{"id":201909,"date":"2026-02-28T21:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T21:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/why-are-the-us-and-israel-attacking-iran-what-we-know-so-far-al-jazeera\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T21:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T21:54:12","slug":"why-are-the-us-and-israel-attacking-iran-what-we-know-so-far-al-jazeera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/why-are-the-us-and-israel-attacking-iran-what-we-know-so-far-al-jazeera\/","title":{"rendered":"Why are the US and Israel attacking Iran? What we know so far – Al Jazeera"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US and Israel have bombed multiple Iranian cities, including capital Tehran. Iran hits back, launching missiles at Israel, and US bases.<\/em>
Share
Save
The United States and Israel have struck multiple locations across Iran<\/a>, including the capital, Tehran, in what US President Donald Trump described as \u201cmajor combat operations\u201d.
The attacks come amid negotiations between the US and Iran over the latter\u2019s nuclear and ballistic missiles programmes, after weeks of mounting threats from Trump \u2013 and eight months after the US and Israel waged a 12-day war against Iran.
Iran has struck back with missiles aimed at northern Israel and at US military bases in the Middle East. Details of casualties and damage in Iran and Israel are sparse at the moment.
Here\u2019s what we know so far:
At about 9:27am (06:27 GMT), Iran\u2019s Fars news agency reported a series of explosions in the capital, Tehran.
Al Jazeera\u2019s correspondent in western Tehran said he heard two explosions, while videos shared on social media showed smoke rising from several parts of the city.
Israel first announced that it had launched missile strikes on targets inside Iran.
A US official told Al Jazeera that the strikes were carried out as part of a joint military operation with Israel. In recent weeks, Washington has assembled a large fleet of fighter jets and warships in the region, its most significant military buildup<\/a> there since the Iraq War.
Trump described the operation as \u201cmassive and ongoing\u201d.
The US Department of Defense later said the mission was named \u201cOperation Epic Fury\u201d, in the first public statement from the US military since the start of the joint US-Israeli attack.<\/p>\n

Several missiles struck University Street and the Jomhouri area in Tehran, and close to Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps headquarters, Fars reported.
The Associated Press news agency reported that a strike in Iran\u2019s capital happened near the offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran\u2019s semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported that explosions also occurred in Tehran\u2019s northern Seyyed Khandan area.
Explosions have also been reported in the cities of Kermanshah, Qom, Tabriz, Isfahan, Ilam and Karaj, as well as in Lorestan province, according to local media.
\"INTERACTIVE
\u00a0
While announcing \u201cmajor combat operations\u201d, Trump said the aim of the US campaign was to \u201cdestroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground\u201d.
\u201cWe are going to annihilate their navy,\u201d Trump added.
Here are the key points of his message:
Trump said the campaign\u2019s military objectives include:
He also laid out a warning-cum-offer to Iran\u2019s military personnel. If they laid down their weapons, Trump said, he would ensure they had amnesty. But if they did not, he warned, they would face \u201ccertain death\u201d. He acknowledged US forces could face casualties.
Reuters quoted a US official as saying that the Trump administration was planning a \u201cmultiday operation\u201d.<\/p>\n

The US president\u2019s comments suggest that Trump was setting \u201cthe table for a revolution in Iran\u201d \u2014 73 years after the CIA orchestrated a coup against democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, Al Jazeera\u2019s Alan Fisher reported from Washington.
\u201cThey\u2019ve done it before. This time, they\u2019re doing it with weapons and bombs rather than covertly through the CIA,\u201d Fisher said. \u201cIt\u2019s clear that this is going to be a continuous military operation, with Donald Trump accepting the fact that there may be casualties.\u201d
US and Israeli attacks on Iran follow years of confrontation over Tehran\u2019s nuclear programme and regional influence.
The two allies have long claimed that Iran\u2019s advancing enrichment activities and missile capabilities pose a threat to them, and they have repeatedly warned that they could use force against Tehran. Iran has publicly committed \u2014 repeatedly \u2014 that it has no intention of building a nuclear bomb. Israel is the only Middle Eastern nation to have nuclear weapons.
In June last year, Israel and the US attacked Iranian nuclear and military sites, assassinating several senior commanders.
The current escalation began after Omani mediators announced progress in Geneva negotiations, where Iran had reportedly agreed to zero uranium stockpiling and full verification by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Both the US and Israel have also argued that this is an opportunity for Iranians to \u201ctake over\u201d the government.
\u201cWhen we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be, probably, your only chance for generations,\u201d Trump said.
Iran retaliated by first launching missiles towards Israel, according to the Israeli military. Air-raid sirens sounded in several parts of the country, and explosions were reported in northern Israel.
\u201cThe public is requested to follow the instructions of the Home Front Command,\u201d Israel\u2019s military said in a statement. \u201cAt this time, the Israeli Air Force is operating to intercept and strike threats where necessary to remove the threat.\u201d
But soon after, Iranian forces launched missiles at several locations linked to US military operations across the region, including:
Earlier, Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament\u2019s national security commission, threatened a \u201ccrushing\u201d response. \u201cWe warned you!\u201d Azizi wrote on social media. \u201cNow you have started down a path whose end is no longer in your control.\u201d\u2060
In a statement, Israel\u2019s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the military operation \u201cwill continue as long as necessary.\u201d He said the Israeli operation was called \u201cLion\u2019s Roar\u201d.
It is not immediately clear where the 86-year-old Khamenei<\/a> is. He hasn\u2019t been seen publicly in days as tensions with the United States have grown.
Roads to Khamenei\u2019s compound in downtown Tehran were shut down by authorities as blasts rang out across the capital.
Meanwhile, Iran\u2019s state-run IRNA news agency quoted a source in the presidential office as saying that President Masoud Pezeshkian was unharmed.<\/p>\n

Follow Al Jazeera English:<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The US and Israel have bombed multiple Iranian cities, including capital Tehran. Iran hits back, launching missiles at Israel, and US bases.ShareSaveThe United States and Israel have struck multiple locations across Iran, including the capital, Tehran, in what US President Donald Trump described as \u201cmajor combat operations\u201d.The attacks come amid negotiations between the US and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":201910,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-201909","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}