal" to curb Iran's nuclear program, but alleged that Iran has "rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions."

"This regime will soon learn that no one should challenge the strength and might of the United States armed forces," Mr. Trump said.

President Trump's threats to Iran early this year were focused on the regime's brutal quashing of massive street protests in January. But on Jan. 28, Mr. Trump threatened Iran in a Truth Social post with an attack "far worse" than the strikes he ordered against the country's nuclear sites in June if it didn't agree to a deal to curb its nuclear program. 

It was the first time he had linked the major U.S. Navy deployment in the Persian Gulf region to the long-stalled nuclear negotiations. 

"A massive Armada is heading to Iran," he said in his Jan. 28 post. "It is moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose. … Hopefully Iran will quickly 'Come to the Table' and negotiate a fair and equitable deal — NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS — one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence!"

In the weeks that followed, Mr. Trump suggested on multiple occasions that he would order strikes on Iran if no agreement was reached on its nuclear enrichment.

The president pressed advisers for options that would deliver a punishing strike substantial enough to compel Iranian leaders to return to negotiations under more favorable terms, CBS News reported on Feb. 23. But military planners cautioned that such an outcome could not be guaranteed, and limited strikes could open the door to a wider confrontation. 

Mr. Trump alleged during his State of the Union address that Iranian officials were once again "pursuing their sinister ambitions" after the U.S. struck nuclear sites last year. He said he'd like to resolve his disagreements through diplomacy, but "one thing is certain: I will never allow the world's number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon."

In the lead-up to the U.S.'s strikes on Iran, the two countries engaged in multiple rounds of talks aimed at securing a nuclear deal.

Negotiators from the two sides held indirect talks in Oman in early February, followed by two rounds of negotiations in Switzerland later in the month. Iranian officials described the talks in generally positive terms, and Mr. Trump has said that Iran wants a deal. Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, who has helped mediate the talks, told CBS News after the third round of negotiations that a deal was "within our reach" and they just "need a little bit more time."

But Mr. Trump told reporters shortly after the third round that he was "not happy" with the pace of progress, saying Iran was "not willing to give us what we have to have."

The president said he wanted Iran to agree to "no enrichment." But Iran has ruled out totally abandoning its uranium enrichment program, which it claims is for peaceful purposes.

Albusaidi cast the negotiations in more optimistic terms, saying Iran had agreed that it will "never, ever have … nuclear material that will create a bomb," and that its existing stockpiles of enriched uranium would be "blended to the lowest level possible." He said Iran also agreed to grant inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency "full access" to nuclear sites.

"There would be zero accumulation, zero stockpiling, and full verification," he said.

The scope of any potential deal is also a question. The U.S.-Iran talks largely focused on the nuclear program, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for any deal with Iran to also include restrictions on ballistic missiles and funding of proxies in the region.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in late February that it was up to the president whether to pursue a nuclear-only deal with Iran, but he said that Iran's "insistence on not discussing ballistic missiles is a big, big problem."

Mr. Trump told Netanyahu in December that he would support Israeli strikes on Iran's ballistic missile program if a deal could not be reached, CBS News previously reported.

As Mr. Trump put pressure on the Iranian regime, the U.S. sent a large contingent of naval vessels toward the Middle East, including two aircraft carriers and their escort ships.

As of Feb. 26, at least 12 ships were in the area overseen by U.S. Central Command, which covers the Middle East, according to a Navy official. That includes the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, seven destroyers and three littoral combat ships.  

A second aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, and two destroyers were in the Eastern Mediterranean, and three more destroyers were in the Mediterranean, but their location was less clear. The Ford was previously in the Caribbean region, part of a broader military buildup near Venezuela.

Dozens of Air Force and Navy aircraft were also spotted flying east from the U.S. toward Europe and the Middle East in February, including refueling, transport and surveillance planes, according to public flight tracking data.

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned in early February that any U.S. strikes would spark a "regional war" in the Middle East, according to the Tasnim news agency.

"The Americans must be aware that if they wage a war this time, it will be a regional war," the supreme leader said, claiming the U.S. was looking to take control of Iran's mineral wealth.

Later in February, as another U.S. aircraft carrier and its escort ships neared the region, the supreme leader issued an even more pointed warning, posting an AI-generated image of an American ship at the bottom of the ocean.

"A warship is certainly a dangerous weapon, but even more dangerous is the weapon capable of sinking it," Khamenei said in a speech in Tehran.

Iran's nuclear program has vexed presidents from both parties for decades.

