WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM/DUBAI/DOHA, Feb 28 (Reuters) - The United States and Israel launched the most ambitious attack on Iran in decades on Saturday, and U.S. President Donald Trump said Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been killed in the operation.
A senior Israeli official told Reuters earlier that the Iranian leader's body had been found after a strike and Trump said the U.S. worked closely with Israel to target the man who led Iran since 1989. Iranian news agencies Tasnim and Mehr, however, reported that the supreme leader was "steadfast and firm in commanding the field."
Iran called the strikes unprovoked and illegal and responded with missiles fired at Israel and at least seven other countries, including Gulf states that host U.S. bases.
Trump, who was making the biggest foreign-policy gamble of his presidency after campaigning for reelection as a "peace president," said the strikes were aimed at ending a decades-long threat from Iran and ensuring it could not develop a nuclear weapon.
Intelligence and tracking systems monitored Khamenei's whereabouts, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post, adding that "there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do."
Trump reiterated calls for Iranians to topple the government but warned: "The heavy and pinpoint bombing, however, will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!"
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Khamenei's compound had been destroyed.
Three sources familiar with the matter said Iranian Defense Minister Amir Nasirzadeh and Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammed Pakpour were among those killed in the attacks. Israel's military said it had confirmed that five other senior military commanders were also dead, including Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader. Iranian media had said Khamenei's daughter, grandchild, son-in-law and daughter-in-law were also killed.
Celebrations, Fears Among Iranians
Witnesses said some Iranians took to the streets in Tehran, the nearby city of Karaj and the central city of Isfahan to celebrate after the reports of Khamenei's death. Videos posted on social media, which Reuters was unable to immediately verify, also showed celebrations in other locations.
The explosions during the strikes caused widespread panic across Iran. "We are scared, we are terrified. My children are shaking, we have nowhere to go, we will die here," mother-of-two Minou, 32, said weeping as she spoke to Reuters by phone from the northern city of Tabriz.
Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones in response to the attacks, but the Pentagon said there were no U.S. deaths or injuries.
Iran warned that the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passage through which around a fifth of global oil consumption passes, had been closed. Traders expected a sharp jump in oil prices. Airlines cancelled flights in the Middle East.
Israel's military said some 200 fighter jets had completed the largest flying mission in its history, hitting 500 targets throughout Iran, including strategic defence systems already damaged in strikes last year.
Trump Cites 'Imminent Threats'
In a video message on social media early on Saturday, Trump said the aim of the military campaign, which the U.S. Department of Defense named Operation Epic Fury, was "eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime."
The Iranian people should "take over" governance of their country, Trump said in the video. "It will be yours to take," he said. "This will be probably your only chance for generations."
Israeli military operations over the past two years had already killed some of Iran's senior military officials and severely weakened several of Tehran's once-feared proxy forces across the Middle East.
After Israel pounded Iran in a 12-day air war in June, joined by the United States, the U.S. and Israel had warned they would strike again if Iran pressed ahead with its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Negotiations between U.S. and Iranian officials took place as recently as Thursday, but senior U.S. officials said on Saturday that Iran had not been willing to give up its ability to enrich uranium, which the Iranians argued they wanted for nuclear energy but U.S. officials said would enable the country to build a nuclear bomb.
During a United Nations Security Council meeting on Saturday, envoys from Russia and China criticized the U.S. and Israel for launching the strikes while Tehran was negotiating with Washington. Russia's U.N. envoy Vasily Nebenzya said Iran had been "stabbed in the back" and disputed the U.S. claim that preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon justified the attacks.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
Trump also faced pushback at home from opposition Democrats, and a few of his fellow Republicans, who said a prolonged campaign against Iran would be illegal without congressional approval and that lawmakers should vote within days.
Missiles Fired at Arab Gulf States
Oil markets have been closely watching the standoff. Jorge Leon, head of geopolitical analysis at Rystad Energy, predicted prices could shoot up by $10 to $20 per barrel when markets open on Monday, if there is no sign of de-escalation.
Iran, the third-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumps about 4% of global oil supplies, and a far larger share is shipped past its coast through the strait leading out of the Gulf.
In Israel, sirens and mobile-phone warnings sent Israelis rushing to air raid shelters as Iran launched a series of missile barrages that were mostly intercepted, though some missiles hit.
Emergency teams in Tel Aviv treated at least 20 people hurt by a missile that hit a residential building, Israel's ambulance service said. Photos from the scene showed one side of the multi-storey building blown out and its roof caved in.
Iran fired missiles at Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Doha, all key east-west aviation gateways.
Aviation sources had told Reuters that an overnight Iranian attack damaged an airport terminal in Dubai. One of the city's plush hotel districts was also hit.
Loud explosions sounded in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, an oil producer and close U.S. ally.
Nada AlGarhy, 30, said she and her husband had been at the Waldorf Astoria hotel on Dubai's luxury Palm development for Iftar, the evening meal during the fasting month of Ramadan, when they heard a loud blast.
Bahrain said the service center of the U.S. Fifth Fleet — the base for American naval forces in the region — had been subjected to a missile attack. Video footage showed a thick grey plume of smoke rising from near the island state's coastline.
Qatar said it had downed all missiles targeting the country and that it had a right to respond. Kuwait confirmed a missile attack on a U.S. military base there.
Tehran promised a stronger response to come, with a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander, Ebrahim Jabbari, saying it had so far used only "scrap missiles" and would soon unveil previously unseen weapons.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Michael Georgy, James MacKenzie, Patricia Zengerle and Simon Lewis; Editing by Barbara Lewis, Sam Holmes, Timothy Heritage, Peter Graff, Sergio Non, Rod Nickel and Cynthia Osterman)
