Iran's Revolutionary Guard spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naeini has been killed in joint US and Israeli strikes, Iranian state media Press TV said on Friday
Several prominent Iranian leaders have been eliminated in US-Israeli strikes since the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 28
On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces announced that they killed Esmaeil Khatib, the Iranian Minister of Intelligence.
Meanwhile, Iran showed no signs of letting up on its attacks on Gulf region energy structure as Kuwait said drone strikes at its Mina Al-Ahmadi oil refinery sparked a fire and crews were working to control the blaze.
The refinery, which can process some 730,000 barrels of oil per day, was already damaged Thursday in another Iranian attack. It is one of three oil refineries in Kuwait, a tiny, oil-rich nation on the Persian Gulf
Iran stepped up its attacks on energy sites in Gulf Arab states after Israel on Wednesday bombed Iran’s massive South Pars offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf. — with agencies. Iran’s supreme leader says enemies’ ‘security must be taken away’
Iran’s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei called on Friday for the enemies of his nations to have their “security” taken away, in his latest message to the public. Khamenei made the remarks in a statement issued on his behalf and sent to President Masoud Pezeshkian, after Israel killed Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib. Khamenei hasn’t been seen since he was named as supreme leader, succeeding his father, the 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the first day of the war on February 28. American and Israeli officials have suggested that Mojtaba Khamenei was hurt in the war.
Israel’s military said Friday it struck sites in Syria in response to attacks on the Druze. The army said it struck infrastructure belonging to Syria in response to attacks on Druze population in Sweida in southern Syria. Syria’s state-run SANA news agency did not immediately acknowledge the attack, which marks the first Israeli attack on Syria as its war with the United States targeting Iran continues. Israel has a significant Druze population
The UAE said on Friday it disrupted what it called “a terrorist network funded and operated by Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran.” It arrested five men accused of laundering money, alleging they were “operating within the country under a fictitious commercial cover” that sought to carry out schemes that would threaten the country’s financial stability. It published images of five prisoners on its state-run WAM news agency, without identifying them.
In Israel, sirens sounded early Friday warning of attacks on Jerusalem and on the north of the country, sending people again scrambling to shelters. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Not long after Israel announced that it had begun new strikes on Iran, the sound of explosions were heard in Tehran, as Iranians marked Nowruz, or the Persian New Year. No further details were immediately available.
Heavy explosions shook Dubai as air defenses intercepted early incoming fire over the city, where people were observing Eid al-Fitr, the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, and mosques made the day’s first call to prayers. Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said a fire broke out after shrapnel from an intercepted projectile landed on a warehouse, and Saudi Arabia reported shooting down multiple drones targeting its oil-rich Eastern Province. The renewed attacks came after an intense day that saw Iran hit energy infrastructure around the region and launch more than a dozen missile salvos at Israel following the attack on South Pars.
Doha/Washington/Jerusalem: Iran's military said strikes on Iran's energy infrastructure had led to "a new stage in the war" in which it had attacked energy facilities linked to the United States. "If strikes (on Iran's energy facilities) happen again, further attacks on your energy infrastructure and that of your allies will not stop until it is completely destroyed," Iranian military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaqari said, according to state media. Reuters
Doha/Washington/Jerusalem: With no end in sight to the conflict, and the threat of a global "oil shock" growing by the day, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan issued a joint statement expressing "our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait". They also promised "other steps to stabilise energy markets, including working with certain producing nations to increase output". Reuters
Doha/Washington/Jerusalem: Israel launched a fresh wave of attacks on Iran on Friday, a day after President Donald Trump told it not to repeat its strikes on Iranian natural gas infrastructure, which sharply escalated the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Reuters
Dubai: At Thursday’s news conference, Netanyahu said: “Iran’s air defenses have been rendered useless, their navy is lying at the bottom of the sea. ... Their air force is nearly destroyed.” He said he hopes the Iranian people will rise up against the Islamic Republic that has ruled for nearly a half-century. There’s been no sign of any organized opposition since the war began, after Iranian authorities crushed mass protests in January. AP
The United Nations Security Council held an urgent closed meeting Thursday during which Gulf countries stressed the need for Iran to halt attacks on them, said Bahrain’s UN Ambassador Jamal Alrowaiei, the Arab representative on the UN’s most powerful body. But Iran has showed no signs of backing down.
Saudi Arabia said its SAMREF refinery in the Red Sea port city of Yanbu was hit. Saudi Arabia had begun pumping large volumes of oil west toward the Red Sea to avoid the Strait of Hormuz.
Qatar, a key source of natural gas for world markets, said Iranian missiles that caused extensive damage to the Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas facility, reduced its exports by about 17 percent and will cost about USD 20 billion in lost revenue a year.
The damage will take up to five years to repair, even though production at the facility had already been halted after earlier attacks.
Two oil refineries in Kuwait and gas operations in Abu Dhabi also were targeted by Iran, authorities said. Millions of people fled to shelters in Israel as sirens warned repeatedly after a barrage of Iranian missiles in the central part of the country as well as Jerusalem and areas nearby, including the West Bank.