Iran launched a barrage of missiles against US military bases in the Middle East in response to Donald Trump and Israel‘s massive assault on Saturday morning.

Explosions rocked Bahrain – the home of the US Fifth Fleet – and other bases in Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Dubai as Iran’s Foreign Ministry threatened to attack all American military assets in the region.

Tehran launched one of its largest operations in a decade in retaliation to Trump’s Operation Epic Fury.

The United States responded by deploying its Patriot missile defense system to take down rockets before they reached the bases. 

An Iranian military spokesperson said ‘we will teach Israel and America a lesson they have never experienced in their history’. 

‘Any base that helps America and Israel will be the target of the Iranian armed forces,’ the spokesperson added.

The first apparent strike followed weeks of knife-edge tensions building up between the two countries, and targeted the offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday morning.

In response, Iran targeted US military bases around the region, including Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates and the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain.

Bases in Oman appeared not to have been targeted, after acting as mediators in nuclear talks between Iran and the U.S.

The Fifth Fleet oversees some of the world’s most combustible waters, from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea.

In total, thousands of US sailors operate under Fifth Fleet’s command at any given time, often alongside coalition partners including Britain and France.

The Pentagon moved its ships out of the base earlier this week, indicating a widespread military operation and retaliation were expected. 

Announcing the strikes in the early hours of Saturday, Trump condemned Iran’s ‘vicious’ leaders’ 47-year ‘campaign of bloodshed and mass murder.’

Trump vowed ‘to raze [the country’s] military industry to the ground as he stressed the region’s terrorist proxies would be ‘obliterated’ and troops would face ‘certain death’ if they did not lay down their weapons.

Iran had ‘waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder,’ Trump said in his eight-minute-long address, while asserting his country would not tolerate ‘mass terror.’

Stressing how the regime’s proxies continued to launch attacks on US forces in the Middle East in recent years, he added: ‘It’s been mass terror, and we are not going to put up with it any longer.

‘From Lebanon to Yemen, and from Syria to Iraq, the regime has armed, trained and funded terrorist militias which have soaked the earth with blood and guts.’

As part of Iran’s promised ‘crushing response,’ Israeli citizens were seen fleeing to shelters amid warnings of several incoming missile launches.

Shortly after 8am, the Israeli Defense Forces said it had identified ballistic missiles launched from Iran toward Israel, with defensive systems operating to ‘intercept the threat.’

The IDF updated minutes later to warn: ‘an additional barrage’ had also been detected. Several areas have reported missile fragments falling to the ground but no injuries have so far been reported.

The Home Front Command in Israel has sent alerts to mobile phones in the areas thought to be targeted, warning citizens to head for their safe rooms and shelters.

Sirens originally sounded across Tel Aviv, with the alerts later heard in Jerusalem as well as across northern and southern Israel.

Israel has also called up 20,000 reservists in addition to the 50,000 reservists currently on duty.

The IDF has told civilians that they must remain in bomb shelters until further notice, The Times of Israel reported.

‘You are requested to continue following the Home Front Command instructions and the guidelines distributed to you. You must remain in a protected area until an official notice is given,’ the army said.

Images emerging show hospital patients being placed in a parking lot at Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv for safety following the sounding of sirens.