US and Israel strike Iran. (title edited by MNHQ at request of the OP)

[Twiglets1]

Israel attacked Iran early on Saturday morning, saying it had “launched a pre-emptive strike against Iran to remove threats to the state of Israel,” according to a military spokesman.

Israel closed its airspace and declared a state of emergency, in anticipation of
Iranian drone and missile strikes in response.

Explosions were heard in Tehran on Saturday, Iranian media reported.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/28/israel-launches-attack-on-iran-as-explosions-heard-in-tehran

I mean the Chief Rabbi of Iran could hardly say otherwise at this point - will be interesting to see what he actually thinks, down the line.

This statement tells you all you need to know about Iran. 🦁

@Wizeman if it's such a threat to gcc ...why doesn't gcc send in ground troops themselves and get rid of Iran strangle hold?
Why is everyone else doing it ?

Well the u.s is already starting to run low on missiles, so

How do you know this?

Plenty of analysts are saying so

Do you have any links to this?

The news report I watched said they had plenty of some type of missiles but less of the ones used in defence to shoot drones down. So not a blanket running out.

Explosions have rocked one of Tehran's main commercial airports, with eyewitnesses reporting a burning plane on the tarmac.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it has completed "an additional wave of strikes" that targeted infrastructure of the Iranian regime.

More than 80 Israeli Air Force fighters jets were involved, it says.

As part of the strikes, the IDF says it "struck several military sites" including "the main Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps military university, the Imam Hossein University, which was used for the training of IRGC officers."

It says it also struck a "storage site of the Iranian missile unit" and an underground ballistic missile site "where hundreds of regime operatives were operating".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/ceqvwrydzpqt

Do you think the US has started its large scale attack yet?

It is calculated from expenditure and unit cost. If the UAE for example announce a $100 mil purchase of Patriot systems, and the Patriots cost $50 mil for the radar and launcher plus $1 mil each for the interceptors, its easy to work out how many they have.

Then take the number of intercepts reported and do a bit more easy maths.

The analysts doing this stuff are experts at it, with decades worth of press releases and Pentagon data/ congressional budget data to work with. As well as the manufacturers capacity.

Stuff like this :

Lockheed Martin to more than triple Patriot missile production capacity (sahmcapital.com)

This apology is interesting

In a video address broadcast on Iranian state media, the country's President Masoud Pezeshkian apologises to neighbouring states and says Tehran will not attack them "unless attacked first"

Maybe they got tired of making new enemies everyday.

Not sure sorry really covers it.

True. It’s good that they’re so isolated and maybe they’re running out of weapons to use.

I wonder if the "sorry" will impact the Straits of Hormuz in any way.

I doubt "sorry" will be enough for the cargo insurers to re-commit.

Yes ... The BBC reporting from Doha (capital of Qatar for anyone who doesn't know) also mentioned the apology.

Which was slightly undermined by sirens sounding on air as Qatar's armed forces "intercepted" an Iranian missile attack.

I was hearing (can't remember which podcast) that part of the issue is that the IRGC restructured into various independent and autonomous units, so that "cutting the head off the snake" was no longer possible.

The issue with this being that different units are engaging in different actions and there's a lack of consistent approach.

Yes. It was a pre recorded message, but there have been attacks this morning.
He blames the attacks on miscommunication in the ranks, but perhaps he's just not in charge.

I agree the lack of consistency is apparent. As the BBC's Anna Foster said, reporting from Doha:

"I feel like I've used the word unpredictable so much in last week, but when I'm preparing to let you know that the Iranian president has apologised to his neighbours and said no more attacks, and then you hear a siren moments later, I think it's a real example of that unpredictability in action," she says.

Perhaps no one in the regime actually knows who is in charge - layers of their top leadership have been killed according to the US.

The objective of Iran in attacking the other countries and the Gulf countries in particular seems to have been an attempt to widen the conflict - in order to shore up support in Iran - "look those horrible Arab countries are trying to invade us Persians".

There has been a lot of pressure from the US for other countries not to fall for this as well as from the leadership of those countries. But everyone knew it would only take one emotive attack killing lots of civilians to make it difficult (due to popular demands) not to retaliate.

The Iranian President has seen that this tactic is not working and is in fact counter productive, portraying Iran as the bad guys.

Hence the "sorry about dropping bombs and missiles on you - our bad"

Doubtful as the US bomber jets have only just arrived in the UK.

I recall someone saying the neighbour states we’re not for US action but after being struck it’s galvanised them further away from Iran.

An own goal by Iran on that one.

Because someone put a gun to his head.

Yup. I was being sarcastic!