Why the U.S. and Israel Struck Iran, Whether the U.S. Is at War, and What Is Known About the Death Toll

 

Urging Iranians to overthrow their clerical rulers, the US launched "major combat operations" along with Israel against Iran early on Saturday.

The US is calling the operation "Epic Fury", while the Israelis call it "Lion's Roar".

US President Donald Trump said Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had been killed.

It came two days after US-Iranian talks on Tehran's nuclear programme ended without a deal.

Iran launched counter-attacks throughout the Middle East in retaliation to what its foreign minister called an "unprovoked, illegal" attack by the US and Israel.

Why did the US attack Iran?

Shortly after explosions were reported in the Iranian capital on Saturday, Trump took to social media to accuse Tehran of waging an "unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder targeting the United States".

Trump argued Iran had rejected every opportunity to renounce its nuclear programme and claimed it was developing long-range missiles that could threaten Europe, US troops overseas, and even "soon reach the American homeland".

He further cited the violent takeover of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979, resulting in dozens of Americans being held hostage for 444 days, as well as Iran's proxies bombing a US Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 that killed 241.

The US president had also pledged in January to intervene when Iranian security forces crushed protests amid an economic crisis.

In June last year, the US bombed three nuclear facilities in Iran. Trump said the US Operation Midnight Hammer had "obliterated" Iran's nuclear programme.

Earlier that month, Israel had launched air strikes on Iran's nuclear, military, and infrastructure sites. In response, Iran launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel.

A couple of days after last summer's US attacks, Trump announced a ceasefire in the 12-day Iran-Israel conflict.

Is Iran's supreme leader dead?

Trump announced on Saturday afternoon on his social media platform that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had died, describing him as "one of the most evil people in History".

Iran has not confirmed the death of Khamenei, 86, who has ruled since 1989.

An intelligence source and a military source tell the BBC's US partner CBS that around 40 Iranian officials were killed in the strikes.

BBC Verify obtained satellite imagery taken over Tehran this morning which shows significant damage to part of Khamenei's office in the Iranian capital, the compound of Leadership House.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there were "growing signs" that Khamenei is "gone".

UN Secretary General António Guterres has said he is "not in a position to confirm" reports that Iran's supreme leader has been killed.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told NBC News that as far as he was aware the supreme leader was alive.

Is the US at war?

In his video announcement, Trump described the US-Israel attacks on Iran as "major combat operations".

Congress reserves the power to officially declare war, as written in Article I of the US Constitution, but it has not done so.

The Constitution does, however, give the president broad authority to engage in military action.

This grey area has been the source of much debate recently on Capitol Hill.

Reactions on Capitol Hill to the US-Israel attack on Iran have fallen largely along partisan lines. Republicans, who currently control both chambers of Congress, were mostly in support.

Kentucky Senator Lindsey Graham, who has long called for a US attack on Iran, wrote on X: "This operation is necessary and long justified."

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, said that ahead of the strikes on Iran, the Trump administration had notified the "Gang of 8" - a bipartisan group of congressional leaders.

Democrats mostly denounced the attacks, accusing Trump of launching a war without congressional approval.

Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, on the Armed Services Committee, called the conflict a "colossal mistake" and "Trump's illegal war with Iran".

Democrats renewed calls for Congress to take up a war powers resolution like a bill that failed last year for lack of Republican support.

If another war powers resolution were introduced and passed, it could block the president's unilateral use of US forces without congressional approval.

But the odds of such a bill passing appear unlikely for now.

Few Republicans have indicated they would back such a measure, except for congressman Thomas Massie and Senator Rand Paul.