After mulling such action for 16 years, Israel has launched air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities – a mission fraught with peril not just for the Jewish state, but for the broader Middle East.

Explosions were heard in the Iranian capital, Tehran, as Israel launched a preemptive strike. Israel is under a state of emergency, as Iran retaliated Friday night with missile attacks.

"Let him go get a television network and say it so that people listen," the president fired off at the former Fox News star.

Despite stunning early successes in Israel’s unprecedented strikes on Iran, a weekend of intensive bombardment and retaliation is raising questions about Israel’s exit strategy – how it can end this conflict with its ambitious goals achieved.

Iran has reportedly signaled a readiness to end hostilities with Israel and resume nuclear negotiations, sending messages through Arab intermediaries, according to a new report.

The retaliatory strikes came on Saturday, a day after Israel killed top Iranian military leaders and scientists and destroyed an aboveground nuclear enrichment plant near Natanz.

The president had opposed Israeli action against Iran but came to believe that Israel had reason to act and that the U.S. would have to lend some support.

Since Israel began its concerted attack on Iran on Friday, calls for regime change in Iran have grown louder – from hawks in the US Congress to Israeli officials and some Iranian activists abroad.

The Virginia senator can force a vote on the legislation, which would bar U.S. military action against Iran unless directly authorized by Congress

President Trump vetoed a plan presented by Israel to kill Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.The Israelis informed the Trump administration in recent days that they had developed a credible plan to kill Khamenei.