US and Israeli strikes on Iran triggered retaliatory attacks across the Middle East and reactions from world leaders and Iran-backed groups.
Here are the latest developments as the military action announced by US President Donald Trump and the Israeli government sparked a flurry of retaliatory salvos from Iran that closed airspaces around the Middle East.
Strikes across Iran
The joint operation began with smoke seen rising over Tehran after strikes that Israel said were pre-emptive.
Shortly after, Trump took to his Truth Social platform, posting a surprise video statement announcing US combat operations in Iran, with the goal of “eliminating imminent threats”.
The Israeli military said it targeted multiple sites where senior Iranian officials had gathered in Tehran.
The military said it was “now assessing the results of the attack”.
It also said it was targeting missile launchers in western Iran.
The strikes followed months of joint planning between the allies, it added.
Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reported the strikes targeted Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian.
In the deadliest reported attack, at least 51 students were killed in a strike on a girls’ school in southern Iran, state media said, after a provincial official said the deaths were due to Israeli strikes.
In southern Iraq, a bombing that targeted a military base housing a pro-Iran group killed at least two people, authorities said.
Missile, drone wave
In response, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they targeted the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, after launching a first wave of missile and drone attacks at Israel.
“The first wave of widespread missile and drone attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran against the occupied territories has begun,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement, referring to Israel.
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said it was treating a man with blast injuries in the north of the country, after missiles were launched towards Israel from Iran.
The Israeli military said it deployed search and rescue teams to multiple locations across the country following reports of fallen projectiles.
The country’s foreign ministry said it would “respond decisively” to the strikes, insisting Tehran had done “everything necessary to prevent war” from breaking out.
“Just as we were ready for negotiations, we are now more prepared than ever to defend the Iranian nation,” it said.
Gulf explosions
Explosions were reported across the Gulf region.
The United Arab Emirates said it intercepted a second wave of Iranian strikes, after a first wave killed one civilian in the capital Abu Dhabi.
Witnesses in Dubai said they heard an explosion and saw missiles streak across the sky.
AFP correspondents in the Saudi capital Riyadh heard loud explosions, as well as in Bahraini capital Manama and across Qatari capital Doha.
Qatar’s defence ministry said it had intercepted several missile attacks targeting the Gulf state, while Kuwait also engaged incoming strikes.
Saudi Arabia condemned Iranian attacks targeting its neighbours in a statement released by its official press agency, but made no mention of Iran targeting the kingdom.
Elsewhere, Jordan said it shot down two ballistic missiles and vowed to defend its interests “with all its might”.
Explosions were also heard near the US consulate in Iraq’s Erbil, according to AFP journalists.
Allied support, warnings
French President Emmanuel Macron called for an urgent United Nations Security Council meeting over the escalation.
Oman’s foreign minister, who has been mediating talks between Tehran and Washington, said he was “dismayed” by the outbreak of conflict.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Canberra supports the US action against Iran, while the UK expressed fear that the military strikes could blow up into “a wider regional conflict”.
Ukraine said the Iranian government’s “violence against its own people and other countries” had triggered the attacks.
The European Union said developments in Iran were “perilous”, and urged the protection of civilians.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said his country refused to be dragged into war.
Russia slammed the strikes as a “dangerous adventure” that could spark “catastrophe” in the region.
Pakistan condemned the “unwarranted attacks against Iran” and called for an “immediate halt” to escalation.
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which fought a deadly war with Israel for two years, condemned the strikes on its backer Iran.
Another Iranian ally, Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, is yet to comment.
Airspace closures, flights nixed
Qatar’s civil aviation authority said the Gulf state’s airspace had been temporarily closed and Qatar Airways said it had suspended all flights from Doha.
Iraq closed its airspace while Syria closed part of its airspace in the south along the border with Israel for 12 hours.
Russia cancelled commercial flights to both Iran and Israel “until further notice”.
Air France cancelled its Tel Aviv and Beirut flights, while Lufthansa announced it had cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv, Beirut, Amman, Erbil and Tehran until March 7.
Turkish Airlines suspended flights to 10 Middle East nations, while Air India suspended all flights to the region.
Some airlines from Britain, Pakistan, Switzerland and Norway also paused or cancelled flights. - FMT
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