ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – US President Donald Trump on Saturday announced that the US military has started “major combat operations” in Iran, after explosions across several Iranian provinces earlier on Saturday morning, in a reported US-Israeli joint strike on the Islamic Republic.

“Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime,” Trump said in a video address posted to his Truth Social.

Israel on Saturday morning launched what it called a "preemptive strike" on Iran, with explosions being seen in Tehran and a nationwide red alert being imposed across Israel, with US media reporting soon after that Washington is also participating in the military operation.

“We sought repeatedly to make a deal. We tried, they wanted to do it, they didn’t want to do it, again, they wanted to do it, they didn’t want to do it. They didn’t know what was happening; they just wanted to practice evil,” Trump said.

“But Iran refused, just as it has for decades and decades, they rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions, and we can’t take it anymore,” the US president explained, adding that Tehran instead wanted to rebuild its nuclear program and long-range missiles.

Trump declared that for these reasons, the US military is “undertaking a massive and ongoing operation” against the Iranian regime.

He called on member's of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and other state forces to lay down their arms, saying they will be treated fairly and granted "immunity," or "will face certain death" should they continue to fight.

Addressing the Iranian people, he said, "The hour of your freedom is at hand ...When we are finished, take over your government - it will be yours to take. This will be, probably, your only chance for generations."

Citing three US officials, CNN reported that the US military is bombing Iranian targets, quoting one as saying it is "not a small strike."

“We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground, it will be again, totally obliterated," Trump continued in his address. "We are going to annihilate their navy, we are going to ensure that the region’s terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region or the world."

Trump told reporters a day earlier on Friday that "I'm not happy with the fact that they're not willing to give us what we have to have. So I'm not thrilled."