Iran today launched the first volleys of missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles against Israel and its neighbours in the Gulf after Mojtaba Khamenei succeeded his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the early hours of the war, as supreme leader of the Islamic Republic.
On the tenth day of the armed conflict that has set the whole Middle East on fire, Israel announced in the early hours of the morning that it was carrying out new strikes targeting ’the infrastructure of the Iranian terrorist regime« in central Iran, while at dawn it sent helicopter bombers to eastern Lebanon and bombed southern Beirut, a stronghold of the Shiite movement Hezbollah, which is close to Iran.
Gripped by panic due to the escalation of the war over the weekend and the ongoing blockade of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, market players helped the price of oil soar today, with the barrel now changing hands for over $118.
Mojtaba Khamenei, a 56-year-old cleric who is considered closer to the conservatives in Iran, mainly because of his links with the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic, was chosen yesterday, Sunday, as the new supreme leader by the Assembly of Experts, a body with 88 members drawn from the Shiite clerical system.
The announcement was made last night in an official tone by a state TV anchor with a photo of Mojtaba Khamenei in the background.
The Assembly of Experts assured that it «did not hesitate for a minute» to fulfil its mission, despite «the brutal attack of criminal America and the thuggish Zionist regime».
The Revolutionary Guards, the armed forces, the police, and diplomacy immediately swore loyalty and allegiance to the new supreme leader, who succeeded his father in power from 1989 until he was killed on February 28, in the first hours of the war.
Scenes of exultation
Then footage was broadcast showing scenes of jubilation across the country, with Iranians waving Islamic Republic flags in the night or turning on their mobile phone flashlights.
For a week now, Mojtaba Khamenei's name has been the most popular in the discussions about who would take over the job. Ali Khamenei himself in 2024, however, ruled out this scenario, as the Islamic Revolution in 1979 ended centuries of hereditary monarchy.
The Israeli government has already threatened since Wednesday that Iran's new supreme leader will be a «target».
As for Donald Trump, who insisted that he should have a say in who takes power in Iran, he warned that the new supreme leader «won't last long» without his approval, even before it is announced who he is.
On Thursday, he had already made it clear that he would not tolerate Mojtaba Khamenei taking over as leader of the country.
A few hours after this announcement, the state-run IRIB radio and television reported that a new missile launch against Israel had taken place via Telegram, accompanying the text with a photo of the missile fuselage on which was written «under your orders, shayed (i.e. leader) Mojtaba», a Shiite religious reference.
Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain also spoke today of waves of missiles and drones launched by Iran against them.
An Iranian drone raid injured 32 civilians - including four who are in serious condition - in Sitra, Bahrain, according to data from the Ministry of Health reported by the official Bahrain News Agency. While the Saudi Ministry of Defence said that four unmanned aerial vehicles heading towards an oil field in Sheiba (southeast), near the border with the United Arab Emirates, which had already been targeted yesterday (Sunday), were shot down.
Since the outbreak of the war, Iran has been attacking infrastructure on the territory of its neighbours in the Gulf, rich in hydrocarbons, as they host large US military bases.
The Israeli army, for its part, announced shortly after 04:00 that it was conducting new strikes targeting «infrastructure of the Iranian terrorist regime» in central Iran.
Over the weekend, it announced that it had hit fuel storage facilities, which it said were used to operate military infrastructure, as well as the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards aerospace force.
The thick smoke from the burning oil tanks that were bombed plunged the Iranian capital into darkness yesterday Sunday, creating scenes reminiscent of the apocalypse, while the smell of burning was unbearable and the rainy weather added to the confusion.
«It is now impossible to breathe this air,» said one resident contacted by AFP by telephone. «We don't want them bombing our national wealth to make us even poorer than we already were,’ she added.
Following this first attack on Iranian oil infrastructure since 28 February, the Iranian military has threatened to target oil installations in the Gulf States.
«If you can afford oil above $200 a barrel, keep playing this game,» he said.
Fighting in Lebanon
According to the most recent official account of the Iranian Ministry of Health, more than 1,200 people have died and more than 10,000 civilians have been injured; Agence France-Presse notes that it is not in a position to independently verify these figures.
The Israeli army also announced in the early hours of the morning that it had resumed its bombardment of «Hezbollah infrastructure» in Beirut, in addition to the fierce fighting that took place overnight in eastern Lebanon, near the Syrian border, where the Iranian-affiliated Shiite movement said it had engaged in a clash with Israeli commandos flown in by helicopter.
The fighting broke out near the village of Nabi Seit - in the Bekaa valley - which had already been targeted on Friday night by Israeli commandos who tried, unsuccessfully, to retrieve the body of an Israeli airman captured in 1986.
According to Lebanon's Health Minister, Rakan Nasheredin, Israeli bombing and military operations have claimed the lives of at least 394 people, including 83 children, in a week in the country.
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