Tag: iran

Trump Threatens to “Take Over the Whole Thing” After Iran Strikes Kill Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

President Trump broke his silence following the Iran strikes on Saturday morning, telling Axios of potential “off-ramps” in the conflict. 

“I can go long and take over the whole thing, or end it in two or three days and tell the Iranians: ‘See you again in a few years if you start rebuilding [your nuclear and missile programs],” Trump told Axios in a phone interview from Mar-a-Lago.

This is the first time Trump commented on the strikes since releasing a statement early on Saturday morning.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, Trump announced earlier that American forces are engaged in what he described as a “massive and ongoing operation” aimed at neutralizing the Iranian regime’s ability to threaten US troops, American allies, and the homeland itself.

Trump pointed to the 1979 US Embassy hostage crisis in Tehran, where dozens of Americans were held captive for 444 days, the 1983 Beirut Marine barracks bombing that killed 241 US military personnel, Iranian-backed militias responsible for killing and maiming hundreds of American troops in Iraq, and continued proxy attacks against US forces and commercial vessels in Middle Eastern shipping lanes.

He further said that after Operation Midnight Hammer last June, where US forces bombed three nuclear facilities in Iran, “we warned them never to resume their malicious pursuit of nuclear weapons, and we repeatedly sought to make a deal.”

“We tried. They wanted to do it—they didn’t,” Trump said. “They wanted to do it—again—they didn’t want to do it.”

In closing his statement, Trump encouraged the Iranian people to seize control of their government.

“When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take,” Trump said to the people of Iran.

“This will probably be your only chance for generations. For many years, you have asked for America’s help, but you never got it. No president was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight.”

Israel further confirmed it had launched a pre-emptive strike on Iranian territory, joined by a broader US military offensive targeting military and nuclear sites across Tehran and other major cities, including areas near the office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei has since been confirmed dead by Israeli officials.

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‘This could spark the largest regional war yet’: Russian analysts on the Iran strikes

As the United States and Israel launch a military operation against Iran on February 28, 2026, global attention turns to the Middle East, where the stakes could not be higher. Analysts and experts from Russia are weighing in, offering a wide range of perspectives on the strategic calculations, potential consequences, and risks of escalation. From regime change ambitions to Iran’s military capabilities, from oil markets to the broader geopolitical fallout, these voices provide a nuanced look at a rapidly unfolding crisis.

Fyodor Lukyanov, Editor-in-Chief of Russia in Global Affairs:

Trump has delivered a full-blown ultimatum to the Iranian leadership – in effect, a declaration of war until the objective is achieved, with maximalist aims that extend all the way to regime change. Apparently, he has concluded that the risks – including potential losses – are acceptable (something he had hesitated over before), and that success would yield decisive strategic gains: a final reshaping of the Middle East in the interests of Israel and the United States.

A military campaign of this scale, launched without the consent of Congress, runs counter to the US Constitution. In the case of Iraq, Congress granted authorization for the use of force in advance. Nothing of the sort has happened here. If it’s all in, then it’s all in – a bet on a swift and spectacular outcome.

But what if it isn’t?

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U.S. CENTCOM Releases Fact Check Over Iran’s Claim 50 U.S. Service Members Have Died and Gives Update on Military Installations Hit by Iranian Missiles

The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) has offered a fact check over the claims made by the Iranian regime that 50 U.S. service members have died in missile attacks conducted by Iran.

In a statement on X, the U.S. CENTCOM shared, “The Iranian regime claims to have killed 50 U.S. service members. LIE.”

CENTCOM continued, “There have been no reported U.S. casualties.”

The U.S. Central Command also cleared up rumors that a U.S. Navy ship was struck by Iranian missiles and shared, “No U.S. Navy ship has been struck. The Armada is fully operational.”

Later in the fact check release, CENTCOM gave an update on the Iranian regime’s claims that severe damage had taken place at U.S. bases in the surrounding regions of Iran and revealed that damage to the U.S. base was minimal and has not impacted the U.S. military’s current operations.

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World leaders respond to regime-change strikes on Iran: ‘Peacekeeper is at it again’

The joint American and Israeli military operation launched against Iran on Saturday — dubbed Operation Epic Fury — has prompted mixed responses abroad.

While Russian officials were among the most critical of the strikes, several European leaders similarly condemned the American-Israeli initiative.

Amid reports of massive explosions in numerous Iranian cities as well as retaliatory attacks on American bases in the region and Israel, a spokesman for the British government stated, “We do not want to see further escalation into a wider regional conflict.”

The British spokesman — whose government previously blocked a request from President Donald Trump to use U.K. air bases during a pre-emptive attack on Iran — added that “Iran must never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, and that is why we have continually supported efforts to reach a negotiated solution.”

