Tensions in the Middle East are escalating as Israel’s military launches another wave of strikes. Iranian state media is reporting that several family members of Supreme Leader Ayatah Ali Ham were killed during the first wave, including his daughter and grandchild. And this follows an announcement by US President Donald Trump that the Iranian leader has also died. Thran has yet to confirm the announcement. The compound of the Supreme Leader was among the key locations targeted in the air strikes
that began yesterday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier said all indications show is dead. Iranian officials had previously dismissed reports of the Ayatollah’s death as quote mental warfare. The 86-year-old has no designated successor. Iranian news agencies said the Supreme Leader is quote steadfast and firm in commanding the field. The country’s foreign minister earlier told NBC News that Kam is alive and that Iran is interested in deescalation. The US and Israel struck multiple Iranian cities
including Thran, Esbahan and K. In Minab, more than 100 people, mostly school girls, were reportedly killed in a strike on an elementary school. Iranian state media citing the Red Crescent said at least 200 people have been killed and more than 700 injured across the country. Thran said the strikes were unprovoked as they come amid nuclear talks with the US. President Trump said the attack was necessary to stop Iran from developing ballistic missiles that could reach the US. Iran has retaliated, striking Israel
and US military bases in Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. >> Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Okay. Okay. Okay. All right. All right. >> Well, this was the moment an Iranian projectile struck near a US base in Bahrain. Authorities said a service center of the US Fifth Fleet was hit. Several residential towers in capital Manama were hit too. A luxury hotel was hit in Dubai’s Palm Jira Island, injuring at least four people. Dubai International Airport, the world’s
busiest, also coming under attack. UAE state media said one person was killed in Abu Dhabi, but gave no details. Qatar says it was attacked by 65 missiles and 12 drones. Most of them were intercepted but two ballistic missiles reached Aluda air base which is the largest American military base in the region. Authorities added eight people were injured by falling shrapnel. Iranian missiles also struck Tel Aviv, killing at least one person and forcing thousands to take shelter. Tel Aviv is a tech hub home to offices
of big tech companies including Google, Meta, Nvidia, Apple, and Amazon. Israel has declared a state of emergency, banning public gatherings, shutting schools, workplaces, and moving hospital patients to underground facilities. Jagridi Davi is covering these developments for CNA in Washington DC and she explained what President Trump’s next steps could be. >> President Donald Trump has said that this moment is the greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their country. Um echoing what he said in that
8-minute video calling on the people of Iran to uh essentially uprise and overthrow their government. Now uh experts are saying that look trying to affect regime change through a bombing campaign is precarious. Um and questions are about whether this action involves prolonged US presence on the ground. Something that uh President Trump’s supporters like JD Vance the vice president has said is not going to happen. Bearing in mind that the president had vowed no extended US military interventions abroad something
that he has sort of flouted with Venezuela and now with Iran. But Donald Trump was asked in an NBC News interview about a possible successor to Kamei. And he said, “I don’t know, but at some point they’ll be calling me to ask who I’d like. I’m only being a little sarcastic when I say that.” Uh Iran’s foreign minister has called regime change mission impossible. And some experts are also saying that regime change in Iran is not as straightforward as getting rid of the top figureheads in
the country. The network in Iran is disseminated and widespread and there are people in place to take over from the current administration and the current leaders. So it’s not as simple again with the comparison with Venezuela. It’s not as simple as to say taking to take out the top leadership. So what happens next is a very good question. It all depends on how long in many ways this operation takes place. Whether it will go on long as Donald Trump has suggested or whether it could be cut short in two or three days.
