Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was the target of Saturday’s joint Israeli-US strikes on Tehran, Israel’s public broadcaster reported, as per news agency AFP.
“Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian were among the targets of the attack,” the state broadcaster reported.
Initial strikes reportedly took place near the offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Reuters reported that the 86-year-old leader was not in Tehran and had been transferred to a secure location at the time. LIVE Updates
Satellite image shows massive damage near Khamenei’s house in Tehran.
Meanwhile, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian is alive, Iranian state news agency IRNA reported, citing a source close to the presidency. Pezeshkian “is in good health,” IRNA said in a post on Telegram, shortly after the strikes.
Iran and Israel traded missiles on Saturday morning after Tel Aviv, with the help of the US, launched a preemptive attack on Tehran. The Israeli military, in a statement, said that an “additional barrage of missiles” was launched toward Israel.
The conflict’s ripple effects were felt across the Gulf after emergency sirens sounded in Bahrain following a missile threat targeting the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, according to the country’s interior ministry.
Explosions were also heard in the UAE’s Abu Dhabi and Dubai, Qatar’s Doha, and Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh.
All these Middle East cities host American troops.
In Abu Dhabi, the UAE Air Force and the US Air Force share the Al Dhafra Air Base. Dubai’s Jebel Ali Port is the US Navy’s largest port of call in the Middle East that regularly hosts American aircraft carriers and other vessels.
In Doha, the 24-hectare Al Udeid Air Base is the forward headquarters for US Central Command.
The US reportedly has over 2,000 soldiers in Saudi Arabia, with some of them being stationed roughly 60 km south of Riyadh, at Prince Sultan Air Base. The base supports US Army assets, including Patriot missile batteries and Terminal High Altitude Area Defence systems.
Qatar said it successfully intercepted the “attacks” targeting them.
“No damage has been reported, according to the initial field assessment. No casualties or material damage were recorded in residential areas,” the Ministry of Interior said in a statement on X.
It also urged the public to avoid approaching, touching, or moving any unidentified objects or debris.
Saudi Arabia condemned “in the strongest terms the treacherous Iranian aggression”.
It said strikes were the “blatant violation of the sovereignty” of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and Jordan.
It also warned Tehran of “grave consequences”.