U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States had begun "major combat operations" in Iran, warning that there may be U.S. casualties.
U.S. President Donald Trump visits a Whataburger in Corpus Christi, Texas, U.S., February 27, 2026. Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States had begun "major combat operations" in Iran, warning that there may be U.S. casualties.
The strikes, which Trump said were aimed at destroying Iranian missiles and annihilating its navy, follow repeated U.S.-Israeli warnings that they would strike Iran again if it pressed ahead with its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
"I do not make this statement lightly. The Iranian regime seeks to kill," Trump said in a video shared on Truth Social.
"The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties that often happens in war, but we're doing this, not for now. We're doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission."
Trump told the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, Iran's armed forces, to lay down their weapons, promising that they would be granted immunity.
The other option, according to Trump, is "certain death."
Washington and Tehran held a series of talks in recent weeks about Iran's nuclear ambition. The most recent one was held on Thursday with no deal.
"Iran refused, just as it has for decades and decades. They rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions, and we can't take it anymore," Trump said.
By Jasper Ward
Iran's veteran supreme leader and a host of other top figures and Revolutionary Guards commanders have been killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes but the ruling system has maintained its ability to strategise and operate in the war that began on February 28.
The Trump administration is quietly weighing Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, as a potential partner, and even a future leader, Politico reported on Monday, citing two administration officials.
An Israeli precision strike hit a residential apartment building in Hazmieh - a predominantly Christian neighborhood east of Beirut - Monday afternoon, killing at least one person in what the IDF described as a targeted hit on a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' elite Al-Quds Force.
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