Yesterday, the US reported it had damaged the headquarters of Iran’s formidable Revolutionary Guard organization. They also asserted that the fight to overthrow the Iranian government had claimed its first US lives.
In a statement on X, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said that the Guard headquarters had been destroyed. The announcement included video of missiles firing from a US Navy ship and then destroying an urban facility.
CENTCOM declared, “America has the strongest military in the world, and the IRGC no longer has a headquarters.”
President Donald Trump told the Daily Mail that the war may carry on for a month, saying, “It’s always been a four-week process.” This was while missiles kept falling on Tehran.
The US-Israeli war started on Saturday with airstrikes that killed Iran’s top leader. Iran has responded with missile and drone assaults on countries in the Middle East. Explosions have been recorded in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Israel, according to AFP.
Iran is publicly defiant in the face of US and Israeli bombings, but Trump told The Atlantic magazine that its officials “want to talk,” but he didn’t give many details.
The Pentagon said that “three US service members have died in action and five are seriously hurt.” It also said that numerous others had minor shrapnel injuries and concussions.
It claimed, “Major combat operations are still going on, and our response effort is still going on.”
The 79-year-old Republican took hours to respond to the killings in the US, saying to NBC News, “We expect casualties, but in the end it’s going to be a great deal for the world.” This shows how politically risky it is for Trump back home.
Iran Hits Back
Tehran rocked yesterday after loud explosions.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they were going to attack on a “large scale” by firing missiles and drones at bases across the Gulf.
Authorities claimed that an attack on the central Israeli city of Beit Shemesh killed at least nine people and left others missing.
Ali Larijani, the powerful head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said, “Today we will hit them with a force that they have never seen before.”
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian called the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s highest leader, a “declaration of war against Muslims.”
He said, “Iran sees it as its duty and right to punish those who committed this historic crime.”
But Israel called Khamenei’s killing a “first step,” and military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani bragged that the joint operation “eliminated 40 senior commanders, including Khamenei, in one minute.”
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, predicted that airstrikes on Iran “will only get worse in the coming days.”
As part of the operation, the Israeli military said it was recruiting about 100,000 reservists and “raising its level of readiness on the various fronts.”
Gulf States in the Middle of a War
On Saturday, Iran’s first retaliation strikes targeted all of the Gulf states except Oman, which has tried to help the US and Iran talk to one other.
The Oman News Agency stated that two drones attacked the country’s commercial port of Duqm yesterday, hurting a foreign worker.
According to maritime security agencies, three ships were also assaulted in the Strait of Hormuz yesterday. This happened after Iran had already proclaimed that the important route was blocked.
The Revolutionary Guards of Iran alleged they hit the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, but the Pentagon said the “missiles launched didn’t even come close.”
Trump, on the other hand, asserted that US military strikes had sunk nine Iranian naval ships and damaged the navy’s main office.
Britain ordered people in the Gulf region to “shelter in place,” while the US mission in Jordan told people to keep away from the embassy, and in Bahrain, they told people to stay away from hotels after one was hit by a strike.
Iran’s attacks in the Gulf in response have killed at least four people and hurt many more.
The UAE said it was pulling its ambassador out of Iran and closing its mission because of the attacks that killed three people.
The Red Crescent claimed on Saturday night that strikes in Iran have killed 201 people and wounded hundreds more.
The Iranian court revealed that Ali Shamkhani, a prominent adviser to Khamenei, and General Mohammad Pakpour, the head of Iran’s formidable Revolutionary Guards, were among those who died.
Question About Succession
Some Iranians cheered when they heard reports that Khamenei had died, but when state media verified his death, pro-government protests broke out, with some screaming “Death to America!”
Iran named Ayatollah Alireza Arafi to an interim leadership council yesterday. He will work with Pezeshkian to run the country until a permanent successor to the supreme leader is selected.
A woman in her 30s who lives in Tehran reported that people had “shouted for joy,” even though there was a war going on.
She added that Khamenei’s hands were smeared with blood and remembered that Iranian security forces put down big rallies in January.
She went on to say, “We all knew that there was no way, absolutely no way, to change this government without help from outside.”
One truck driver, though, said he couldn’t see things going well.
“I don’t know what will happen in the future, but it’s not a good future for us Iranians,” he remarked.
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