Israel-Iran conflict rages with ongoing aerial strikes amid war of words
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned the United States that joining Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic will 'result in irreparable consequences' for the US, as his and US President Donald Trump's war of words accelerate and the Israel-Iran hostilities rage for a sixth day.
In his first televised address since Israel began its attacks on Friday, Khamenei said on Wednesday his country 'will not surrender to anyone'.
Iran 'will stand firm against an imposed war, just as it will stand firm against an imposed peace', he said.
Pointedly responding to threatening remarks made a day earlier by Trump, Khamenei said those who know Iran and its history 'know that Iranians do not answer well to the language of threat'.
In recent days, Trump has strongly hinted that the US could join in Israel's military operation against Iran, saying he is seeking something 'much bigger' than a ceasefire.
In fresh comments made on Wednesday on the White House lawn at a flag raising ceremony, Trump said 'I may do it, I may not do it,' when asked if the US was moving closer to striking Iran.
He claimed, without offering any evidence, that Iran is 'totally defenceless, they have no air defence whatsoever'. Iran has said it has had success in bringing down Israeli drones and fighter jets.
'The next week is going to be very big, maybe less than a week,' Trump said, without elaborating.
The US has in recent days sent more warplanes to the region and is also sending the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier.
The US president claimed Iranian officials reached out to him and suggested visiting the White House, something Iran denies.
'No Iranian official has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House. The only thing more despicable than his lies is his cowardly threat to 'take out' Iran's Supreme Leader,' the Iran Mission to the UN said in a post on X.Trump's comments came after he demanded on Tuesday Iran's 'unconditional surrender', saying, 'We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran.' He also boasted that the US could easily assassinate Khamenei.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei echoed Khamenei's sentiments, warning: 'Any American intervention would be a recipe for an all-out war in the region.'
Iran is 'under an attack by a genocidal' regime and it will defend itself with 'full force' against Israel's 'war of aggression', Baghaei said.
Significantly, he added he that trusted that Iran's Arab neighbours will not allow the US to launch attacks from their countries.
The warnings were issued as Israel and Iran exchanged fire for a sixth consecutive day. The Israeli military said it struck 40 sites in Iran, including centrifuge production and weapons facilities.
The strikes targeted two centrifuge production facilities – one in Tehran and one in Kahraj – according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera's Tohid Assadi said explosions were heard near the Payam airport in Kahraj, as well as in areas in eastern Tehran. An Iranian government spokesperson also confirmed cyberattacks on at least two of Iran's banks, he added.Translation: Another attack near the same previous location in northeast Tehran, Sadr Highway is visible in the footage.
Defence Minister Israel Katz claimed that Israeli jets 'destroyed the Iranian regime's internal security headquarters', without providing evidence.
Israel's military confirmed one of its remotely piloted aircraft fell in Iran after being shot at by a surface-to-air missile. 'No injuries were reported, and there is no risk of an information breach,' the military said. Iranian state media earlier had said that Iranian forces shot down an Israeli drone and fighter jet.
Israeli strikes have continued to target various other areas of Iran, including central Isfahan province. An Israeli strike on a vehicle in Najafabad killed six people, including a pregnant woman and two children, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported.
According to Iran's Health Ministry, at least 240 people, including 70 women and children, have been killed since Israel began attacking the country.
In a statement earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli army claimed it is 'operating freely' in Iranian skies and said it also shot down 10 Iranian drones, while confirming one of its unmanned aircraft has been downed in Iranian territory.
It also said its forces intercepted an Iranian drone that entered the south of the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
Meanwhile, explosions were heard over Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning as the army said two barrages of Iranian missiles were launched towards the country.
Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh, reporting from Amman, said Iran's missile attacks are creating an unprecedented 'disruption' of life.
'Over the past six days, the Israeli public has experienced something they haven't in the past: a formidable army that is firing ballistic missiles at Israeli cities and sensitive Israeli sites,' Odeh said.
They're seeing 'reports in their back yard of dozens of buildings damaged and condemned for demolition,' she said. 'There are more than 1,300 Israelis who now have to live in hotels because their homes are unliveable, damaged beyond repair.'
The attacks have continued to cause global concern, with many countries expressing the need for de-escalation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated his country's willingness to help mediate the crisis.
Speaking to members of his ruling Justice and Development Party in parliament, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country wants to see the crisis resolved diplomatically and Ankara could play a constructive role.
Erdogan accused Israel of waging 'crazed' attacks against Iran that amount to 'state terrorism'.
Iran's response, he said, is natural, legal and legitimate.
Hassan Ahmadian, an associate professor at the University of Tehran, says he doubts the prospects for any diplomatic solution between Iran and the US.
'The minimal trust that led to the negotiations with the US is currently nonexistent,' Ahmadian said, adding that many Iranians now view the previous round of nuclear talks as little more than a distraction before the surprise Israeli attack.
'I don't see much of a chance for diplomacy at this point – not until this confrontation ends and we see what comes next,' he told Al Jazeera.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
3 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Why is Israel killing so many Palestinians seeking food in Gaza?
