Tehran, Iran. Iranian state media reported that Iran’s armed forces leadership pledged allegiance to Mojtaba Khamenei, as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it was ready to follow the new supreme leader. The report came as fighting intensified on the ninth day of the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran.
Assembly of Experts elects new supreme leader
Iran’s Assembly of Experts met on Sunday to elect a new supreme leader despite threats that the body would be targeted, Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani said on state TV after the announcement. Larijani said Mojtaba Khamenei could lead the country under current sensitive conditions and called for unity around the new leader.
U.S. orders departures from Saudi Arabia amid safety concerns
Iran has launched strikes across the region in retaliation against U.S. and Israeli attacks. The U.S. State Department said on Sunday it ordered non-emergency U.S. government employees and their family members to leave Saudi Arabia due to safety risks, days after the embassy in the Saudi capital was damaged in a drone attack blamed on Iran.
Early on Sunday, the Saudi Defence Ministry said it shot down a drone that attempted to target the Diplomatic Quarter, a neighbourhood on the city’s western edge that hosts most foreign missions, including the U.S. embassy. The U.S. has raised its warning level for Saudi Arabia, allowed some personnel to leave, and ordered the departure of staff at embassies in Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain since the outbreak of the war.
Israel reports strikes on Iranian figures and fuel depots
Israel continued to target senior Iranian figures, including Abolqasem Babaian, the recently appointed head of the military office of the supreme leader, saying he was killed in a Saturday strike.
As fighting escalated on Sunday, thick black smoke hung over Tehran after strikes on oil storage facilities lit up the night sky with plumes of orange flame, residents said. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the large-scale attack marked a “dangerous new phase” of the conflict and amounted to a war crime.
Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters the depots were used to fuel Iran’s war effort, including producing or storing propellant for ballistic missiles. “They are a legal military target,” he said.
How do you think the escalating strikes and evacuation orders could affect regional stability?
