WAR ERUPTS ACROSS MIDDLE EAST

THE WORLD held its breath as hundreds were killed when the United States and Israel carried out a series of devastating air strikes across Iran — with chaos erupting across the Middle East as Tehran retaliated.

- JAYMI MCCANN

Iran Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was reported to be among the dead, as Israel and the US called on Iranian citizens to “finish the job”.

US President Donald Trump said the “preemptive” strikes launched yesterday morning were done to prevent the hostile Iranian regime developing nuclear weapons that could be aimed at European “allies”.

At least 201 died in the massive operation, which the UK did not take part in, with another 747 people injured as 24 out of Iran's 31 provinces were hit, Iranian Red Crescent spokesperson Mojtaba Khaledi said.

In announcing the attacks, Mr Trump called on the Iranian people to "take over [their] government", adding this may be their "last chance" for generations.

The wave of air strikes were called Operation Epic Fury by the US and Operation Roaring Lion by Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces said approximately 200 fighter jets completed "the largest-ever military flyover in the history of the Israeli Air Force", adding there were "hundreds of munitions targeting approximately 500 objectives".

The first strikes targeted the compound of Iran's 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in central Tehran.

It was reported that he was killed in the strikes, with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu last night announcing there were "signs" that Khamenei, 86, was "no longer".

An Israeli official said he was dead and that his body had been found.

However Iran's foreign ministry claimed the Supreme Leader and the country's president were both alive. "They are all safe and sound," a spokesman said. "We have had commanders who have been martyred as the result of this terrorist act of aggression." Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported that one air strike hit a girls' school in Minab in Hormozgan province, killing at least 85 adults and children.

Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has a base in the city.