After a massive military buildup, President Trump orders an attack on Iran.

President Donald Trump: The United States military is undertaking a massive and ongoing operation to prevent this very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests.

Today, we look at the beginning of a major ongoing US operation and the potential consequences for the Middle East and the United States. The action against Iran came from both USC and airbase platforms that have been building up in the region and Israeli-led attacks. Explosions rocked the Iranian capital of Tehran and across the country, Iran retaliated with missile strikes on US military bases. Mikenzie Frost has a look at the American action and the reaction in the Middle East.

The following is a transcript of a report from “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”
Watch the video by clicking the link at the end of the page.

The US and Israeli strikes on Iran targeted both the leadership and military assets across the country.

President Donald Trump: We’re going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. We’re going to ensure that the region’s terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region or the world and attack our forces,

Mikenzie Frost: So what does this do to the balance of power in the entire Mid-East region if all of these other countries are potentially getting pulled into this conflict?

Dr. Robert Satloff, Executive Director, Washington: We are in a whole new world right now. There is an enormous amount of uncertainty, precisely because we’ve never seen this array of countries all targeting Iran at the same time.

Dr. Robert Satloff is a Middle East expert and heads the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Dr. Robert Satloff, Executive Director, Washington Institute for Near East Policy: The United States, President Trump has publicly formally called for regime change in Iran and has committed American power to that objective. That is highly unusual, but yet it is what the president has committed to.

Iran’s initial response went wide, and that could work against them as the conflict goes forward.

Dr. Robert Satloff, Executive Director, Washington Institute for Near East Policy: The Iranians chose to immediately escalate not just against US bases and Israel, but they attacked everyone in their neighborhood. They attacked countries that had nothing to do with the US-Israeli assault on Iran. And so they’ve earned the wrath of countries all around the Middle East.

President Donald Trump: To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces and all of the police, I say tonight that you must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity. Or in the alternative, face certain death.

Mikenzie Frost: And what about Iranians proxies in the region? We’ve seen them get involved in previous actions. Do those proxies still have the fight in them to continue this if they were to be drawn into this as well?

Dr. Robert Satloff, Executive Director, Washington Institute for Near East Policy: So some certainly do. We’ve seen that the Houthis in Yemen have already said they’re getting ready to start launching against Israel. A big question concerns two other proxies. One, Shiite militias in Iraq, will they go after US bases and US personnel in that country? And then Hezbollah in Lebanon. They have threatened to launch, but there’s enormous pressure against them to prevent them from launching because the Israelis would take out everything that’s left in Hezbollah.

President Trump said the military action was just a first step. The larger goal, regime change, is up to the people of Iran.

President Donald Trump: Now is the time to seize control of your destiny, and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is close within your reach. This is the moment for action. Do not let it pass.

Mikenzie Frost: Will the people of Iran, are they organized enough to be able to seize this moment? Will they be able to capitalize on it?

Dr. Robert Satloff, Executive Director, Washington Institute for Near East Policy: Assume the hope is that there will be such chaos, such leaderless activity in Iran, that the people who did come out a month ago, six weeks ago, can come out again without the Iranian regime imposing repression against them. That’s the idea. So we will first have to see if we’re successful in decapitating the leadership and the entire hierarchy, and then we’ll see if the people of Iran can make their play for a new day.

But the dawn of that new day is still on the horizon.

For Full Measure, I’m Mikenzie Frost.

Watch the video here.