Loud blasts have been heard in Iran, and black clouds of smoke are being seen across its cities. US President Donald Trump has announced that the US began “major combat operations in Iran”, Times of Israel reports.
Iran has long been Russia's ally, supplying it with thousands of Shahed drones that killed hundreds of Ukrainian civilians. Tehran has also transformed modern warfare, making drones the primary means of battlefield strikes.
“Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people,” Trump says in a video statement posted on his Truth Social account.
Chance for generations ahead
The US President has also addressed the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the armed forces, and the entire police force, saying that they must lay down their arms and receive full immunity, or otherwise face inevitable death.
Years after Iran downed Ukrainian plane, killing 176 people, its drone factories now burn under Israeli fire — and Kyiv is watching
He has also told the Iranians that these operations are a chance for them to take power into their own hands for many generations.
Keep dreaming, America!
Earlier, the US worked on reaching an agreement with Iran on nuclear weapons limitations. However, the Iranian top leadership refused to cooperate with American officials in that field. Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected Trump's claims that the US destroyed Tehran's nuclear capabilities in a series of large-scale bombings in June 2025.
"The US president proudly says they bombed and destroyed Iran's nuclear industry. Very well, keep dreaming!" said Khamenei.
During the 2026 operation, the first apparent strike targeted his offices in Tehran.
“Terrible and malicious people. Iran must not have nuclear weapons. Never. We’re going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally, again, obliterated," claims Trump, as per the Clash Report.
Ukraine has supported the January demonstrations in Iran against the pro-Russian leadership
In January 2026, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy voiced support for protesters in Iran against its leadership and called on world leaders and international organizations to help change the regime there.
Protests have been ongoing across Iran since 28 December 2025, triggered by the collapse of the national currency, the Iranian rial. The demonstrations demanded regime change, which has been violating human rights, including the rights of women.
"And every decent person on this planet sincerely wishes that the people of Iran would finally be freed from the current regime, which has brought so much evil to Ukraine and other countries," Zelenskyy wrote on social media.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, police, and militias have been using violent methods to suppress the demonstrations. Khamenei has controlled the army, courts, and media, relying on the IRGC as the key mechanism for maintaining power.
“Brave Iranian people" to take their fate into their own hands
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delivered a statement confirming that Israel and the US have launched an operation to eliminate the existential threat posed by Iran’s terrorist regime.
He has thanked his “friend,” President Donald Trump, for his historic leadership.
Netanyahu has stated що for 47 years the ayatollahs’ regime has been chanting “Death to Israel” and “Death to America.” He said it has shed their blood, killed many Americans, and oppressed its own people. Netanyahu stated that this murderous terrorist regime must not be armed with nuclear weapons, which would allow it to threaten all of humanity.
He added that joint actions would create conditions for the “brave Iranian people” to take their fate into their own hands.
