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Al-Ahram Weekly
18 hours ago
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Israel expands assassination policy with threat to target Khamenei - Region
Israel's defence minister said Thursday that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, "can no longer be allowed to exist", just days after reports that Washington vetoed Israeli plans to assassinate him. The comments from Defence Minister Israel Katz came after the Soroka military Hospital in the southern city of Beersheba reported 40 people injured after an Iranian missile strike. "Khamenei openly declares that he wants Israel destroyed -- he gives the order to fire on hospitals," Katz told journalists in Holon near Tel Aviv. "Such a man can no longer be allowed to exist." Iran said the main target of the attack was an Israeli military and intelligence base, beneath the health facility. "The main target of the attack was the Israeli Army Command and Intelligence Base (IDF C4I) and the Army Intelligence Camp in Gav-Yam Technology Park, located in the vicinity of the Soroka Hospital," state news agency IRNA said. It said the hospital was "exposed only to the blast wave" and that the military facility was the "direct and precise target." A senior US official told AFP on Sunday that President Donald Trump had "found out that the Israelis had plans to hit Iran's supreme leader". "President Trump was against it, and we told the Israelis not to," said the US official, speaking anonymously. In a television interview on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself did not rule it out, saying that killing the 86-year-old cleric who has ruled Iran since 1989 would "end the conflict" between the two countries. Trump wrote on Tuesday that the United States knew Khamenei's location but would not kill him "for now". Israel has a long-established history of political assassinations in the region. Over the past decades, it has carried out targeted assassinations of political leaders in Palestine, Iran, Syria, and Lebanon. It launched strikes on Iran last Friday in what it claims was a move to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons. It has since hit hundreds of targets, including military commanders, top nuclear scientists, military and nuclear facilities, and residential buildings. 'Regime change' Netanyahu has not said publicly that Israel is trying to topple him, only that regime change could be a result of its military action. Iranians "understand that the regime is much weaker than they thought -- they realise it, and that could lead to results," he told a press conference on Monday. French President Emmanuel Macron has said that any attempt at forcing change through military action would result in "chaos", while both China and Russia demanded that Israel cease fire. Iran denies seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, and reports citing US intelligence officials this week have cast doubt on Israeli claims that it has accelerated efforts to produce one. Iran has been enriching uranium to 60 per cent -- far above the 3.67-percent limit set in a 2015 nuclear deal, which Trump abandoned, but still short of the 90-percent threshold needed for a nuclear warhead. Israel has maintained ambiguity on its own nuclear arsenal, but the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute says it has 90 nuclear warheads. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) accused Iran of a lack of cooperation just before the start of the Israeli attacks. The IAEA's board of governors then adopted a resolution censuring Iran for "non-compliance" with its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. However, the head of the agency, Rafael Grossi, had said, "we did not have any evidence of a systematic effort [by Iran] to move into a nuclear weapon.' Israel has its own secretive nuclear weapons program, one that it doesn't publicly acknowledge but that, experts told the New York Times, is also expanding. Israel is widely believed to have at least 90 warheads and enough fissile material to produce up to hundreds more, according to the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation and the Nuclear Threat Initiative. According to the center, Israel could fire warheads from fighter jets, submarines or ballistic missile ground launchers. Israel is one of five countries — joining India, Pakistan, North Korea and South Sudan — that is not a signatory to the UN Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The agreement, which came into force in 1970, generally commits governments to promoting peaceful uses of nuclear energy and preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. Israel would have to give up its nuclear weapons to sign the treaty, which recognizes only five countries as official nuclear states: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — the permanent members of the UN Security Council. * This story was edited by Ahram Online. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Middle East Eye
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Netanyahu vows Iran will ‘pay a heavy price' after latest attacks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged that Iran will face serious consequences following a missile strike that damaged Soroka Medical Centre in Be'er Sheva. In a post on X, Netanyahu said, 'This morning, Iran's terrorist dictators fired missiles at Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva and at civilians in the centre of the country. We will make the tyrants in Tehran pay a heavy price.' Iran has denied that Soroka Medical Centre was the intended target of Thursday's missile barrage, despite the hospital sustaining damage from nearby explosions. The facility, which has treated Israeli soldiers wounded in Gaza, sits between two key military sites within the Gav-Yam Technology Park in Be'er Sheva. These include the Israeli army's main intelligence headquarters and a central command centre, both reportedly vital to cyber operations and digital warfare systems, including IDF C4I and C4ISR infrastructure. According to Iranian accounts, the hospital was affected by shockwaves from strikes on nearby military targets, but was not directly hit.
The Sun
20 hours ago
- Health
- The Sun
Iran says ‘main target' of attack that hit Israel hospital was military site
TEHRAN: Iran said Thursday the main target of a missile attack in which a hospital in southern Israel was hit was an Israeli military and intelligence base, not the health facility. A hospital in southern Israel and two towns near Tel Aviv were struck after a barrage of Iranian missiles, with Israeli rescuers reporting at least 47 people injured in Iran's latest attacks. 'The main target of the attack was the Israeli Army Command and Intelligence Base (IDF C4I) and the Army Intelligence Camp in Gav-Yam Technology Park, located in the vicinity of the Soroka Hospital,' state news agency IRNA said. It said the hospital was 'exposed only to the blast wave', and that the 'direct and precise target' was the military facility. Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also issued a statement on the attack. 'In this operation, the regime's command and intelligence centre near a hospital was targeted with highly accurate and guided missiles,' the force said in its statement, which was carried by state television. It also said that the corps had 'previously warned' that Israel's airspace 'was defenceless and there would be no safe place'.
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First Post
a day ago
- Health
- First Post
Didn't aim to hit Israeli hospital, says Iran; real target was military and intel base
Iran said that the main target of the attack was the Israeli Army Command and Intelligence Base (IDF C4I) and the Army Intelligence Camp in Gav-Yam Technology Park read more Iran has said that it did not aim to hit a hospital while striking Israel on Thursday, saying that its missile was meant to target military and intelligence bases. Earlier today, Israel said that Iranian missiles hit Soroka Hospital , situated in the southern part of the country, causing damage to the health facility and leaving several people injured. 'The main target of the attack was the Israeli Army Command and Intelligence Base (IDF C4I) and the Army Intelligence Camp in Gav-Yam Technology Park, located in the vicinity of the Soroka Hospital,' state news agency IRNA said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Airstrikes were also reported in the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Holon and Beersheba. A spokesperson for the hospital reported 'damage to the hospital and extensive damage in various areas. We are currently assessing the damage, including injuries. We ask the public not to come to the hospital at this time'. Catch all the live updates on the Israel-Iran conflict At least 47 people have been left injured, with three people in serious condition and two in moderate condition. The attacks have drawn condemnation from several Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 'This morning, Iran's terrorist tyrants launched missiles at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba and at a civilian population in the center of the country. We will exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran,' Netanyahu said. Defence Minister Katz, meanwhile, said in a statement: 'These are some of the most serious war crimes – and (Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei will be held accountable for his actions.' 'The Prime Minister and I have ordered the (military) to intensify strikes against strategic targets in Iran and against the power infrastructure in Tehran, in order to eliminate the threats to the State of Israel and to shake the ayatollahs' regime,' he added. Israel's national ambulance service said that the floor of the hospital, which was hit on Thursday, had been evacuated a day earlier. According to reports, over 20 missiles were launched from Iran earlier on Thursday. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD With inputs from agencies
