A new satellite photo shows the secure compound of Iran supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei being damaged amid the latest US and Israeli attacks in Tehran on Saturday. The image, published by The New York Times and taken by Airbus, shows a black plume of smoke over the Tehran compound. It also shows collapsed buildings at the complex, which serves as Khamenei’s residence.
This comes hours after Iranian officials vowed a ‘crushing response’ after the US and Israel conducted a joint military strike under the codename, Operation Roaring Lion. Several military sites, missile production facilities, and areas near Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s office were targeted.US attacks Iran LIVE: 1 killed in UAE, fresh blasts heard in Dubai, Saudi’s Riyadh amid Iran’s counter missile salvo
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President Donald Trump, in a declaration posted on Truth Social, said that the US military campaign is ‘massive and ongoing’. He warned that many American lives may be lost, further calling on Iranians to ‘take over your government’.
“To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces, and all of the police, I say tonight that you must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity or, in the alternative, face certain death,” Trump added.
In response, Iran launched a wave of strikes toward Israel and US bases across the Middle East. Explosions were reported in the UAE, Bahrain, and Qatar. Iran’s foreign ministry released a statement condemning the ‘criminal military aggression’.
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“The renewed military aggression of the United States and the Zionist regime against Iran is being committed while Iran and the United States were in the midst of a diplomatic process,” the foreign ministry said.
Where is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei?
While images showed destruction at the Iran supremo’s compound, it is unclear if he was there at the time. The New York Times reported that his whereabouts are not known currently.
An Israeli official told Reuters that the US and Israel targeted Ali Khamenei and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian with their attacks on Saturday but the results of the strikes were unclear.
An Iranian source close to the establishment told the news agency that several senior commanders in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and political officials had been killed. This could not be verified at this time.