Senior Israeli cabinet minister accuses Iran’s Supreme Leader of ordering targeting of Israeli civilians

TEL AVIV: A senior Israeli cabinet minister accused Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of ordering missile strikes aimed at concentrations of Israeli civilians, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, the minister said, “All of their conduct in recent days shows exactly why we had to act.” The minister said, “They have no restraints. This is intentional. With their own hands, through these attacks, they are building the case against themselves.”

Two Israeli officials said that Israel attained full superiority over Iran earlier than expected. The officials said, “The initial assessment was that air dominance would be reached only by midweek and beyond.”

The officials said, “But on Sunday, we carried out strikes in broad daylight over Tehran, showing that full aerial control had been established within just 48 hours of the fighting.”

In a post on X on Sunday, Israel Defence Minister Israel Katz stated, “Tehran is burning.” In another post on X, Katz stated that he has instructed the Israel Defence Force (IDF) to issue evacuation orders to people living near weapons production complexes in Tehran.
https://x.com/Israel_katz/status/1933997323161583831

“I instructed the IDF to issue evacuation notices to residents in Tehran living near weapons production complexes. The Iranian dictator is turning Tehran into Beirut and the residents of Tehran into hostages for the survival of his regime. The IDF continues to peel the skin of the Iranian snake with great force, from nuclear weapons to Tehran and everywhere else,” Israel Katz posted on X.
https://x.com/Israel_katz/status/1934205029017133312

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Iran’s Islamic regime had pinpointed US President Donald Trump as a threat to its nuclear program and actively worked to assassinate him.

“They want to kill him. He’s enemy number one,” he said, as quoted by Fox News. “He’s a decisive leader. He never took the path that others took to try to bargain with them in a way that is weak, giving them basically a pathway to enrich uranium, which means a pathway to the bomb, padding it with billions and billions of dollars,” Netanyahu said.

“He took up this fake agreement and basically tore it up. He killed Qasem Soleimani. He made it very clear, including now, ‘You cannot have a nuclear weapon, which means you cannot enrich uranium.’ He’s been very forceful, so for them, he’s enemy number one,” Fox News quoted Netanyahu as saying.

Netanyahu said that he was also a target of the regime after a missile was fired into the window of his bedroom of his home. He went on to call himself Trump’s “junior partner” in threatening Iran’s ability to weaponise nuclear arms. He said Israel was facing an “imminent threat” of nuclear destruction and was left with no choice but to act aggressively in the “12th hour.”

He also said his country is prepared to do whatever is necessary to eliminate the nuclear and ballistic missile threat Iran poses to the world. Netanyahu described the operation, coined as Operation Rising Lion, as “one of the greatest military operations in history.”

On Saturday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Iran’s armed forces were ready to face Israel. Khamenei said that all the officials in the country are on the side of the armed forces.

In a series of posts on X, he stated, “The Zionist regime has made a big mistake, a grave error, and committed a reckless act. By God’s grace, the consequences of this will bring that regime to ruin. The Iranian nation won’t permit the blood of its valued martyrs to go unavenged, nor will it ignore the violation of its airspace. Our Armed Forces are ready, and the country’s officials and all the people are behind the Armed Forces.” (ANI)