Hundreds of civilians have been killed and injured in the US and Israeli strikes, says Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations Amir-Saeid Iravani.
Iravani called Iran’s retaliatory attacks a matter of self defense, saying the bases of hostile forces are legitimate military targets.
The United Nations Security Council has held an emergency meeting on the situation in the Middle East, at the UN headquarters in New York.
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres condemned the “escalation” of conflict.
Guterres told the meeting that he deeply regretted that an opportunity for diplomacy had been “squandered”.
Meanwhile, multiple Iranian state media are confirming the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“The Supreme Leader of Iran Has Reached Martyrdom,” state broadcaster IRIB reported.
It comes after the US and Israel said Khamenei was killed following a barrage of joint US-Israeli strikes on the nation.
Strikes in Iran began on Saturday morning (US Time).
It marks the latest upheaval for Iranians weeks after thousands of people were killed in a government crackdown on nationwide unrest, and comes just eight months after last year’s 12-day war with Israel, during which the United States bombed Iranian nuclear sites.
Iran’s top security body said it expected attacks to continue on Tehran and some other cities, and urged people to “travel to other cities where possible so that you may remain safe from the harm of these two regimes’ acts of aggression”.
Syrian children inspect the wreckage of an Iranian rocket that was reportedly intercepted by Israeli forces in the southern countryside of Quneitra, near the Golan Heights, close to the town of Ghadir al-Bustan.
Photo: BAKR ALKASEM
US President Donald Trump said the operation would end a security threat to the United States and offer Iranians a chance to topple their rulers.
The Pentagon said that US strikes against Iran were named “OPERATION EPIC FURY”.
– Reuters/CNN