TEHRAN, Iran — The U.S. and Israel struck targets across Iran on Saturday in what President Donald Trump called a “massive and ongoing operation” aimed at razing Iran’s military and nuclear capabilities, thwarting Tehran’s support to proxies and the destruction of its theocratic government.

The attacks spurred a furious Iranian retaliation, with multiple barrages striking Israel, a number of Persian Gulf nations and Jordan; and fulfilling long-standing fears that a confrontation with Iran would plunge the entire region into war.

The attacks began with Israeli strikes Saturday morning — a workday in Iran — on Tehran, the capital, with residents speaking of attacks near the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s compound, the presidential palace, Iran’s National Security Council, the ministries of defense and intelligence, the Atomic Energy Organization and a military complex.

In Tehran there were scenes of panic, with residents racing to stock up on supplies, leaving shelves bare in grocery stores across the city. Others, heeding warnings from authorities of further strikes, decided to leave the capital. Images on social media showed highways leading out of Tehran choked with traffic.

“It’s going to take 10 hours at least, but it doesn’t matter,” said Zainab, who was loading her car with whatever she could stuff inside for the drive to her sister’s home in Iran’s northeast.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a vociferous and longtime advocate for attacking Iran — and who has spent years convincing Washington to do so — said the campaign would continue “as long as needed.”

In an eight-minute recorded video message on Truth Social, Trump outlined a maximalist strategy that would prevent what he called “this very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests.”

“We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. … We are going to annihilate their navy. We are going to ensure that the region’s terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region or the world, and attack our forces,” he said. “And we will ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.”

He urged Iranians to take over their government, telling them that “the hour of your freedom is at hand.”

“When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take,” he said.

“This will be probably your only chance for generations. ... For many years, you have asked for America’s help, but you never got it. No president was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight.”

Trump also said U.S. military forces “may have casualties,” adding, “That often happens in war.”

Iran issued a series of statements, with the Iranian Foreign Ministry saying that “Iranians have never surrendered to aggression” and that Iran’s response “will be decisive, and aggressors will regret their hostile actions.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who was leading Iran’s delegation in Oman-brokered negotiations, said the war on Iran was “wholly unprovoked, illegal, and illegitimate.”

“Trump has turned ‘America First’ into ‘Israel First’— which always means ‘America Last,’ ” he wrote on X.

“Our powerful armed forces are prepared for this day and will teach the aggressors the lesson they deserve.”

Israel’s military said its attacks comprised the largest military flyover in its history, with some 200 warplanes dropping hundreds of munitions on approximately 500 objectives.

Yet it was unclear if the attacks on Iran’s leadership had hit their mark. Speaking to NBC News, Araghchi said Khamenei and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian were still alive, “as far as I know.”

“All high-ranking officials are alive,” Araghchi said, adding that perhaps a small number of commanders were killed.

“So everybody is now in its position, and we are handling this situation, and everything is fine,” he said.

Besides the capital, explosions could be heard in other cities, including Isfahan, Karaj, Kermanshah, Qom and Urmia, according to Iranian state media. An attack on the city of Minab struck a girls’ school, killing at least 75 students and injuring dozens of others, IRNA said. Iran’s Red Crescent later said 201 people were killed in attacks across the country, and that 24 out of Iran’s 32 provinces were hit.

Cellphone and internet communications were disrupted shortly after the attacks began, but have since been restored.

Iran struck back across the Middle East, with barrages reported on U.S. bases in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Debris from one of those missiles killed one person in the UAE; another struck a hotel in Dubai. A Kuwaiti airport was hit but no injuries reported.

Iran also dispatched multiple waves of missiles to Israel, with residents in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon seeing vapor trails crisscrossing the skies above and the explosive sounds of interceptions.

The waves of ordnance spurred airspace closures across the region, with many airlines suspending service to affected countries and leaving tens of thousands of people stranded.

Araghchi informed his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein on Saturday that Tehran will limit its response to U.S. military bases in the region, and that Iran was acting in self-defense.

But the attacks nevertheless infuriated Arab governments. Many came out with statements excoriating Iran for what they described as an unprovoked attack on their sovereignty.

In a sign of the rapidly expanding impact of the war, messages purporting to be from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were sent to ships ordering them to stay away from the Strait of Hormuz with “immediate effect.”

Shuttering the Strait, a strategic passageway through which one-fifth of global oil supplies pass, would likely lead to an immediate spike in energy prices and disrupt other shipping.

The opening salvos of what promises to be a lengthy campaign come two days after the U.S. and Iran concluded a third round of Oman-brokered negotiations in Geneva aimed at reducing tensions and stopping the prospect of war.

On Friday, Trump expressed displeasure with the pace of the talks, saying the Iranian side were not negotiating in “good faith” or giving in to U.S. demands. But Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said a deal was “within reach.”

On Saturday, Albusaidi expressed dismay that “active and serious negotiations have yet again been undermined.”

“Neither the interests of the United States nor the cause of global peace are well served by this. And I pray for the innocents who will suffer,” he said in a statement on X. “I urge the United States not to get sucked in further. This is not your war.”

The American strikes on Iran drew immediate reaction on Capitol Hill as Democrats and a small bloc of Republicans accused the White House of sidelining Congress on actions they fear will trigger a broader conflict in the Middle East.

“By the president’s own words, ‘American heroes may be lost.’ That alone should have demanded the highest level of scrutiny, deliberation, and accountability, yet the president moved forward without seeking congressional authorization,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., called on lawmakers to back a measure he is co-sponsoring with Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., that would compel the administration to seek congressional approval before engaging in any further activity in Iran.

“The Congress must reconvene on Monday to vote on Thomas Massie and my war powers resolution to stop this war,” Khanna said in a video posted on X early Saturday. “The American people are tired of regime change wars that cost us billions of dollars and risk our lives.”

As Democrats warned of constitutional overreach, other lawmakers rallied behind the president, framing the strikes as necessary force against a long-standing adversary.

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement that Trump had taken “decisive action against the threat posed by the world’s leading proliferator of terrorism, the Iranian regime.”

“This is a pivotal and necessary operation to protect Americans and American interests,” Wicker said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio notified some members of Congress’ Gang of Eight, which are the top four leaders in the House and Senate and top Democrats and Republicans on the House and Senate intelligence committees, according to CBS News.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment on when and whom it notified in Congress prior to the attacks.

By the end of the day, the streets of Tehran appeared all but abandoned, with residents hunkering down for a night punctuated by the sounds of blasts reverberating across the capital.

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(Bulos reported from El Obeid, Sudan, Ceballos from Washington, D.C., and special correspondent Mostaghim from Tehran.)

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