US, Israeli strikes targeted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, attend an endorsement ceremony in Tehran, Iran, July 28, 2024.PHOTO: REUTERS
Iran’s senior officials are “in perfect health”, including President Masoud Pezeshkian, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and security chief Ali Larijani, the Fars news agency reported on Saturday.
“While Israeli sources have claimed to have targeted and succeeded in attacking the president and senior Iranian leaders, official sources within the country report that senior regime officials, including the heads of the armed forces, are in perfect health,” the report said.
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The first wave of US and Israeli strikes in what the Pentagon named ‘Operation Epic Fury’ mainly targeted Iranian officials, Reuters reported, quoting a “source familiar with the matter”.
An Israeli official said Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Pezeshkian were both targeted, but the result of the strikes was not clear. A source with knowledge of the matter had earlier told Reuters that Khamenei was not in Tehran and had been transferred to a secure location.
According to Reuters, an Iranian source close to the establishment said several senior commanders in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and political officials had been killed.
Earlier in the day, the US and Israel jointly launched strikes on Iran that pushed the Middle East into renewed military confrontation and further dimmed hopes for a diplomatic solution to the West’s long-standing effort to denuclearise Iran, despite Tehran’s repeated assertions that it will not pursue nuclear weapons.
In response, Iran targeted Israel and US bases in the Middle East. Explosions were reported in Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
