Key points
- A number of commanders and scientists were “assassinated” in the strikes: Khamenei
- Iran’s Revolutionary Guards leader Hossein Salami killed in Israeli strikes: IRNA
- Iranian military spokesperson has confirmed Israeli strikes on Iran
- Says Iran’s response to the attacks will be heavy: IRNA
ISLAMABAD: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Israel it faced a “bitter and painful” fate over the attack, which also killed a senior Guards commander according to Iranian media.
IRNA cited Khamenei as saying, “The Israeli regime sealed a bitter and painful destiny for itself with overnight strikes on Iran”.
“Zionist regime”
“With this crime, the Zionist regime sealed for itself a bitter and painful destiny and will definitely see that [destiny] brought upon it,” Iranian media quoted Ayatollah Khamenei as saying. He said a number of commanders and scientists were assassinated in the strikes, IRNA reported.
Iranian media reported that Israel carried out strikes against Iran on Friday. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards leader Hossein Salami and other military and civilian figures have been killed in Israeli strikes in Tehran, said IRNA.
According to IRNA, on Friday morning, Major General Salami had been assassinated in an Israeli strike overnight on Friday.
IRNA reported that Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri and other military and civilian figures have also been killed in Israeli strikes in Tehran.
BBC reported that Iran has so far confirmed that at least six of its nuclear scientists were killed in Israeli attacks overnight.
The most prominent of those is Fereydoon Abbasi, a former head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran. Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, the second one identified, served as the president of the Islamic Azad University in Tehran.
Abdolhamid Minouchehr, Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari, and Amirhossein Feqhi were academics at Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti University, BBC reported. The sixth victim has only been identified by their surname, Motallebizadeh.
Iran’s response
Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi, spokesperson for Iranian military, has confirmed Israeli strikes on Iranian territory, including residential buildings, and says Iran’s response to the attacks will be heavy, IRNA reported.
Brigadier General Shekarchi said on Friday morning that overnight strikes by the Israel, will receive a heavy response.
Israel began military strikes in and near the Iranian capital, Tehran, as well as other cities in Iran overnight on Friday, according to IRNA.
