Israeli and US forces continued their assault on Iran, including a strike on the Iranian state broadcaster, as the death toll is said to have risen to 787. It is learnt that 48 senior functionaries of the Iran government were also killed in the joint US-Israel strikes.
Israeli and US strikes hit the building of a body tasked with electing Iran's new supreme leader. “The American-Zionist criminals attacked the Assembly of Experts building in Qom, south of Tehran,” according to the Tasnim news agency. The assembly is tasked with appointing the supreme leader. There was no information on any casualties.
The United States and Israel also bombed one of Iran's two airports, Mehrabad, which mainly handles domestic flights, on Tuesday. An Iran air carrier was destroyed on the ground in an attack on an airport in the southern port city of Bushehr as well.
Iran retaliated across the Middle East, forcing the US to shut its embassies in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan after drone attacks. The Saudi authorities said two drones hit the US Embassy in Riyadh early on Tuesday, destroying part of the structure and setting it on fire. The US urged Americans in the Middle East to “depart now” and ordered non-emergency personnel in six Gulf states to leave.
Even as the Israeli army intensified air attacks on Lebanon and launched a new ground incursion into the country’s south, Iran struck energy infrastructure across the Gulf. Qatar’s state-owned petroleum company has suspended all LNG production after two of its facilities were hit.
Iran also continued to attack sites across Israel with the Israeli military reporting missile interceptions over West Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Eilat. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said the Strait of Hormuz is now “closed” and warned that any vessels attempting to pass through the waterway will be attacked.
Too late for talks: Trump
Earlier, speaking from the White House, US President Donald Trump said the plan for the Iran war initially “projected four to five weeks, but the US military has the capability to go far longer than that”. He outlined his administration’s justification for going to war against Iran, saying Iran posed “grave threats” to the US. He said Washington will do whatever it takes to destroy Tehran’s missile and nuclear capabilities. In another statement issued later, Trump said Iran’s air defences, air force, navy and leadership were “gone”. “Tehran now wants to talk, but it is too late for negotiations,” he said.
Six US soldiers killed
Meanwhile, The United States Central Command has confirmed that six US soldiers have been killed after Iranian armed forces launched retaliatory strikes against US bases in the Middle East following the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
China backs Iran
Speaking to his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi, China’s foreign minister Wang Yi told him that Beijing supports Tehran “in defending its sovereignty, security, territorial integrity and national dignity, and supports Iran in protecting its legitimate rights and interests”.
China was swift and clear in its condemnation of the attack on Iran by the United States and Israel as a clear breach of international law, warning against a return to the law of the jungle. “Major powers cannot arbitrarily attack other countries based on their military superiority,” Wang told French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot.
Also read: Six US service members killed in Iran operation: CENTCOM
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