Israeli warplanes hit Tehran again
The Israeli military said that its planes had conducted strikes to open the “path to Tehran”, and the majority of aerial defence systems in western and central Iran had been
The Israeli military said that its planes had conducted strikes to open the “path to Tehran”, and the majority of aerial defence systems in western and central Iran had been dismantled.
Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said many targets remained, including sites of military industrial production. “We have the capabilities and the targets to keep going on for as long as necessary,” he said.
Asked if Israel was considering deploying ground forces, Shoshani said that was not under consideration even though U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have urged Iranians to seize a rare opportunity to topple their leaders.
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Hours after the U.S. and Israel said an air strike killed Khamenei, Iran’s state media confirmed the 86-year-old leader had died.
Inside Iran, some grieved for Khamenei while others celebrated his death, exposing a deep fault line in a country stunned by the sudden demise of the man who ruled for decades.
Thousands of Iranians were killed in a crackdown authorised by Khamenei against anti-government protests in January, the deadliest wave of unrest since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Footage from Tehran showed mourners packed into a square, dressed in black and many of them weeping.
But videos posted on social media also showed joy and defiance elsewhere, with people cheering as a statue was toppled in the city of Dehloran in Ilam province, dancing in the streets of Karaj city, near Tehran in Alborz province, and celebrating in the streets of Izeh in Khuzestan province. Reuters has verified the locations of these videos.
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Khamenei, who built Iran into a powerful anti-U.S. force and spread its sway across the Middle East during his 36-year iron-fisted rule, was working in his office at the time of Saturday’s attack, state media said. The raid also killed his daughter, grandchild, daughter-in-law and son-in-law.
Two U.S. sources and a U.S. official familiar with the matter said Israel and the U.S. timed their attack on Saturday to coincide with a meeting Khamenei was holding with top aides.
Experts said that while his death and those of other Iranian leaders would deal Iran a major blow, it would not necessarily spell the end of Iran’s entrenched clerical rule or the sway of the elite Revolutionary Guards over the population.
Trump warned yesterday that the U.S. would hit Iran “with a force that has never been seen before” if it strikes back after the attacks on it.
