Iran has claimed more than 50 schoolgirls died in an Israeli-US strike on a school as explosions rocked cities across the country. The state-run IRNA news agency reported the strike happened in Minab in Iran’s Hormozgan province. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has a base in the city. Initial reports indicated the death toll was 51, but the figure later rose to 57.

Sixty girls were reported to have been injured in the Minab strike, which destroyed an elementary school in the city. The deaths were the first confirmed fatalities of the military operation launched by the US and Israel on Saturday (February 28). The first strike appeared to have happened near the offices of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

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Earlier, US President Donald Trump said in a video posted on social media that the United States had begun “major combat operations in Iran”. He claimed the Islamic Republic continued to develop its nuclear program and planned to develop missiles to capable of reaching his country.

Iranian media reported nationwide strikes, with smoke seen billowing from the capital, Tehran. The Islamic Republic launched a series of retaliatory strikes on surrounding countries, including Israel and Bahrain.

US military sites were also targeted, including the headquarters of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain. Witnesses reported hearing sirens and explosions in Kuwait, which is home to US Army Central.

Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen vowed to resume attacks on Red Sea shipping routes as well as on Israel, according to two senior Houthi officials.

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Targets in the Israeli campaign included Iran’s military, symbols of government and intelligence targets, according to an official briefed on the operation, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss information not made public about the attack.

Mr Trump acknowledged there could be US casualties as he announced the attack in a video posted on social media. He said “that often happens in war”.

It was a call on Americans to brace themselves from a US leader who swept into office on an “America First” platform and vowed to keep out of “forever wars” which had bogged down his predecessors. He has been a particular critic of George W. Bush’s war in Iraq.

The US President’s statement indicated the United States was striking for reasons far beyond Iran’s nuclear program.

He listed grievances stretching back to the beginning of the Islamic Republic in the wake of the 1979 revolution, which turned Iran from one of the US’s closest allies in the Middle East into a fierce foe.

The US president said he was aiming to “annihilate” the Iranian navy and destroy regional proxies supported by Tehran.

Mr Trump also called on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to lay down its arms, pledging members would be given immunity, while warning they would face “certain death” if they didn’t.

He had threatened military action before, ostensibly over Iran’s recent crackdown on protests spurred by economic grievances. These evolved into a nationwide, anti-government push against Iran’s ruling clerics.