In coordinated, sweeping U.S.–Israeli strikes on Iran in the predawn hours of Saturday, key military and nuclear-linked sites were targeted inside the country.
The strikes focused on what U.S. officials described as high-value Iranian targets, which included Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) command and control facilities, naval assets and underground sites believed to be associated with Iran’s nuclear program.
In addition, Iranian air defense weapons, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields were also targeted, according to officials.
Israeli forces targeted sites linked to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a senior Israeli official confirmed to Fox News.
President Donald Trump confirmed Saturday afternoon that Khamenei had been killed in a strike. He is among more than 40 senior Iranian security and regime figures killed in the attack, a senior Israeli official told Fox News.
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“Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS.”
He also claimed that the IRGC is seeking immunity from the U.S.
The leaders had all been meeting at a compound in Tehran on Saturday morning.
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The strikes were moved up due to the “target of opportunity,” multiple sources told Fox News, which is why the strikes happened in the daytime in Iran, keeping the element of surprise. “There was a deliberate decision to accelerate the timeline,” one source said.
The campaign, which Trump described overnight from Mar-a-Lago as the beginning of “major combat operations” in the region, encompasses multi-geographic targets in an effort to overwhelm Iran’s defensive capabilities.
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The strikes could also continue for multiple days.
Trump said the campaign aimed to devastate Iran’s military, dismantle its nuclear program, and he urged the Iranian people to “take over” their government.
Tomahawk cruise missiles were used in the first strikes of the operation, called Operation Epic Fury, along with one-way attack drones that were used for the first time, according to a U.S. official.
Fox News’ Liz Friden, Morgan Phillips, Amanda Macias, Alexandra Koch and Kelley Kramer contributed to this report.