Trump says U.S. military has begun major combat operations in Iran

The U.S. military has begun “major combat operations” in Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed on Saturday, as explosions were heard in cities around the Middle East and Qatar and the United Arab Emirates condemned Iranian missile counterattacks.

“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 in a video message on his Truth Social account.

A U.S. official confirmed earlier that American forces attacked Iran by air and sea, the Reuters news agency reported.

Several ministries in the southern part of the Iranian capital, Tehran, were targeted, Reuters quoted an unidentified Iranian official as saying.

Media reports said explosions were heard in key cities around the Middle East, including Jerusalem. CNBC has been unable to confirm the media reports.

“The State of Qatar expresses its strong condemnation of the targeting of Qatari territory with Iranian ballistic missiles, considering it a flagrant violation of its national sovereignty,” Qatar’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

In the UAE, “the Ministry of Defense announced that the country was subjected today to a blatant attack by Iranian ballistic missiles, which was dealt with by the UAE air defenses with high efficiency and a number of missiles were successfully intercepted.”

Trump said Iran has continued to pursue nuclear weapons despite ongoing negotiations to end its program.

“[In] operation midnight hammer last June, we obliterated the regime’s nuclear program at Fordow nets. And Isfahan. After that attack, we warned them never to resume their malicious pursuit of nuclear weapons, and we sought repeatedly to make a deal,” Trump said. “But Iran refused.”

“Instead, they attempted to rebuild their nuclear program and to continue developing the 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.

A Pentagon duty press officer said the department has received CNBC’s emailed requests for comment but made no further statement.

Earlier Saturday, Israel launched a daylight attack on Iran’s capital, with a cloud of smoke rising from the city’s downtown, the Associated Press reported.

It wasn’t immediately clear what the target was, but the attack came as the United States had assembled a vast fleet of fighter jets and warships in the region in an effort to pressure Iran into a deal over its nuclear program.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz described the attack as being undertaken “to remove threats.” He did not immediately elaborate.

The Israel Defense Forces said it identified missiles launched from Iran toward Israel.

“Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat. In the past few minutes, the Home Front Command has sent a precautionary directive directly to mobile phones in the relevant areas,” the IDF said in a tweet.

A senior Middle East diplomat who has direct knowledge of the recent talks between Iran and the U.S. told MS Now: “Yet again, when negotiations get close to success … Israel has intervened to preempt diplomacy.”

Elsewhere, Bahrain said the service center of the U.S. Fifth Fleet was subjected to a missile attack. The U.S. embassy in Bahrain’s capital, Manama, issued a security alert warning of “imminent drone/missile attack in Bahrain”.

In a tweet, the embassy urged “U.S. citizens in Bahrain to shelter in place, review security plans in the event of an attack, and to stay alert in case of additional future attacks. U.S. Embassy personnel are sheltering in place.”

The U.S. embassy in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, also issued a shelter-in-place alert.

A spokesperson for Dubai-based carrier Emirates said it was “adjusting our operations in line with the latest developments.”

German carrier Lufthansa said it was suspending flights to and from Tel Aviv, Beirut and Oman until March 7, Reuters reported. Dutch airline KLM reportedly canceled flights to Tel Aviv from Amsterdam.

Trump warned earlier in February that “really bad things” would happen unless Tehran agreed to a deal over the future of its nuclear program. This weekend’s attack comes after a significant buildup of military assets in the oil-rich Middle East region.

It comes after the U.S. and Iran held a third round of talks in Switzerland on Thursday to try to resolve a standoff.

Ahead of the discussions, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran’s reluctance to talk about its ballistic missile development program, alongside its nuclear program, was a “big, big problem.” Iran had said it was willing to compromise when it came to its nuclear program, but had repeatedly said Tehran’s missile program had never been part of the talks’ agenda.

There were earlier signs that Washington was losing its patience with Iran after the White House said, following previous talks, that Iran was not addressing its core demands.

Earlier in February, Iran reportedly said in a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that Tehran would respond “decisively” if subjected to military aggression.

Energy market participants have been closely monitoring the escalating geopolitical tensions, with oil prices climbing to six-month highs after Trump said he was considering a military strike against Iran.

Iran, a founding member of OPEC, is a major oil producer and sits at the heart of the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the world’s oil passes.

Last June, the U.S. launched strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities, causing what intelligence suggested was severe damage to Tehran’s nuclear program. Iran responded by launching a retaliatory strike on an American air base in Qatar, reportedly causing minor damage but inflicting no casualties.

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

— Riya Bhattacharjee, Victor Loh and Emma Graham contributed to this story