President Trump, in a video posted this morning. Donald J. Trump

Strikes on Iran

President Trump is trying to overthrow Iran’s government.

This morning, American and Israeli bombs fell on Tehran, the country’s capital. Trump announced the strikes in a video and vowed to destroy the country’s military, dismantle its nuclear program and force regime change. He said the attack would extend for several days, if not weeks.

“You must lay down your weapons,” Trump said to Iranian troops in the video, adding, “Or, in the alternative, face certain death.”

It’s not yet clear what was hit, but the strikes targeted an area of the city that houses the presidential palace, videos verified by The Times show. Satellite images also show a black plume of smoke at the compound of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, in Tehran, though it’s not clear where he is.

The city is in chaos. The internet is limited, and Iranians are trying to find loved ones and flee. “I rushed to school to get my daughter from middle school. The girls were hiding under the stairs and crying,” Ali Zeinalipoor, a Tehran resident, told our colleague.

The attack is ushering in a crisis across the Middle East: Iran’s government vowed “crushing retaliation” against Israel and the United States, and it fired waves of missiles at Israel this morning. Iran is also targeting American military bases in countries across the region. Its military power — and network of proxy forces — could draw the United States into a prolonged conflict.

What is happening

In Tehran today.

The U.S. is targeting Iran’s military.

But didn’t this happen before? Yes. Last June, the United States bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities during a short war between Israel and Iran. While Trump initially said the Iranian nuclear program had been “obliterated” by those American strikes, it later emerged that the program hadn’t been fully destroyed.

So what is different now? This attack is much bigger. Trump said he was going beyond the nuclear program and trying to instead “annihilate their navy” and “raze their missile industry.” And Israel is joining him. The country announced a state of emergency and closed schools, workplaces and the airspace. The military also said it would be calling up about 70,000 reserve soldiers.

Now, bombs are falling across the Middle East.

Our reporters are rushing to figure out what is happening. (Follow the latest news here.)

The context

Tensions have been high in Iran for months.

At the end of last year, Iranians, angry at the government and a deepening economic crisis, began to protest. The demonstrations spread nationwide, and the country convulsed in its largest uprising in almost half a century.

Khamenei, the supreme leader, ordered security forces to crush protests — and to show no mercy. The forces opened fire, and the death toll surged to at least 5,200 people, a rights group said.

Trump encouraged the demonstrators and threatened military intervention. And in the time since, he has repeatedly threatened to strike Iran unless the country’s leadership agreed to U.S. demands. American and Iranian officials held a last-ditch round of mediated talks on Thursday over Tehran’s nuclear program. The talks ended without a breakthrough, apparently paving the way for the attack.

Today, Trump called on Iranians to overthrow their government when the U.S. military assault came to an end. “It will be yours to take,” he said. “This will be probably your only chance for generations.”

He also said he knew U.S. troops would likely die in the conflict.

“The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost,” he said. “That often happens in war.”

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