Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei issued a statement on Friday morning calling Israeli aggression against the country a crime which will invite severe punishment from the Islamic Republic.
“With this crime, the Zionist regime has prepared for itself a bitter, painful fate, which it will definitely see,” Khamenei said in a brief statement hours after the early morning strikes by Israel on several Iranian cities including the capital Tehran.
Large scale protests were reported in different parts of Iran on Friday demanding Iranian retaliation against Israeli aggression.
Several top Iranian military officials, nuclear scientists, and civilians, including children, were killed in large scale military strikes. More than 70 were killed in the attacks according to local sources.
Israel launched fresh airstrikes inside Iran on the Friday afternoon targeting a military airbase in Tabriz in the country’s north, Tasnim news agency reported.
In a video posted after Israel launched the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “Operation Rising Lion”, “will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.”
The Iranian government issued a formal statement in the afternoon proclaiming its resolve to retaliate against Israeli aggression claiming it has begun the preparations for the same. President Masoud Pezeshkian repeated his country’s resolve claiming the Iranian response would make “regret its foolish act.”
Iran reportedly launched hundreds of drones towards Israel as an initial response. The drones were intercepted by Israeli and Jordanian air defenses.
US is directly involved in the aggression
In a statement issued by Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Iran also rejected the US claims of non-involvement in the Israeli attacks. Iran claimed that “without the coordination and approval of the US” such an attack was not possible.
“Consequently, the US government, as the primary patron of this regime [Israel], will also bear responsibility for the dangerous repercussions of the Zionist regime’s reckless actions,” the statement warned.
The US initially denied any direct involvement in the Israeli strikes. However, US media has reported that the Donald Trump administration was aware of the strikes beforehand.
Later, several US officials were also reported saying that in the case of an Iranian retaliation on Israel, the US will defend Israel.
Responding to Israel’s attacks, Trump threatened Iran of further attacks and demanded it sign a deal to abandon its nuclear program completely, before “there is nothing left” in the country to defend, CNN reported.
In response, Iran has announced it will not participate in the next round of indirect nuclear talks scheduled to be held on Sunday in Muscat, Oman and asserted that Israeli aggression should make the world understand “Iran’s insistence on its rights to enrichment and nuclear technology and missile power.”
Iranian nuclear facilities are safe
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) confirmed on Friday that though the nuclear site at Natanz has sustained damages after Israeli attacks; there were no signs of increase in radiation levels. It also confirmed that the nuclear facility at Bushehr was not affected by Israeli attacks.
IAEA confirmed the AEOI’s version by also aiding that none of the other nuclear sites in Iran, Furdow and Isfahan, were affected by the Israeli strikes. Israel had claimed the primary objective of its strikes inside Iran was to destroy Iran’s nuclear capability.
Six top Iranian nuclear scientists were killed in the Israeli airstrikes, along with top military officials including the Chief of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Bagheri, IRGC Commander Hussain Salami and several others.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei announced fresh appointments to fill the posts of Iran’s top military officials on Friday afternoon.
Global condemnation of Israeli aggression
Israel’s unprovoked attacks on Iran have been met with global condemnation.
The UN Secretary General, in a statement on Friday, condemned the military escalation in the region, terming Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, at a time when a diplomatic process was ongoing, “concerning.” He asked both the sides to show maximum restraint, claiming the region can hardly afford a “deeper conflict.”
Several countries in the region and the world have condemned the Israeli attacks on Iran calling them “dangerous escalation.” Statements have been issued by Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Japan and others.
“China opposes actions that violate Iran’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, and opposes moves that escalate tensions and enlarge conflicts,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Friday, also stating that China is worried about the possible consequences of the Israeli attacks on Iran.
In a statement by Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry on Friday it condemned the Israeli attacks on the “brotherly Islamic Republic of Iran” saying they constitute a clear violation of Iran’s sovereignty and security, and of international laws and norms.
Oman, which has been mediating the indirect nuclear talks between Iran and the US, also called the Israeli attacks a “dangerous and reckless escalation” and demanded immediate intervention by the international community to stop further escalation.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which hosts most of the American military bases in the region, also condemned the Israeli attack.
Neighboring Iraq, whose air space was allegedly used to launch the strikes inside Iran, condemned the Israeli aggression and demanded that the international community must act to end repeated Israeli aggressions instead of issuing “mere statements of condemnation.” In its statement, the government of Iraq also supported Iran’s call for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council which should “take firm and tangible measures to deter this aggression, prevent its recurrence, and restore the authority of the international legal order.”
Most of the European countries, except Germany, have called for restraint without openly condemning Israeli strikes. Germany justified Israeli strikes claiming “Israel has the right to defend its existence.”
Iran has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over Israeli aggression on Friday.
