Khamenei’s Unity Message
Reuters said the message called for Muslim unity, cooperation in various fields and mutual defence, and warned that anyone who creates divisions among Muslims, “knowingly or unknowingly,” helps Islam’s enemies.
The message was published as the war between Iran and the U.S.-Israel coalition entered its seventh month, with the U.S. and Israel having attacked Iran on Feb. 28 and Iran responding with its own strikes on Israel and Persian Gulf states that host U.S. bases.
In the same Reuters account, Khamenei was described as having not been seen in public since being injured in U.S.-Israeli airstrikes six months earlier that killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other senior leaders.
The Reuters report also said Khamenei asked Gulf Arab rulers whether “rogues without identity” would have dared to covet their lands and possessions if the peoples and governments of the Gulf had been “united under the flag of Islam.”
Strikes in Hormuz
U.S. forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, a U.S. official said, describing the first known American strikes on Iran since late July.
The U.S. official said, “I can confirm that earlier today U.S. forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island,” and said Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz.
Associated PressIran’s Revolutionary Guard said the attack killed and wounded several soldiers and citizens and would be met with a “response and punishment” from Tehran, according to Iranian state media.
The Independent en Español reported that U.S. forces attacked Iranian rocket launchers on Sunday in the Strait of Hormuz, and said the strike broke a pause in hostilities during a sporadic war that has stretched on for more than six months.
The Independent en Español also said the Revolutionary Guard highlighted in a statement “martyrdom and injuries to several of our fighters and compatriots” and said the attack “will result in punishment for the aggressor,” distributed by Iran’s state broadcaster.
Regional Fallout and Pressure
Reuters said the war led to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, where before the conflict saw the transit of about a fifth of the world’s oil supply, and that the number of visible commodity vessels transiting the strait dropped to five per day over the weekend.
In the same Reuters account, Israel’s Shin Bet security agency said it urgently evacuated Yair Netanyahu from the United States because of a “significant threat” against him.
The AP-linked reporting in Daily Press said Gaza’s Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, says at least 1,318 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since a fragile October ceasefire agreement sought to halt more than two years of war between Israel and Hamas.
Daily Press also said an Israeli airstrike hit a group of people in the western part of Deir al-Balah, killing a 3-year-old child and a man whom Israel’s military described as a Hamas operative, and that Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said another Palestinian was wounded.