Israel launched a new wave of strikes across Iran early on Wednesday, while the US military said it had struck nearly 2,000 targets inside the Islamic Republic since joining the campaign.The latest Israeli attack came after Iran launched three separate missiles towards Israel during the night. Most of them were intercepted, although a woman in Tel Aviv was slightly injured. The Israeli army described its response as a “wide wave of strikes” targeting missile infrastructure and military installations.
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The conflict began on Saturday when Israel and the United States launched a joint operation dubbed “Epic Fury.”
The first strikes hit sites close to the offices of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran. In the days that followed, Washington consolidated its military power in the region, deploying aircraft carriers, fighter planes and guided-missile destroyers — including two of its largest warships, the USS Gerald R.
Ford and the USS Abraham Lincoln.Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command, said US forces were targeting ballistic missiles and “all the things that can shoot at us.”
“These forces have a tremendous amount of firepower, representing the largest U.S. buildup in the Middle East in a generation,” Cooper said, describing the opening salvo as going beyond the scope of the 2003 “shock and awe” campaign against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. “We’re just getting started,” he added.Read also | Israel bombs the building where Iranian clerics were choosing Khamenei’s successor
Strike nuclear and military targets
Israel said it struck Iranian missile launchers and a nuclear research site on Tuesday, with explosions across Tehran.
Residents described hearing repeated explosions throughout the night. Admiral Cooper said US forces had “severely weakened Iran’s air defenses” and destroyed hundreds of ballistic missiles, launchers and drones.Information from inside Iran was limited due to communications blackouts, around-the-clock airstrikes, and tight restrictions on the media.
Iran targets US embassies and Gulf states
Iran retaliated across the region, targeting US diplomatic facilities and energy infrastructure.Two drones struck the US embassy in Riyadh, causing a limited fire, according to Saudi authorities. An Iranian drone also struck a parking lot outside the US consulate in Dubai, starting a small fire, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. All employees accounted for.The US embassies in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Lebanon were closed to the public, and Washington ordered the evacuation of non-essential employees and their families from several Gulf countries.
Americans have been urged to leave more than a dozen countries in the Middle East, although many remain stranded due to airspace closures.Follow live updates: Consulate in Dubai, CIA station in Saudi Arabia: Iran its American assets throughout the Middle East
Succession talks in Iran
Iran’s powerful Assembly of Experts has chosen Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as his successor under pressure from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to Iran International, which quoted informed sources.However, The New York Times reported a different account, saying that senior clerics charged with choosing the next supreme leader were still discussing the matter.
While Mojtaba emerged as the front-runner, no official announcement was made.An Israeli security official said that Israel bombed a building in the Iranian city of Qom where senior clerics were reportedly meeting to appoint a successor. The site was linked to the Assembly of Experts, the powerful body charged with choosing the Supreme Leader. The extent of the damage and potential losses was not immediately clear.
Trump weighs war goals and Iran’s future
Four days into what President Donald Trump suggested could last weeks or longer, the administration set multiple goals: dismantling Iran’s missile capabilities, crippling its naval forces, preventing it from obtaining nuclear weapons, and halting support for allied militant groups.While early strikes reportedly killed Khamenei, senior officials later insisted that regime change was not the official goal. Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump said the administration did not seriously consider Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the former Shah of Iran, as his successor.“As great as the leaders may be inside Iran, the people we had in mind are dead,” Trump said, warning that replacing the regime could lead to unintended consequences. He noted that “someone from within” Iran’s current power structure may eventually take over.
Strait of Hormuz
As global energy prices rise, Trump said the US Navy is ready to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic gateway to the Gulf that Iran has threatened to close.As the fighting spreads across Iran, Israel and parts of the Gulf, the escalating conflict has left the region bracing for a long and unpredictable war — and raised pressing questions about how and when it might end.
High toll
At least 787 people have been killed in Iran since the conflict began, according to the Iranian Red Crescent, although this number cannot be independently confirmed. Nearly 800 deaths overall have been reported within Iran.Iran has launched dozens of ballistic missiles towards Israel, killing 11 people since the outbreak of hostilities.The fighting spread outside the two countries. In Lebanon, Israeli retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah fighters killed at least 52 people, while the United Nations said more than 30,000 were displaced.Three people were killed in the United Arab Emirates, and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain. The US military has confirmed the deaths of six US service members, including four US Army Reserve soldiers killed in a drone strike on Sunday on a command center in Kuwait.
