By Samia Nakhoul

DUBAI, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Thunderous blasts and towering fireballs from Iranian missiles streaking across Gulf states vindicated their leaders' long-held fears that Tehran can bring war to their doorstep, likely to harden Arab rulers' support for U.S.–Israeli strikes.

JERUSALEM, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that there were many signs suggesting Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei may have been killed in Israeli-U.S. strikes in Iran.

"This morning we destroyed the compound of the tyrant Khamenei," Netanyahu said in a video statement, adding that for more than 30 years Khamenei had "dispatched terrorism across the world, made his own people miserable, and worked constantly and tirelessly on a program to annihilate the state of Israel".

(Adds dropped word in bullet, fixes story identifier)

By Alexander Cornwell

TEL AVIV, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said on Saturday that he backed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to strike Iran, describing the campaign as a "just war against evil"

The U.S. and Israel launched a series of strikes on Iran, targeting senior leaders and calling for the overthrow of its government, sparking a wave of Iranian missile barrages fired at Israel and Gulf countries including the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

The US-Israeli strikes launched on Iran Saturday could become an extended operation, with strategic goals both multiple and complex -- aiming to decapitate the Islamic republic and eviscerate its security capabilities.

In the 12-day war in June last year, the Israelis, backed by the Americans, carried out targeted strikes aimed at destroying key Iranian nuclear sites.

This time "we are embarking on an operation that is unfolding on a completely different scale, more complex and more complicated" than in June, Israel's army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir warned.

On a visit to Texas on Friday, US President Donald Trump gave a raucous speech on the economy and then stopped off at a fast food joint.

"Hamburgers for everyone!" Trump declared to cheering customers at the Whataburger restaurant in Corpus Christi, before the 47th president left clutching a bag with the order number 47.

Nine hours later, in the dead of night, Trump announced from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida that he had ordered the start of a major attack against Iran.

MILAN, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto was stuck in Dubai with his family on Saturday as flights were suspended after U.S and Israeli attacks on Iran, a source close to the ministry said on Saturday.

The minister left Rome on Friday evening aboard a civilian flight to join his family, already in Dubai on holiday. He was scheduled to return to Italy on Saturday afternoon.

The Italian carrier ITA Airways said it had suspended flights to and from Dubai until Sunday.

(Reporting by Cristina Carlevaro; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Feb 28 (Reuters) - Israel and the United States launched strikes on Iran on Saturday, plunging the Middle East into a renewed military confrontation.

Tehran responded by launching missiles at Israel and called the strikes against it unprovoked and illegal.

Below is international reaction to the attacks:

UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTONIO GUTERRES

By Matt Spetalnick, Andrea Shalal and Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - With his large-scale attack on Iran, Donald Trump has seized a legacy-defining moment to demonstrate his readiness to exercise raw U.S. military power. But in doing so, he is also taking the biggest foreign policy gamble of his presidency, one fraught with risks and unknowns.

Trump joined with Israel on Saturday to plunge into war with Iran, providing little explanation to the American public for what could become the biggest U.S. military campaign since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

VIENNA, Feb 28 (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Saturday it had seen no "radiological impact" from U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran or retaliatory strikes in other countries in the region, though it did not say whether Iranian nuclear sites had been targeted.

"The IAEA is closely monitoring developments in the Middle East, and urges restraint to avoid any nuclear safety risks to people in the region," the International Atomic Energy Agency said on X. "The IAEA is in permanent contact with countries in the region, so far no evidence of any radiological impact."

Explosions rocked Dubai's Palm Jumeirah man-made island and drone debris caused a fire at the Burj Al Arab ultra-luxury hotel as waves of Iranian missiles targeted the UAE on Saturday, authorities said.

Dubai airport, the world's busiest for international traffic, and Jebel Ali seaport also suffered damage as the unprecedented attacks hit some of the city's major landmarks and revenue-earners.

Two witnesses on the Palm -- an upscale, palm tree-shaped residential and leisure development -- heard an explosion and saw smoke rising from a five-star hotel.