whether negotiations for peace um and for a sessation to the strikes is happening backstage or not. >> AP correspondent John Gamrell is tracking developments from Dubai for CNA and he explained the risks of a wider conflict in the Middle East. >> It’s really a dangerous moment. uh before these uh tensions really kicked off, what we had heard from the Iranians was that they considered legitimate targets as American military installations, American forces, American interests, as well as other areas. And
for the Americans, they’ve had a decadesl long footprint in the Middle East, dating all the way back to the 1980s when the Carter administration declared that it was going to see the continuation of oil coming out of this region as part of America’s national security. Subsequent administrations have always had more military presence. We saw the war in Afghanistan, the invasion of Iraq, and the decadel long war that followed after that, as well as up. And if you just heard that right now, that’s another air defense going
off. I can’t see where that is, but that loud thud is air defenses going off right now as I’m speaking to you here in Dubai. Just showing just how chaotic and dangerous this situation remains here on the ground. Israel and Iran traded accusations at the UN Security Council’s emergency meeting. Thran’s UN voice said the attacks were unprovoked and targeted civilians and maintained that their own strikes were in self-defense. Israel said its actions were aimed at the Iranian leadership and not its people.
UN chief Antonio Gutaresh has condemned the use of force by the US and Israel against Iran as well as Tehran’s subsequent retaliation across the region. He called for an immediate end to hostilities. European Union Chief Ursuland Lion also condemned Iran’s attacks on the UAE as quote unjustifiable. The blog says it’s exploring diplomatic paths with Arab nations and she called on all parties to respect international law and exercise maximum restraint to protect civilians. France, Germany and the UK criticized
Iran’s retaliatory strikes urging to end its nuclear program. They have all denied any role in the USIsraeli operation. The United Kingdom played no role in these strikes, but we have long been clear the regime in Iran is utterly abhorrent. Russia has demanded an immediate halt to US and Israeli strikes on its ally Irvan. Moscow says it is ready to assist in efforts to find peaceful solutions to the crisis. China echoing Russia’s comments appealing for a resumption of dialogue and negotiations. Now it called
for efforts to uphold peace and stability in the Middle East. Singapore says it regrets the failure of negotiations that has resulted in strikes and retaliation in the Middle East. It urges all parties to return to negotiations to achieve a peaceful resolution in accordance with international law and the principles of the UN charter. The Foreign Affairs Ministry adds that there are currently no reports of Singaporean casualties in Israel, Iran, and the wider Middle East region. MFA also advises Singaporeans to
defer all travel to the region including transiting and those who residing or transiting in the region should stay indoors, shelter when alerted, monitor the news closely and heed local government advice. We spoke with Aal Me, senior lecturer at the University of Sydney and he explained what the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Kam could mean for the conflict. The overestimation about the power of or the importance of kamayi uh is problematic here because the Iranian regime as a whole and the uh Iranian
revolutionary regard more specifically are very powerful organizations and I don’t think that this will make as much of a difference as maybe uh in some other cases such as in the case of Chris Balai in Lebanon whether or not he was killed or not we will know very soon. But while he has a lot of adherence around the world uh mainly in Shia uh he was also very much hated in other parts including within Iran. So I think that uh the question of uh a regime change is still hanging very much up in the air in
terms of who can make that happen and I am skeptical about the possibility of uh making a regime change from the air. Neither Israel nor the Americans will put boots on the ground. And so much depends on the the situation within Iran. Not so much the people of Iran as the maybe some elements within the uh revolutionary guard that may want to make some change. But this is again a very tall order and unclear. I think the Iranians have learned from the previous round to uh if you like to decentralize
their uh decision making, decentralize their operations and so we saw very quickly uh the uh missiles that been fired back. I think that was all pre-planned including the instructions to the people of Iran and asurances that all is well. I think that is no necessar not necessarily a measure of what is happening now in Iran because it was pre-prepared in advance. So the question indeed is what is happening domestically within different maybe centers of power maybe even within the revolutionary guard and the Iranian regime and who
will take uh the strongest action what are the considerations that will animate these decisions and this is again up in the air the opposition the so-called opposition in outside of Iran to the regime is fractured and not very powerful So if something major is going to change, it will come from within Iran and from within the seats of
Komentar