Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – EU chief Ursula von der Leyen calls for urgent de-escalation to prevent the US-Israeli conflict with Iran from “spreading” across the Middle East. Speaking to reporters in Brussels, von der Leyen says she condemns Iran’s strikes across the Gulf, as Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia enters the fray and a British airbase in Cyprus is targeted.
Tel Aviv (AFP) – The Israeli military says it is carrying out simultaneous strikes in Iran and Lebanon, warning Hezbollah it would “pay a heavy price” after opening fire on Israel. A war that began with joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has engulfed the Middle East, with explosions also heard in Dubai, Bahrain, Iraq and elsewhere.
Buenos Aires (Argentina) (AFP) – Argentina president Javier Milei arrives at National Congress in Buenos Aires to deliver his annual speech before legislators and government officials. IMAGES
Tehran (AFP) – Images shared on social media show cheers echoing across parts of Iran as reports of supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s death started to trickle out. The Ayatollah was killed after Israel and the United States launched an attack of unprecedented scale against the Islamic republic.
Boston (AFP) – Iranians across North America and Europe are mostly optimistic about the campaign of US-Israeli missile strikes that killed longtime supreme leader Ali Khameini, though many urge caution about the long-term picture. “We are waiting for regime change… and then we will go to Iran and celebrate there,” Farba Hakami tells AFP in Toronto. In London, UK, anti-intervention protester Sussan Rassouli cautions that “every regional intervention that US has been part of has just been one big disaster after another”.
Tehran (AFP) – An anchor on Iranian state TV confirms the death of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei following US and Israeli strikes.
Tehran (AFP) – Thousands of mourners gather in the centre of Iran’s capital after the death of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Karachi (AFP) – Pro-Iranian protesters angered by the death of Iran supreme leader Ali Khamenei try to storm the US consulate in Pakistan’s Karachi, leaving eight dead, and the fortified Green Zone hosting Washington’s embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. Iranian state media confirmed the death of Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader since 1989 and sworn enemy of the West, after the opening salvo of a massive US and Israeli attack.
Washington (United States) (AFP) – “We are very close to final victory. I want to be by your side as soon as possible so that together we can take back and rebuild Iran,” says Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah in an online video address following US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
(AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israel and the United States launched an operation against Iran to “remove the existential threat”, adding that it will “create conditions that will allow the brave Iranian people to cast off the yoke of this murderous regime.”
Tehran (AFP) – Iranian state television says the Revolutionary Guards launched a missile on Israel following Israeli, US strikes on Tehran and several cities in Iran. “The first wave of widespread missile and drone attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran against the occupied territories has begun,” an anchor says in a read-out of the Revolutionary Guards’ statement.
West Palm Beach (United States) (AFP) – US President Donald Trump announces that “major combat” is underway in Iran. “The United States’ military began major combat operations in Iran,” Trump says in a video message posted on his social media site while he spent the weekend at his Florida golf club. “Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime.” IMAGES
