TEHRAN, Feb 28 (Bernama-dpa) -- United States (US) President Donald Trump said the US military has begun "major combat operations in Iran," confirming the country's participation in strikes launched by Israel, reported German Press Agency (dpa).
"Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating iminent threats from the Iranian regime – a vicious group of very hard, terrible people," Trump said in a video message posted on his Truth Social platform on Saturday morning.
It comes after the US massively increased its military build-up in the region in order to pressure Tehran to scale down its nuclear programme, and following a brutal crackdown in Iran on widespread protests.
Trump had repeatedly threatened military action if a negotiated solution to the nuclear issue isn't found.
The latest round of indirect talks in Geneva between Iranian and US representatives ended on Thursday without a breakthrough.
"They can never have a nuclear weapon," Trump said while annoucing the start of the military action, just moments after Israel said it had launched a pre-emptive strike against Iran.
--BERNAMA-dpa
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