ISLAMABAD: Monitoring Desk – Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that Israeli Air Force fighter jets had destroyed “the headquarters of Iran’s internal security forces.”
The minister added Israel will continue to target “symbols of Iran’s rule”, without providing further details on the operation or its objectives.
His remarks came shortly after the Israeli military said its warplanes had launched a new wave of airstrikes, hitting “military targets belonging to the Iranian regime” in Tehran.
Videos circulating on social media showed plumes of smoke rising from several locations in eastern and southeastern Tehran following the blasts.
Iran’s Fars news agency reported that Israel also targeted Payam International Airport, a key aviation hub for Iran near Tehran, on Wednesday. Fire and rescue teams were operating at the scene of an explosion northwest of Tehran, the agency added.
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An Iranian semiofficial news agency denies “rumors” that an Israeli airstrike targeted the home of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
It’s the first time media in Iran has explicitly acknowledged the Islamic Republic’s paramount leader could be a target.
The report came from the Fars news agency, believed to be close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
Fars describes the rumors as showing “the US and the Zionist regime’s anger and confusion in the face of the supreme leader’s firm statements made today.”
Earlier , the Defense Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday directly threatened the life of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warning him that he could end up like killed former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
This constitutes the clearest escalation of Israel considering assassinating Khamenei to date. The threat by Katz allowed maneuvering room since, technically, Saddam Hussein was actually killed by his own people after an extended period of running and hiding after US forces toppled his regime in Iraq.
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