US-Israel Attacks Iran LIVE Updates: The US and Israel launched a major attack on targets across Iran on Saturday, and US President Donald Trump called on the Iranian people to “take over your government” – an extraordinary appeal that suggested the allies could be seeking to end the country’s theocracy after decades of tensions.
The first strikes of the attack appeared to target the compound home to Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in downtown Tehran. It wasn’t immediately clear if he was there at the time. Smoke could be seen rising from the Iranian capital.
Long queues formed at gas stations and many Iranians began heading out of cities in search of safety, witnesses said.
One man, speaking to Reuters from the capital, said he was rushing to get his children from school.
“We are scared, we are terrified. My children are shaking, we have nowhere to go, we will die here,” said Minou, a 32-year-old mother of two from the northern city of Tabriz, one of many areas where explosions were reported.
“What is going to happen to my children?,” she said, crying as she spoke by phone.
Iran said on Saturday it will “respond decisively” after Israel and the United States launched strikes on the country despite talks underway on Tehran’s nuclear programme.