A combined missile attack on a diplomatic compound killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, triggering a wave of retaliatory strikes across the region
Massive, unprovoked US-Israeli strikes against Iran began on Saturday morning and have continued for into a second day.
The initial attacks killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the head of the Iranian Republican Guard, and several other top officials, state media has confirmed. Moscow has strongly condemned the “practice of political assassinations and the ‘hunting’ of leaders of sovereign states” and expressed outrage at the Iranian leader’s killing.
Iran has responded with hundreds of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and US bases across the Gulf region.
While sporadic missile strikes have hit Tel Aviv and US bases, hundreds of Iranian civilians have been killed, including more than a hundred schoolchildren in a single strike, which Iran blamed on Israel.
Shipping and air traffic across the Middle East have been plunged into chaos, with thousands of tourists stranded across airports.
Moscow, China, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, along with several other nations, have condemned the US and Israeli attacks. The EU has criticized Tehran for its retaliatory strikes more than it has Israel and the US for its unprovoked aggression.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered his condolences over the killing of Khamenei, describing his death as a “cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law.”
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01 March 2026
21:16 GMT
“The door to diplomacy is still open,” Badr Albusaidi, the foreign minister of Oman, has said in a post on X. He hailed what he called “genuine progress” in talks between Washington and Tehran before the attack.
“War should not mean that the hope of peace is extinguished,” the minister said has he called on both sides to resume the negotiations as soon as possible.
- 21:10 GMT
The US Central Command has published an overview infographic listing the military assets deployed and the targets hit during the first 24 hours of Operation Epic Fury against Iran – but offering no specific details.
Operation Epic Fury: The first 24 hours pic.twitter.com/VRcoc5G1Hd
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 1, 2026
- 21:01 GMT
Iran has targeted Jerusalem in another strike, RT’s Charlotte Dubenskij reports. She was able to record a video showing smoke rising over nearby buildings. According to Dubenskij, the Israeli national emergency medical service sent ambulances to the scene to treat several people injured in what it called a ballistic missile strike.
- 21:00 GMT
After being struck by four Iranian ballistic missiles, the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln “fled from its mission area towards the southeast Indian Ocean,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has claimed in a statement cited by Fars news agency.
- 20:56 GMT
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has confirmed the death of Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh to US-Israeli strikes, according to a press release cited by Fars news agency.
The statement also confirms the deaths of armed forces chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi, IRGC commander-in-chief Mohammad Pakpour, and a number of senior military officials.
FILE PHOTO: Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh. © Getty Images / Johannes Neudecker/picture alliance
- 20:53 GMT
The US attack on Iran amid negotiations, and the following assassinations of Iranian leaders and top military officials, will cement the conflict in the minds of their successors, former Pentagon security policy analyst Michael Maloof has told RT.
“It’s been twice now that during negotiations, the United States attacked,” he said. “This sends a message to anybody who wants to negotiate an agreement with the US: ‘Don’t bother, because you can’t, the US cannot be trusted.’”
Iran will replace its assassinated supreme leader and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief, “because they’ve planned for these kinds of things in Iran,” Maloof said.
“You could be getting even more strident leadership which will not trust the US or Israel, or even the West… in terms of any kind of agreements in the future.”
- 20:33 GMT
The leaders of Germany, France, and the UK have released a joint statement condemning Iran’s strikes in the Middle East, which it said are aimed at US bases in the region.
“E3 leaders are appalled by the indiscriminate and disproportionate missile attacks launched by Iran against countries in the region,” they wrote. “Iran’s reckless attacks have targeted our close allies and are threatening our service personnel and our civilians across the region.”
They warned that the three nations could take “proportionate defensive action” to destroy Iran’s missile and drone capabilities.
- 20:31 GMT
A radar of the US-made THAAD missile defense system has been destroyed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps in a missile strike near Al Ruwais, UAE, Tasnim news agency claims. Manufactured by Lockheed Martin, the missile defense system reportedly costs up to $1.8 billion per battery, including six launchers, 48 interceptors, radar, and fire control system.
