The hammer fell at dawn. President Donald Trump confirmed Saturday that the United States has launched "major combat operations" against Iran in what American and Israeli officials are calling the most significant joint military offensive since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The operation, codenamed Shield of Judah, unleashed a devastating barrage of precision strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, military command centers, and regime leadership compounds across at least seven cities.
"Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people," Trump declared in a video posted to Truth Social, flanked by images of American military hardware in motion. "For 47 years, the Iranian regime has chanted Death to America and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder. We can't take it anymore."
A Pre-Emptive Strike with Surgical Precision
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed that the assault began with strikes near the offices and residences of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in central Tehran. Within minutes, additional volleys struck Isfahan's Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, military installations in Karaj and Kermanshah, and air defense batteries protecting regime assets in Qom, Lorestan, and Tabriz.
The scale of the operation dwarfs the limited Israeli strikes of June 2025, which Israel and Iran fought over a tense twelve-day air campaign. This time, American B-2 stealth bombers, Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from naval assets in the Persian Gulf, and Israeli F-35I Adir jets struck simultaneously across the entire country.
"We will destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground," Trump continued. "We will annihilate their navy. They can never, ever have a nuclear weapon."
The Path to War
The strikes cap weeks of escalating tensions that began in late January when the United States initiated its largest military buildup in the Middle East since 2003. Aircraft carrier groups, submarine flotillas, tanker aircraft, and tens of thousands of additional troops flowed into the Gulf theater as diplomatic channels between Washington and Tehran sputtered and failed.
Nuclear talks between the two nations in Geneva on February 17 produced no agreement. Iran simultaneously conducted provocative live-fire naval drills in the Strait of Hormuz, temporarily closing sections of the vital waterway through which 20 percent of global oil flows. The exercise, dubbed "Smart Control of the Strait of Hormuz," was widely interpreted as a signal to Washington that Iran could throttle global energy markets at will.
Senior administration officials have spent weeks laying the legal and diplomatic groundwork for military action, citing Iran's accelerated uranium enrichment — reportedly approaching weapons-grade purity — and Tehran's continued funding of proxy militias across Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq.
Congressional Reaction
Reaction on Capitol Hill split predictably along partisan lines, though with notable exceptions. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker called the strikes "overdue" and praised the administration's decisive posture. "Iran has been the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism for nearly half a century. The president has finally done what needed to be done," Wicker said in a statement.
But even among Republican ranks, questions emerged about congressional authorization. Senator Rand Paul posted on X: "The Constitution is clear. Congress declares war, not the president. I support stopping Iran's nukes but demand an immediate war powers vote."
Democrats were sharply critical. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for emergency hearings, while Representative Adam Smith warned that "the absence of a coherent diplomatic strategy means this military operation has no clear endpoint."
What Comes Next
The operation remains ongoing as of press time, with Pentagon spokesmen declining to specify target lists or provide battle damage assessments. Defense Department sources indicated that the initial wave prioritized Iran's nuclear infrastructure and integrated air defense systems, with subsequent strikes targeting Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command-and-control nodes and ballistic missile production facilities.
Trump's closing words in his Truth Social video carried unmistakable echoes of the regime-change rhetoric that preceded the Iraq invasion: "The Iranian people deserve better. And they're going to get it."
Whether Shield of Judah remains a limited punitive strike or evolves into a broader campaign for regime change will define not only this presidency but the trajectory of the Middle East for a generation.
