United States and Israel launched coordinated military strikes against Iran in the early hours of Saturday, February 28, 2026, in what President Donald Trump announced as “major combat operations” targeting military installations, government ministries, missile production facilities, naval assets, and nuclear infrastructure across multiple Iranian cities. The Pentagon designated the American component of the operation “Operation Epic Fury”; the Israel Defense Forces named their component “Operation Roaring Lion,” later also reported in some Israeli sources as “Operation Lion’s Roar.” Trump confirmed the strikes in a video message posted to Truth Social at approximately 2:30 a.m. Eastern time while at Mar-a-Lago. “Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people,” Trump said. “Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas and our allies throughout the world.”
In his video address Trump catalogued what he characterized as forty-seven years of Iranian aggression against the United States and its allies, beginning with the 1979 seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran. “For 47 years the Iranian regime has chanted death to America and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder,” Trump said, adding that “among the regime’s first acts was to back a violent takeover of the US embassy in Tehran holding dozens of American hostages for 444 days.” He characterized Iran’s support for Hamas as directly responsible for the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, stating “it was Iran’s proxy Hamas that launched the monstrous October 7th attacks on Israel,” and declared that his administration had sought repeatedly to reach a nuclear agreement but that Iran had refused. “They rejected every opportunity to reach their nuclear ambitions, and we can’t take it anymore,” Trump said. He vowed that “we are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground,” that the United States would “annihilate their navy,” and that “we will ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.” Trump acknowledged that the operation could produce American casualties and stated it was expected to continue for several days. At the close of his address he urged the Iranian population to remain indoors until the time was right, and called on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to lay down its arms in exchange for “complete immunity,” warning that those who refused would face “certain death.”
