🚨 Iran has hit a US military base in Bahrain, as Tehran retaliates against “massive and ongoing” American air strikes The Islamic Republic fired missiles at American bases in Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE and struck the US Navy 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain Link in the comments ⬇️

Iran has hit a US military base in Bahrain in retaliation against “massive and ongoing” American air strikes on Tehran.

The Islamic Republic fired missiles at US bases in Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE and struck the US Navy 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain.

The US and Israel had launched a “major combat operation” across Iran, according to Donald Trump, in what was expected to be a multi-day operation, named “Epic Fury”.

In a recorded message from his Mar-a-Lago home, the US president called on the Iranian people to rise up and force a regime change.

“Take over your government – it will be yours to take,” he said, adding that Iranian security forces should lay down their weapons “or face certain death”.

Videos showed people on the streets of Iran chanting “death to the dictator”, referring to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader.

The first US strike appeared to land near the offices of the ayatollah.

“We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally – again – obliterated. We’re going to annihilate their navy,” Mr Trump said.

Israel Katz, the Israeli defence minister, declared a “special and permanent state of emergency” as Iran launched two barrages of retaliatory missiles.

The strike followed weeks of US military build-up in the Middle East. The Trump administration has assembled a huge fleet of fighter jets and warships in an effort to pressure Tehran into agreeing to a deal over its nuclear programme.

Iran’s regular Army launched its first offensive drone operation, firing “dozens of offensive drones” at Israeli targets, and vowed operations will continue “until complete punishment of the invading enemies,” the Army announced.

“The sons of the proud nation of Islamic Iran in the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, with the help of Almighty God, carried out their first extensive offensive drone operation against specific targets in the occupied territories and all interests of the Zionist regime, and this operation will continue until the complete punishment of the invading enemies,” the Army said

The US and Israel’s strikes on Iran are illegal under international law, the Labour chair of the foreign affairs select committee has said, writes Camilla Turner.

Dame Emily Thornberry, who has previously served as shadow attorney general, said there was no “imminent threat” posed by Tehran, meaning it is “difficult” to see what the legal justification is.

The statements will pile pressure on Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, to outline the Government’s position on its legal opinion.

Forty schoolgirls were killed and 48 were injured when a strike destroyed a girls’ elementary school in Minab, southern Iran.

“In today’s attacks by the Zionist regime on Minab city, a girls’ elementary school was targeted and so far 24 students have been martyred and 45 students are injured,” the governor told Mehr news agency.

“The enemy again attacked the area of Shajare Tayyebe girls’ elementary school, as a result of which the clinic next to this school was damaged,” Mehr said.

“This clinic, before this incident, was responsible for providing relief to a number of students,” the report said.

The Shajare Tayyebe elementary school had 170 students in the morning shift, according to the report.

“Debris removal and relief operations for the students of this school are underway,” it said.

State media posted a video purporting to be of the aftermath of the attack on the school.

Fresh from flexing American muscle in Venezuela and claiming momentum against Iran, Donald Trump is riding a wave of foreign-policy bravado.

After years of railing against “forever wars,” he has now launched a days-long campaign aimed at toppling the Iranian regime, a gamble that would have once been unthinkable for his Maga base.

The timing is no accident. The president’s approval ratings are at their lowest. With the midterm elections looming, Republicans are now in danger of losing the House.

And so, with control hanging in the balance, a decisive blow against a foreign aggressor is what Mr Trump hopes will allow the Republicans to cling to power. Failure will lead to their ruin.

Having played his hand boldly in Caracas and Tehran last year, Mr Trump will be hoping he has not pushed his luck one card too far.

Iraq’s powerful pro-Iran group Kataeb Hezbollah warned on Saturday that 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-Sakhar base, also known as Jurf al-Nasr, in southern Iraq.

Bahrain’s interior ministry has begun evacuating citizens and residents from Juffair, a neighbourhood in the capital.

Meanwhile, Iran has launched a new wave of missiles towards the centre of Israel, state media said, and a new wave of explosions have been heard in Doha.

Witnesses have reported seeing white smoke and military aircraft in the skies above Abu Dhabi.

Jamie Smith, a British store manager working in Abu Dhabi, told The Telegraph: “The main situation has been now eight loud bangs as missiles have been destroyed over the city.

“After you can see puffs of white smoke where this was. There’s been military aircraft also flying around. I manage stores in Dubai International Airport and the subsequent airspace closure has put extra stress on my staff.”

Countries across the world have condemned attacks started by the US and Israel.

Switzerland urged the countries to respect international law.

“Switzerland is deeply alarmed by today’s strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran,” Bern’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

“Switzerland calls for full respect of international law, including the UN Charter and international humanitarian law. We urge all parties to exercise maximum restraint, protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.”

The Norwegian foreign ministry also criticised Israel. Foreign minister Espen Barth Eide said: “The attack is described by Israel as ‌a preventive strike, but it is not in line with international law. Preventive attacks require an immediately imminent threat.”

Russia has asked its citizens to leave Israel. Former president Dmitry Medvedev launched a scathing attack against the US and Israel.

“The peacemaker once again showed his face,” he said. “All negotiations with Iran are a cover operation. No one doubted it. No one really wanted to negotiate anything.

“The question is who has more patience ‌to wait ‌for the inglorious ⁠end of their enemy. The USA is only 249 years old. The Persian Empire was founded more than 2,500 years ago. Let’s see in 100 ⁠years.”

Nawaf Salam, the Lebanese prime minister, said: “I reiterate that we will not accept anyone dragging the country into adventures that threaten its security and unity.”

But Ukraine has supported the US and Israel. “The ⁠cause ⁠of the current events is precisely the violence and impunity of the Iranian regime, in particular the killings and repression of peaceful protesters, which have become particularly widespread in recent months,” the foreign ministry said.

The European Union said it was withdrawing non-essential personnel from the Middle East, describing developments across the region as “perilous”.

“The latest developments across the Middle East are perilous. Iran’s regime has killed thousands. Its ballistic missile and nuclear programmes, along with support for terror groups, pose a serious threat to global security,” the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, wrote on social media.

Protection of civilians and international humanitarian law was a priority, Kallas said, adding she had spoken to Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar and “other ministers in the region”.

The EU’s Aspides naval mission in the Red Sea remained “on high alert” and stood ready to help keep the maritime corridor open, she added.

In the heat of its confrontation with America and Israel, Iran’s arsenal of ballistic missiles provides its most effective means of retaliation.

Iran is believed to have about 1,500 missiles, capable of striking almost any country in the Middle East, and some 100 launchers. In the past, Iran has generally fired them solely at Israel and avoided targeting the Gulf states. When it launched a relatively modest salvo of 14 missiles at a US base in Qatar last June, Iran gave advance warning of its attack and no casualties were inflicted.

But now, Iran has no reason for restraint. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei knows that his enemies are trying to overthrow him. From his perspective, it would make sense to cause as much damage as possible.

Khamenei also knows that America and Israel will do everything within their power to destroy his missiles on the ground before they are launched. So he must use them before he loses them.

Hence Iran has already fired missiles not just at Israel but also at the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in the Gulf state of Bahrain. Khamenei will now try to hit as many targets as possible for as long as his missiles and their launchers survive.