Whereas the U.K. government under Prime Minister Keir Starmer appeared less than enthusiastic about the strikes, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch expressed solidarity with the U.S. and Israel “as they take on the threat of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its vile regime.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke critically of “Iran’s murderous regime and the Revolutionary Guards,” but claimed that the “developments in Iran are greatly concerning” and urged “all parties to exercise maximum restraint, to protect civilians, and to fully respect international law.”

Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs noted that it “is deeply alarmed by today’s strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran” and echoed von der Leyen’s request that warring parties “exercise maximum restraint, protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.”

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Iranians flood streets in mourning as Tehran confirms assassination of supreme leader

Iranians flooded the streets of Tehran and other cities across the country on 1 March, hours after state television confirmed the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic. 

Video footage showed millions of people on the streets of the capital and other cities, waving Iranian flags and mourning the leader’s death.

Protests against the US and Israel have also erupted in Pakistan and Iraq. 

Angry protesters in Pakistan’s Karachi attempted to storm the US consulate on Sunday morning. At least ten have been shot dead by Pakistani security forces and US consulate personnel. Thousands protested in Kashmir as well.

Iraqis also stormed the Green Zone in Baghdad, where the US embassy is located. The popular movements coincided with continued US-Israeli strikes on Iran and retaliatory drone and missile operations targeting Israel and Washington’s assets across the region. Iraqi resistance groups have also begun drone operations against US bases. 

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Trump Starts a Major Regime-Change War with Iran, Serving Neoconservatism and Israel

For decades, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and American neoconservatives have dreamed of only one foreign policy goal: having the United States fight a regime-change war against Iran. With the Oval Office occupied by Donald Trump — who campaigned for a full decade on a vow to end regime-change wars and vanquish neoconservatism — their goal has finally been realized.

Early Saturday morning, the United States and Israel began a massive bombing campaign of Tehran and other Iranian cities. President Trump posted an eight-minute speech to social media purporting to justify his new war, dubbed “Operation Epic Fury.” Trump’ war cry was filled with the same slogans and clichés about Iran that Americans have heard from the carousel of bipartisan neocons dominating U.S. foreign policy for decades: Iran is a state sponsor of “terror”; it is pursuing nuclear weapons; it took American hostages forty-seven years ago (in 1979); it repressed and kills its dissidents, etc.

As if to underscore how fully he was embracing the very foreign policy dogma he vowed to reject, Trump invoked the Marvel-like “Axis of Evil” formulation that White House speechwriter David Frum wrote for George W. Bush at the start of the War on Terror. Iran’s government, President Trump proclaimed, is one determined to “practice evil.” This is how Bush — speaking of Iraq, Iran and North Korea — put it in his 2002 State of the Union address: “States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil.”

Trump left no doubt about the scope and ambition of his new war. This will not be a quick or targeted bombing run against a few nuclear sites, as Trump ordered last June as part of Israel’s 12-day war with Iran. There is nothing remotely constrained or targeted about any of this. Instead, this new war is what Trump called a “massive and ongoing” mission of destruction and regime-change, launched in the heart of the Middle East, against a country of 93 million people: almost four times the size of Iraq’s population when the U.S. launched that regime change war back in 2003.

That Trump claimed to have “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program last June — just eight months ago — was not something he meaningfully acknowledged in his new war announcement, other than to vaguely assert that Iran somehow resumed their nuclear program. In fact, Trump seemed to delight in repeating the same triumphalist rhetoric that he used last year when he assured Americans that Iran’s nuclear program could no longer pose a threat as a result of Trump’s triumphant Operation Midnight Hammer.

In lieu of outlining any clear mission statement for this new war, let alone a cogent exit strategy, Trump offered a laundry list of flamboyantly violent vows. The U.S. will “totally obliterate” Iran’s ballistic missile program (which Iran could not use to reach the American homeland but which Trump admitted last June caused Israel “to get hit very hard” in retaliation). Trump also promised that the U.S. would “annihilate” Iran’s navy. And he told Iranians: “the hour of your freedom is at hand….bombs will be dropping everywhere.”

Trump also attempted to prepare the nation for caskets and body bags of American soldiers returning to the U.S. “The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost; we may have casualties,” the President said. But, said the man who did everything to avoid military service including during the Vietnam War, mass death of American soldiers “often happens in war.”

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US and Israel Launch Illegal War on Iran, Call for Regime Change

he U.S. and Israel carried out a series of unprovoked and devastating strikes on Iran on Saturday, sparking retaliation from the country as U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Iranians to overthrow their government.

Iranian media reported strikes across the country, including in the capital of Tehran and around the offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, The Associated Press reported. It’s unclear if Khamenei and other top leaders survived.

One of the strikes, reportedly launched by Israel, destroyed an elementary school for girls in the southern city of Minab, killing at least 85 people, Iranian semi-official outlet Tasnim News Agency reported — seemingly the first reported casualties of the conflict.

