ConfirmedMilitary & securityBackgroundTehran, Iran
U.S. and Israel launch joint strikes on Iran, opening the war
- Mountain Time
- Local time
- 9:45 AM in Tehran, Feb 28
- Where
- Tehran, Iran
U.S. and Israeli forces began striking Iran on Saturday morning, with explosions across Tehran and some of the first hits near Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's offices; Revolutionary Guard command sites, air defenses, missile and drone launch sites and airfields were among the targets. Israel's defense minister called it a preemptive strike, declared a nationwide state of emergency and Israel closed its airspace.
Why it matters
Launched while U.S.-Iran nuclear talks were still set to continue, the opening strikes killed Khamenei and much of Iran's military command and set off Iranian retaliation against Israel and the Gulf states hosting U.S. forces.
Sources (5)
- Associated Pressapnews.comPublished
- Associated Press (2)apnews.comPublished
- Times of Israeltimesofisrael.comPublished
- Associated Press (3)apnews.comPublished
- Al Jazeeraaljazeera.comPublished
Confidence: Corroborated by independent sources or direct evidence. About confidence labels
Corrections
- Removed AP Trump-Netanyahu war analysis as a source (an AP link we could not open or find in any web archive). Why and evidence
- Removed AP Iran-Israel-Lebanon timeline as a source (an AP link we could not open or find in any web archive). Why and evidence
- Corrected the time from Feb 28 2026, 12:00 PM Tehran time; source gives date marker, exact hour not specified to 9:45 AM Tehran time, Feb 28, 2026; corrected the headline (it read "U.S. and Israel attack Iran; the 2026 Iran war begins"); revised the summary; revised the context note; corrected the location from Iran / regional theater to Tehran, Iran; changed the confidence label from reported to confirmed; reclassified it from policy to military-strike; updated the sourcing note; added 5 sources: Associated Press, Times of Israel, Al Jazeera. Why and evidence