American and Israeli forces launched airstrikes against Iran Saturday morning, hammering military infrastructure across the country and targeting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's compound in Tehran. The Department of War designated the assault "Operation Epic Fury."

Seven missiles struck in the area around Khamenei's fortified complex in central Tehran, according to Reuters. Additional strikes hit targets in Isfahan, Qom, Karaj, and Kermanshah. Iran launched missiles toward Israel in retaliation, prompting sirens across the country and a full suspension of public activity.

The 86-year-old Khamenei was not in Tehran when the strikes began, having been transferred to an undisclosed secure location, according to reports citing unnamed sources. The full extent of the American assault remains unclear.

Trump to the Iranian people: 'The hour of your freedom is at hand'

President Trump delivered an eight-minute video address Saturday, laying out the rationale for the strikes and issuing a direct appeal to the Iranian public. He did not mince words, as New York Post reports.

"Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime."

Trump framed the operation as the culmination of decades of Iranian hostility, pointing to the regime's 47-year campaign of aggression against the United States and its allies.

"Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas and our allies throughout the world. For 47 years, the Iranian regime has chanted 'Death to America' and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder targeting the United States, our troops and the innocent people in many, many countries."

Then came the moment that would define the address. Trump turned from the strategic case to the human one, speaking directly to Iranian citizens living under the regime:

"To the great proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand. Stay sheltered, don't leave your home, it's very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations."

He pressed further, acknowledging that past administrations had ignored Iranian pleas for support.

"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. Now you have a president who is giving you what you want, so let's see how you respond. America is backing you with overwhelming strength and devastating force."

The message was unmistakable: this is not a limited punitive strike. This is an invitation to revolution, backed by American firepower.

Netanyahu echoes the case against a nuclear Iran

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed Trump's address with a statement of his own following the airstrikes. His framing centered on the existential nuclear threat.

"This murderous terrorist regime must not be allowed to arm itself with nuclear weapons that would enable it to threaten all of humanity."

Israel moved quickly beyond rhetoric. The IDF announced that sirens sounding throughout the country were a "proactive" measure, and the government suspended all public activity, declaring only "Emergency Activity" in effect and prohibiting education, work, and social gatherings.

US Israeli Ambassador Mike Huckabee warned Americans in the country to prepare, writing on X:

"We are encouraging all Embassy team & families & US citizens in Israel to be prepared for Home Front Command alerts & sirens. Stay near shelters & take immediate action at the sound of alerts or sirens."

Neighboring Iraq closed its airspace after the daylight attack began.

Diplomacy exhausted

Saturday's strikes did not materialize from nowhere. Trump had repeatedly warned Tehran and gave Iranian officials a 10-to-15-day deadline on February 19 to reach an agreement on scrapping its nuclear program. Indirect negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, involved US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Iran refused to comply. The deadline expired. The strikes followed.

This is the pattern that critics of diplomatic engagement always warn about: rogue regimes treat negotiation as a stalling tactic, buying time to harden their positions and advance their weapons programs. Tehran was given a clear offramp and chose the tunnel instead. At some point, the failure of diplomacy is not a failure of the diplomat. It is confirmation that the other side was never serious.

The military buildup that signaled intent

The logistical footprint told the story before a single bomb dropped. Trump deployed two carrier strike groups to the Middle East in the weeks leading up to the operation:

• The USS Gerald R. Ford entered the Mediterranean Sea on February 20
• The USS Abraham Lincoln was already positioned in the Middle East
• A dozen Navy destroyers and three littoral combat ships are believed to be accompanying the carriers
• More than 50 fighter jets, including F-16s, F-22s, and F-35s, were moved into the region as part of the buildup, according to Axios

This was not an impulsive escalation. It was a deliberate, methodical positioning of overwhelming force, the kind of preparation that communicates seriousness to adversaries and confidence to allies. When a president deploys two carrier strike groups and repositions more than 50 advanced fighter jets, the message is not ambiguous.

Not the first strike

Operation Epic Fury follows Operation Midnight Hammer last June, which targeted the Fordow Uranium Enrichment Plant, the Natanz Nuclear Facility, and the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center. Tehran responded by attacking Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. There were no US casualties in that attack.

The escalation ladder is clear. Last June, the nuclear infrastructure was hit. Saturday's operation struck military targets and the regime's leadership compound directly. Each round has raised the stakes, and each time Tehran's response has failed to impose meaningful costs on the United States or Israel.

That asymmetry matters. Iran can launch retaliatory missiles, but it cannot match the precision, scale, or sustained capacity of the American and Israeli military apparatus. The regime's deterrence model, built on proxies, bluster, and the assumption that Washington will always blink, is being dismantled in real time.

What comes next

Israeli officials were reportedly prepared for an initial phase lasting over several days, according to Israel's Channel 12. Reports also indicated that Trump had been weighing options aimed at killing Khamenei and his son Mojtaba, who is viewed as a possible successor. The fact that Khamenei was moved to a secure location before the strikes suggests either intelligence leaks or a regime leadership that understood what was coming and chose defiance anyway.

Trump's appeal to the Iranian people is the most strategically significant element of the entire address. Military operations can degrade infrastructure and eliminate leadership targets. But the explicit call for the Iranian public to seize the moment and overthrow their government transforms this from a conventional military campaign into something with far greater ambitions.

The Iranian people have tried before. The regime killed as many as 30,000 protesters during anti-government demonstrations, according to some estimates. Those uprisings failed in part because no outside power was willing to provide cover. Trump just told them, plainly, that the cover is here.

Whether the Iranian people can act on that invitation while bombs are falling is an open question. But for the first time in 47 years, an American president has matched the words with the firepower.