As Israel attacks Iran, its genocide in Gaza has shown no signs of easing. At least 70 Palestinians were killed in a single day this week at a food distribution site run by a controversial group in Khan Younis that is backed by Israel and the United States. All other aid channels are blocked – including medical supplies. So, what's the impact of this latest Israeli strategy? Presenter: Nick Clark Guests: Amjad Shawa – Director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network in Gaza Christopher Lockyear – Secretary-general at Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres or MSF) Mads Gilbert – Medical doctor with extensive experience in Gaza
Al Jazeera
4 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Iran war gives Netanyahu political breathing room in Israel
Two confidence votes, each fewer than seven days apart, tell much of the story of Israel's political transformation since it launched attacks on longstanding regional nemesis Iran on Friday. Early on Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government narrowly survived a vote that ensured its continuation after an 11th-hour deal was reached with ultra-Orthodox parties who are a key force within it. Had a deal not been found, then parliament would have been dissolved and new elections called, leaving Netanyahu vulnerable as opposition against him grew. But then on Monday, a similar attempt to dissolve parliament failed miserably after no confidence motions brought forward by parties led by Palestinian citizens of Israel failed to attract any support from the centre and the right. Of course, in between, Israel had launched its attacks on Iran, upending domestic Israeli politics as well as regional geopolitics. Rejecting Monday's no confidence motions, opposition politician Pnina Tamano-Shata – who has been critical of Netanyahu in the past – told lawmakers the efforts were 'disconnected from reality'. That is now the mainstream view in Israeli politics, with opposition parties falling into line behind Netanyahu and a war against Iran that the prime minister has been promoting for at least two decades. Writing in Israeli media the day after Israel's strikes on Iran began, former Prime Minister and self-styled centrist Yair Lapid, who less than a month earlier had been calling upon the prime minister to seek a truce in Gaza, wrote of his full support for the attacks on Iran while urging the United States to participate in the war. He was then pictured shaking Netanyahu's hand with a map of Iran on a wall behind the two right-wing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, whom polls have shown to be a favourite to replace Netanyahu if early elections were called, also told Israeli media: 'There is no right, no left, no opposition and no coalition' in regard to the attacks on Iran. Speaking to Al Jazeera on Tuesday, Aida Touma-Suleiman, a member of parliament representing the Hadash-Ta'al Party, said: 'Politically, the switch to supporting the war by the main opposition isn't surprising. It took them a year and a half to say it's forbidden to kill children. It will probably take them another year and a half to realise they don't automatically have to fall in behind Netanyahu every time there's a new crisis.' 'There are no voices in Israel questioning this, apart from us, and we're Palestinians and leftists, so apparently not to be trusted,' Touma-Suleiman said. 'Even those who call themselves the Zionist left are supporting the war.' 'Israelis are raised being told they're in danger and that they're going to need to do everything they can to survive,' she added. Only last week, things seemed very different. Domestically, Netanyahu and his coalition were under pressure from a parliament, public and even military that appeared to have grown tired of the country's seemingly endless war on Gaza. Open letters protesting the burden that the war was imposing upon Israeli lives and, in some cases, Palestinian ones had come from members of the military and from within its universities and colleges. Large numbers of reservists were also believed to be refusing to turn up for duty. There was also pressure to hold an inquiry into Netanyahu and his government's failure to prevent the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, and a corruption trial that has haunted Netanyahu since 2019 rumbled on. Now, the prime minister leads a public and parliament that, apart from a few notable exceptions, appears united behind his leadership and its new attacks upon an old enemy, Iran. That is despite the unprecedented attacks that Israel has faced over the past week with ballistic missiles crashing into Tel Aviv, Haifa and other Israeli cities – killing at least 24 Israelis. On Monday, a poll conducted by Israel's Channel 14 showed 'overwhelming' public support for the prime minister with editorials and coverage across much of the Israeli media similarly supportive of the prime minister. On Tuesday, one of the country's leading newspapers, The Times of Israel, echoed the claims of politicians, such as Lapid, that Iran was committing war crimes in response to Israel's unprovoked attacks on Friday, itself deemed illegal by some legal scholars. No mention was made of the accusations of genocide against Israel being considered by the International Court of Justice or the warrants for war crimes issued against Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant by the International Criminal Court. 'Through a [long] campaign led by Netanyahu and others, the idea that Iran is the source of all anti-Israeli sentiment in the region, not the plight of the Palestinians, who are occupied and subjected to ethnic cleansing, has largely become entrenched within Israeli politics,' Israeli political analyst Nimrod Flaschenberg said of the dramatic political unity that has followed on the heels of Friday's attacks. 'The idea that Iran is the source of all evil has become embedded across Israeli society.' However, Netanyahu has squandered support before, and he may do so again. Much like in Gaza, Netanyahu has set maximalist war aims. In Gaza, it was a 'total victory' over Hamas while with Iran he has said Israel will end Iran's nuclear programme and even suggested the possibility of regime change in Tehran. Netanyahu may find once again that it is easy to start wars but not to finish them in a manner that is satisfactory to his political base. 'Netanyahu is making a big gamble,' Dov Waxman, professor of Israel studies at the University of California-Los Angeles, told Al Jazeera. 'If the war doesn't succeed in destroying Iran's nuclear programme or forcing Iran to make unprecedented concessions to reach a new nuclear agreement, then it will be considered a failure in Israel, and this will no doubt hurt Netanyahu politically. And if the war drags on and Israeli casualties continue to mount, then Israeli public opinion may well turn against the war and blame Netanyahu for initiating it.' However, the degree to which a change in the public and political mood may act as a check upon Netanyahu and his government is unclear. Netanyahu has repeatedly ignored the public pressure to find a deal to secure the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza with some government members even directly criticising family members of captives. 'Netanyahu has just weeks, maybe even days, of public support left to him if the damage continues,' Flaschenberg said, 'But as we've seen in Gaza, that doesn't really matter. So if he does stretch it out, as part of his apparent policy of endless war, then that's what he'll do. The only thing that can really stop this new war is a decisive stand by the US. That's it.'
Al Jazeera
5 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Macron sounds ‘chaos' warning over Iran regime change
NewsFeed Macron sounds 'chaos' warning over Iran regime change Israel's attacks on Iran initially targeted its nuclear programme but so-called 'regime change' is being openly discussed. France's President Emanuel Macron has warned such action would unleash 'chaos', citing the aftermath of Iraq and Libya.
