BREAKING: U.S., Israel Begin 'Major Combat Operation' in Iran, Tehran Strikes Back across Middle East

Trump says there likely will be American casualties in the conflict.

Americans are waking up to news on Saturday morning that the U.S. and Israel have launched strikes on Iran. President Donald Trump did not get congressional authorization for what he is calling “major combat operations” in the nation of 93 million people while urging “regime change.”

The U.S. and Iran had been in the middle of talks over Iran’s nuclear program, with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff andTrump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, conducting meetings as recently as Feb. 26 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Iran has already retaliated with strikes across the Middle East. Blasts have been heard in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain — which all host U.S. military bases.

The bombing marks the eighth military intervention for Trump in a little more than a year. Right after the New Year, the U.S. launched operations in Venezuela, capturing the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro.

After he was inaugurated for a second term in January 2025, Trump said: “We will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end, and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.”

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This is not Trump’s first intervention in Iran. In June 2025, the U.S. and Israel bombed three nuclear sites, with the president claiming the nation’s nuclear program was “completely and fully obliterated.” However, U.S. intelligence report later said Iran’s program was set back only a few months.

In a video statement released on social media at 2:30 a.m. Saturday, Trump acknowledged that America may lose troops in combat.

“The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties. That often happens in war,” he said.

Trump also posted a story from the right-wing news site, Just the News, with the headline: “Iran tried to interfere in 2020, 2024 elections to stop Trump, and now faces renewed war with United States.”

Here is a full transcript of Trump’s eight-minute address:

“A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran. Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people.

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 innocent people in many, many countries. From Lebanon to Yemen, and Syria to Iraq, the regime has armed, trained, and funded terrorist militias that have soaked the earth with blood and guts. And it was Iran’s proxy, Hamas, that launched the monstrous October 7 attacks on Israel, slaughtering more than 1,000 innocent people, including 46 Americans, while taking 12 of our citizens hostage. It was brutal—something like the world has never seen before.

Iran is the world’s number one state sponsor of terror and just recently killed tens of thousands of its own citizens on the street as they protested. It has always been the policy of the United States, in particular my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon. I’ll say it again: They can never have a nuclear weapon. Instead, they attempted to rebuild their nuclear program and to continue developing 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.

We’re going to ensure that the region’s terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region or the world and attack our forces, and no longer use their IEDs or roadside bombs, as they are sometimes called, to so gravely wound and kill thousands and thousands of people, including many Americans.

This regime will soon learn that no one should challenge the strength and might of the United States Armed Forces. I built and rebuilt our military in my first administration, and there is no military on earth even close to its power, strength, or sophistication. My administration has taken every possible step to minimize the risk to U.S. personnel in the region. Even so—and I do not make this statement lightly—the Iranian regime seeks to kill. The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties. That often happens in war.

We pray for every service member as they selflessly risk their lives to ensure that Americans and our children will never be threatened by a nuclear-armed Iran. We ask God to protect all of our heroes in harm’s way, and we trust that, with His help, the men and women of the armed forces will prevail. We have the greatest in the world, and they will prevail.

To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces, and all of the police, I say tonight that you must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity, or in the alternative, face certain death. So lay down your arms. You will be treated fairly with total immunity, or you will face certain death.

Finally, 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. 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. Now is the time to seize control of your destiny and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is close within your reach. This is the moment for action. Do not let it pass.

May God bless the brave men and women of America’s Armed Forces. May God bless the United States of America. May God bless you all. Thank you.”

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