- 20:05 GMT
UNESCO has expressed “deep concern” over the strike on the Iranian elementary school in Minab, which killed 165 people, according to local media. It also cited the broader effect of the conflict on students in the region.
“The killing of pupils in a place dedicated to learning constitutes a grave violation of the protection afforded to schools under international humanitarian law,” it said.
UNESCO is deeply alarmed by the impact of the ongoing military escalation in the Middle East on educational institutions, students, and education personnel. Initial reports indicate that an attack on a girls' primary school in Minab, southern Iran, has resulted in the deaths of… pic.twitter.com/RGaqrUetFA
— UNESCO 🏛️ #Education #Sciences #Culture 🇺🇳 (@UNESCO) March 1, 2026
- 19:59 GMT
The US-Israeli airstrikes have targeted the Gandhi Hospital in the northern part of Tehran, several Iranian news outlets claim. Tasnim news agency published videos purporting to show the hospital building damaged in the attack.
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28 February 2026
07:35 GMT
Farhad Ibrahimov, a lecturer at the Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow and a specialist on Iran and the Middle East, says Israel’s strikes on Iran were similar to the June 12-13 attack last year.
On the eve of those events, US President Donald Trump announced a new round of negotiations with Tehran, and the following day Israel struck Iran, he posted on his Telegram channel. “The same thing is happening today,” Ibrahimov, a regular RT contributor, added.
Israel carried out what it described as a “pre-emptive strike” on Tehran and a number of other Iranian cities, fully aware that Iran would respond, he posted. “And if Iran responds, the Americans will step in and the negotiations will be over.”
- 07:36 GMT
Tehran is preparing retaliatory measures and its response will be devastating, an Iranian official told Reuters.
- 07:37 GMT
The current attack on Iran will be far larger in scale than US strikes on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities in June last year, American officials told the New York Times.
The strikes were reported to have come after US President Trump expressed dissatisfaction with the progress of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. - 07:42 GMT
US forces have begun a military operation against Iran, President Trump confirmed in a video posted on Truth Social. He said the aim of the operation was to protect the American people by eliminating what he described as the “threat” posed by the Iranian government.
He said the “major combat operation” against Iran was aimed at its nuclear and missile programs and added that Tehran would never obtain a nuclear weapon.
The White House and Trump administration, via Donald Trump, have just released a video saying they have attacked Iran and "defend the American people and eliminating the Iranian regime…a vicious group of very hard, terrible people". pic.twitter.com/bpEZOXQ69m
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) February 28, 2026
- 08:01 GMT
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was not harmed in the US and Israeli attack, Mehr news agency reported, citing a source.
Israel is preparing for four days of strikes in the initial phase of the operation against the Islamic Republic, Channel 12 reported.
- 08:08 GMT
At least five explosions were heard in Tehran and were also reported in other cities – including Qom, Isfahan, Kermanshah and Karaj – Iranian news agencies have reported.
The military operation has been named “Roar of the Lion” for the Israeli phase and “Shield of Judah” for the joint operation with Washington.
© RT
- 08:16 GMT
An air raid alert has been declared in Israel, with launches detected from Iran, authorities said.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has urged his people to remain steadfast “in the coming days” following the start of the operation against Tehran.© Social media
- 08:18 GMT
According to RT sources, the IDF is focusing its strikes on taking out missiles.
A source familiar with the matter also said a security meeting is currently taking place chaired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. - 08:27 GMT
‘Thick black smoke RISING’ over Tehran after Israeli strikes, RT correspondent Saman Kojouri reports
‘I’m hearing ANOTHER EXPLOSION right now’ as Iran warns of a ‘decisive response’
- 08:30 GMT
The US has begun evacuating personnel from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar following the attack on Iran, Reuters has reported, citing a source.
The facility is the largest American military installation in the Middle East, hosting about 10,000 service members. In June 2025, the base was targeted by an Iranian missile strike in response to a US and Israeli attack against nuclear sites in the Islamic Republic.
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