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Excerpts from NYTIMES

“ The United States and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday, according to American and Israeli officials, following weeks of threats by President Trump to launch a major assault.

Massive explosions resounded in the Iranian capital of Tehran; it was not immediately clear what the American and Israeli strikes were targeting. Tehran residents reported seeing smoke rising from the district where the presidential palace and the National Security Council were also located.

The Middle East has been on edge for weeks, as Mr. Trump threatened military strikes against Iran if its leaders did not agree to his demands, including reining in its nuclear program. In parallel, the U.S. military has built up its forces in the region — the largest American deployment there in decades.

American and Iranian officials held a last-ditch round of mediated talks in Switzerland on Thursday over Tehran’s nuclear program. But the talks ended without a breakthrough, apparently paving the way for the strike.

Israel Katz, the Israeli defense minister, announced the strike in a statement, adding that the country would be under a state of emergency. The U.S. and Israeli officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss national security matters.

Anticipating potential Iranian retaliation, the Israeli government announced that schools, workplaces, and the country’s international airspace would close, effective immediately.

The crisis began after Mr. Trump vowed in early January to aid antigovernment demonstrators in Iran. The Iranian government quelled those protests in a bloody crackdown that killed thousands, according to rights groups.

Mr. Trump has since both threatened to attack Iran and sought to leverage the unrest in the country to reach a diplomatic solution. In exchange, the United States would agree to lift the punishing sanctions that helped tilt the Iranian economy into crisis.

But the prospects for an immediate deal were always remote: U.S. officials said they were seeking not only tight restrictions on Iranian nuclear activities, but also limits on Iran’s ballistic missile program and an end to its support for proxy groups across the Middle East like Hamas and Hezbollah.”