As of mid-June 2025, shortly before the U.S. struck three Iranian nuclear facilities, Iran had enriched some 972 pounds of uranium up to 60% purity, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. That's a significant increase from the 605.8 pounds reported in February 2025.

That material is just a short step away from weapons-grade 90%-enriched uranium. One U.S. intelligence summary from June found that Iran could potentially make a nuclear weapon within three to eight months.

What's not clear, however, is whether Iran has made the decision to build a nuclear weapon. Iran is believed to have halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, and the U.S. intelligence community assessed last spring that the country was not building a weapon at the time.

It's also unclear how extensively the nuclear program was impacted by last June's airstrikes. 

Mr. Trump has long said the operation "obliterated" the three sites that were struck, setting back the program by "basically decades." IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said in mid-February that Iran's nuclear material was "still there, in large quantities" despite the U.S. strikes, though "some of it may be less accessible."

Iran is not currently enriching uranium, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Feb. 25, though he alleged that "they're trying to get to the point where they ultimately can."

Iran, the U.S. and several other global powers struck a deal in 2015 to cap Iran's uranium stockpiles and enrichment capacity for a set period of time in exchange for sanctions relief. Mr. Trump withdrew from that Obama-era deal during his first term, and efforts by the Biden administration to revive it were unsuccessful.

Iran, for its part, has long insisted that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful — though its stockpile includes uranium enriched far beyond the level needed for most non-military uses.

Read more here.

Mr. Trump had been briefed on a wide range of military and covert options for action against Iran, well beyond conventional airstrikes, CBS News reported in mid-January.

Air power and long-range missiles remain central to any potential military operation, but Pentagon planners also presented Mr. Trump with cyber operation options and psychological campaigns, according to two U.S. officials who spoke to CBS News under condition of anonymity.

The officials said cyber and psychological operations can occur simultaneously with traditional military force, or they could be deployed as stand-alone options. 

Here's a look at some of the options:

• The Islamic Republic's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps would likely be among the top targets in U.S. military strikes, according to Alex Vatanka, Iran director of the Middle East Institute.
• Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei could also find himself in the sights of the U.S. military, experts told CBS News.
• Beyond direct strikes, the White House also weighed cyberattack options, U.S. officials said in January — a strategy that experts believe could hamper communications and trigger fear among regime loyalists. Officials told CBS News that psychological campaigns could disrupt Iranian command structures and state-run media.

Read more here.

This isn't the first time that Mr. Trump has ordered strikes on Iran.

The U.S. previously carried out airstrikes on three major Iranian nuclear facilities in June, hitting targets in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan with B-2 bombers and submarine-launched missiles. 

Iran responded by launching missiles at the U.S.'s Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar — the biggest American base in the Middle East — two days later. No Americans or Qataris were harmed in Iran's counterattack, and Mr. Trump said the Iranian government had offered "early notice" about the strikes.

The June strikes took place amid a nearly two-week conflict between Israel and Iran, with airstrikes killing dozens in Israel and hundreds in Iran, according to both countries' governments. Mr. Trump announced a ceasefire between the two countries in late June.

Separately, during Mr. Trump's first term, Mr. Trump ordered the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who led the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' paramilitary Quds force and served as one of the most powerful figures within the Iranian regime. Iran responded with a series of missile strikes on a U.S. base in Iraq, wounding more than 100 American service members.

In late December and early January, Iran faced weeks of nationwide protests over the dire state of the country's economy, drawing a crackdown from the country's government.

Protests were recorded in hundreds of cities across all 31 of the country's provinces, and on dozens of university campuses, according to monitoring groups opposed to the regime — marking the country's largest wave of protests since 2022.

The demonstrations began in the capital of Tehran, as shopkeepers went on strike over Iran's devalued currency and double-digit inflation. After that, the protests broadened, and protesters expressed wider discontent with the country's hardline regime.

After initially trying to strike a conciliatory tone, Iran's security forces cracked down amid an internet blackout. At least 12,000 people were killed, two sources told CBS News on Jan. 13. One man in Iran described to CBS News an incident in the city of Yazd, in which he said government forces started shooting at a crowd of about 1,500 people from the front and the back.

On multiple occasions, Mr. Trump threatened to take action against Iran if it killed protesters. He did not specify what action he might take against Iran, though he and his administration have pointedly not ruled out military force. It's also not clear what might trigger action, given that large numbers of protesters have been reported dead.

He told reporters on Jan. 14 that he'd heard on "good authority" that the "killing in Iran is stopping" and no executions were planned.