LIMA, Peru – The United States and Israel launched a large-scale joint attack against Iran this Saturday, in an operation that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu justified as necessary to “eliminate the existential threat” that, he claimed, the Islamic Republic represents.
In a statementNetanyahu noted that the offensive, dubbed “The Lion’s Roar,” also seeks to “create the conditions” for the Iranian people to “change their destiny.” US President Donald Trump backed the same arguments.
During the first hours of the operation, explosions were recorded in Iranian territory, in Israel and in other countries in the Persian Gulf. Iranian media reported that an attack on a girls’ primary school in Minab, southern Iran, left at least 53 students dead.
After the offensive, both Israel and Iran declared the state of emergency and closed their airspace. Numerous airlines have canceled flights to Tehran, Tel Aviv and other regional capitals, although the Israeli land border remains open.
In response, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced the start of “the first wave of widespread missile and drone attacks” against Israel. Anti-aircraft sirens sounded in several Israeli cities to alert the population, and shortly afterward a second wave of projectiles was reported. A man was slightly injured in northern Israel.
A senior Iranian official told regional media that there will be no “red lines” in Tehran’s response to the offensive, in an escalation that increases the risk of an open conflict in the region.
From Washington, Trump affirmed that his Administration is carrying out a “massive and continuous” military campaign against Iran with the aim of preventing the country from threatening the United States and its national security interests.
In a video messagethe Republican leader assured that Washington seeks to destroy Iran’s missile capacity and accused Tehran of trying to rebuild its nuclear program after a US bombing in June.
The president maintained that Iran rejected diplomatic opportunities and defended the offensive as necessary to stop its “nuclear ambitions.”