Iran retaliated with strikes targeting Israel and U.S. bases in numerous Gulf Coast countries, including in a strike on the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain. Many U.S. bases in the region were partially evacuated prior to the first U.S.-Israeli strikes.

In a video address posted as the first strikes were launched, Trump described the attack as “a massive and ongoing operation.”

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Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Reportedly Flees Tehran, Moved to “Secure Location” After U.S.-Israel Strikes Target Regime’s Past, Present, and Future Leadership

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is reportedly no longer in Tehran and has been transferred to a secure location amid escalating military strikes targeting the Iranian regime’s infrastructure, The Jerusalem Post reported.

According to multiple breaking international reports, Khamenei was moved out of the Iranian capital after explosions rocked Tehran early Saturday morning, following what Israel described as a “pre-emptive strike” against regime targets tied to Iran’s military and intelligence apparatus.

Authorities reportedly shut down roads around the Supreme Leader’s compound as strikes were carried out near key government facilities, including locations in proximity to Khamenei’s own offices in downtown Tehran.

Founder Iran Israel Alliance, Emily Schrader, wrote on X, “In addition to the supreme leader’s office, air strikes are also targeting Imam Ali Missile Base and Qom nuclear facilities in the past few minutes. One of the targeted assassinations was Amir Hatami, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army.”

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President Trump Releases Fiery Late-Night Statement on Iran as U.S. Begins “Major Combat Operations”

President Donald J. Trump released a statement early Saturday morning following reports that the United States has begun what he described as “major combat operations in Iran” after Israeli forces launched pre-emptive strikes on Iranian targets overnight.

The Commander-in-Chief confirmed that American forces are now engaged in what he described as a “massive and ongoing operation” aimed at neutralizing the Iranian regime’s ability to threaten U.S. troops, American allies, and the homeland itself.

President Trump outlined a decades-long pattern of Iranian aggression, reminding Americans that the regime has openly chanted “Death to America” since its inception in 1979 while backing terrorist attacks that have killed U.S. service members across the Middle East.

He specifically cited:

  • The 1979 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis in Tehran, where dozens of Americans were held captive for 444 days
  • The 1983 Beirut Marine barracks bombing that killed 241 U.S. military personnel
  • Iranian-backed militias responsible for killing and maiming hundreds of American troops in Iraq
  • Continued proxy attacks against U.S. forces and commercial vessels in Middle Eastern shipping lanes

From Lebanon and Syria to Iraq and Yemen, the President warned that Tehran has spent decades funding and training terrorist militias responsible for destabilizing the region and spilling innocent blood.

Trump also pointed to Iran’s role in backing Hamas, which carried out the brutal October 7 attacks on Israel that killed more than 1,000 civilians, including dozens of Americans, and resulted in U.S. citizens being taken hostage.

Trump issued a direct appeal to the Iranian people, urging them to reclaim control of their nation from the country’s ruling Islamic regime.

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Trump Admin To Launch New Free-Speech Site To Combat Censorship Abroad

In response to what the Trump administration says is a rising tide of censorship in Europe, the State Department is launching a new app that will give users worldwide access to content that has been censored in other countries.

This includes not only Europe but also China and Iran. The platform, called Freedom.gov, will go live over the next several weeks, according to the State Department, and will be operable on iOS and Android devices.

“Freedom.gov is the latest in a long line of efforts by the State Department to protect and promote fundamental freedoms, both online and offline,” the State Department stated in an email to The Epoch Times. “The project will be global in its scope, but distinctly American in its mission: commemorating our commitment to free expression as we approach our 250th birthday.”

Lauding the move, Jeremy Tedesco, senior counsel at the Alliance Defending Freedom, a civil rights legal group that has been critical of recent EU speech laws, stated on X that “for 250 years, this is what America does,” citing examples such as Radio Free Europe, which broadcast into communist countries during the Cold War.

“If Europe’s bureaucrats don’t want you to see it, that tells you everything,” Tedesco stated. “Because even if your government fears freedom—ours doesn’t.”

The First Amendment, which prohibits the U.S. government from “abridging the freedom of speech,” has provided a legal restraint against government censorship that most other countries lack. 

Recent European speech laws, most notably the Digital Services Act (DSA), were ostensibly written to combat what lawmakers deemed “hate speech,” “harmful speech,” and “misinformation,” as well as pornography and abusive AI deep fakes. But critics of European speech codes say they are becoming increasingly draconian.  

In 2025, Virginie Joron, a French member of the European Parliament, called the DSA a “Trojan horse for surveillance and control.”

In Finland, Paivi Rasanen, a member of parliament, was charged for quoting Bible verses online in 2019, criticizing her church’s participation in a gay pride event. 

“I never imagined that quoting the Bible in a Twitter post would lead to years of criminal charges, yet this is now the reality in Europe,” she told The Epoch Times.

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