Tehran, Iran - The US and Israel launched an unprovoked war on Iran early on Saturday morning aimed at overthrowing the Islamic republic's government.
A US official told Al Jazeera that Washington was participating in the attack, and President Donald Trump confirmed the start of full-blown war in an eight-minute speech.
Two loud blasts were heard in Tehran on Saturday morning by AFP journalists, and two plumes of thick smoke were seen over the center and east of the Iranian capital. Explosion were also reported in other regions of the country, with the Israeli army announcing that government buildings and military installations were being targeted.
Both Israel and Iran announced the closure of their respective airspaces, as did other states in the region.
Iran responded by launching extensive retaliatory missile attacks. Qatar, which hosts the largest US military base in the Middle East, said it had intercepted a rocket. Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Iraq – all countries with a significant US military footprint – have also reportedly come under fire.
The major escalation came after weeks of threats of war made by President Donald Trump, even as Iran had been participating in intense talks related to its nuclear program. As recently as Friday, officials from Tehran had made guardedly optimistic noises about progress towards a negotiated settlement.
Saturday's opening salvo mirrored the events of June last year, when Israel launched unilateral and unprovoked attacks on Iran while it was engaged in negotiations with Washington.
UPDATE, February 28, 1:00 PM ET: Death toll in airstrike on girls' school skyrockets
The death toll from a horrific attack on an Iranian elementary school for girls, which has been attributed to Israel, has risen to 85, Tehran's judiciary said.
"The number of martyrs at the girls' school in Minab has increased to 85," the judiciary's Mizan Online website quoted the area's prosecutor's office as saying.
UPDATE, February 28, 10:30 AM ET: IRGC announces new wave of attacks
Iran's Revolutionary Guards have launched a new wave of missiles against US bases in the Gulf, state TV reported Saturday, in response to the Israeli and US strikes on the Islamic republic.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps "has started a new wave of missile attacks against American bases", state TV reported, citing the IRGC.
UPDATE, February 28, 9:30 AM ET: Top Iranian official says leadership is alive and well
Iran's foreign minister said the country's supreme leader was alive, along with all high-ranking officials, after Israel and the United States launched strikes across the country on Saturday.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told NBC News that supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was alive "as far as I know," in an interview from Tehran with the US outlet, adding that "all high ranking officials are alive".
Araghchi said he had been in contact with Gulf states and "explained for them that we have no intention to attack them but we are actually attacking the American bases in the act of self defense."
He added that while there was currently no communication with the US, "if Americans wants to talk to us. They know how they can contact me. We are certainly interested for de-escalation."
UPDATE, February 28, 7:30 AM ET: Israeli strike on girls' school kills scores
Israeli strikes hit a girls' school in the southern Iranian province of Hormozgan near the strategic sea route of the Strait of Hormuz, killing and wounding scores, Iranian state media said.
The latest official death toll stood at 40.
Israel's military also said it targeted multiple sites where senior Iranian officials had gathered in the capital Tehran on Saturday morning and was "assessing" the impact of the attacks.
UPDATE, February 28, 7:00 AM ET: One killed in Iranian strike on UAE
A civilian was killed in Iranian strikes that hit Abu Dhabi on Saturday, the UAE's ministry of defence said in a statement, as Tehran launched attacks across the Gulf in retaliation for US and Israeli strikes.
The defence ministry reported "the fall of some missile debris in a residential area" of Abu Dhabi that "resulted in one civilian death of an Asian nationality".
UPDATE, February 28, 6:30 AM ET: Iraqi paramilitary group announces imminent attack on US bases
Iraq's powerful pro-Iran group Kataeb Hezbollah warned Saturday it will start imminent attacks on US bases after air strikes hit an Iraqi military base housing the group.
"We will soon begin attacking American bases in response to their aggression," the group said in a statement.
Two fighters were killed Saturday in air strikes that hit the Jurf al-Sakher base, also known as Jurf al-Nasr, in southern Iraq.