The US and Israel launched a major attack on targets across Iran, with President Donald Trump calling on the Iranian people to “take over your government” – an extraordinary appeal that suggested the allies could be seeking regime change in Tehran after decades of tensions.
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In a video address after the United States and Israel launched strikes early on Saturday, Trump made clear the goal was destruction of the Islamic republic's military and toppling the Iranian theocracy that has been in power since the 1979 revolution.
"We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally – again – obliterated. We're going to annihilate their navy," Trump said in a video from his Florida home that was posted to his Truth Social platform.
He urged opponents of the Iranian authorities to rise up, saying "the hour of your freedom is at hand".
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"When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take," Trump said.
This "will be probably your only chance for generations", he added.
In a section of the short speech aimed at the US public, Trump acknowledged that "the lives of courageous American heroes may be lost" in what the Pentagon dubbed "Operation Epic Fury."
"We may have casualties," Trump said.
Any loss of life on the US side would be politically hazardous for Trump after he refused to seek legal approval for war against Iran from Congress.
His own record of opposing foreign interventions could also anger his political base if US soldiers are lost on his watch. A one-day raid to oust Nicolas Maduro, the former strongman leader of Venezuela, was accomplished without US fatalities in January. Surgical air strikes on Iran's main nuclear sites last June also went off without US losses.
Read moreWhat we know about the joint US-Israeli air strikes on Iran
Bombs 'dropping everywhere'
But Operation Epic Fury is on an entirely different scale, militarily and politically.
An attack was widely expected after Trump ordered the biggest military deployment to the Middle East in years. But critical lawmakers have for days been asking why Trump has not addressed the US public or Congress to explain the need for war.
Trump's video appeared without warning on his Truth Social site at 2:30am in Florida, where he was spending the weekend at his luxury golf club.
Wearing a white baseball cap marked "USA" and no tie with a white shirt and dark jacket, Trump stood at a podium between two flags against a black background.
He sought to justify the assault on Iran, saying: "Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime."
"They attempted to rebuild their nuclear programme and to continue developing long-range missiles that can now threaten our very good friends and allies in Europe, our troops stationed overseas and could soon reach the American homeland," he said.
He urged Iranian forces to surrender, directly addressing the elite Revolutionary Guards who are tasked with safeguarding the cleric-run government.
"To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces and all of the police, I say tonight that you must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity or, in the alternative, face certain death."
Trump also warned ordinary Iranians that the US bombing would be large-scale.
"Stay sheltered. Don't leave your home. It's very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere."
Trump said on Friday that he had not yet decided whether to attack, and his envoys on Thursday held talks with Iran's top diplomat aimed at a deal over concerns related to Tehran's nuclear programme.
Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al Busaidi, who helped mediate the talks in Geneva, had been optimistic about a compromise.
Al Busaidi met Friday with US Vice President JD Vance and told CBS News that he was confident "a peace deal is within our reach", saying Iran had agreed to zero stockpiling of enriched uranium that could build an atomic bomb.
(FRANCE24 avec AFP)
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