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Iran’s senior leadership, including supreme leader Ayatollah Khamanei, are among the main targets of joint US and Israeli strikes against Iran this morning.
According to officials who spoke to Axios, “The goal is to create all the conditions for the downfall of the Iranian regime, but developments will also depend on the extent to which the Iranian people rise up.”
Senior leaders, past and present, are being targeted, the officials said.
Among those targeted are President Masoud Pezeshkian, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Ahmad Vahidi, Khamenei’s top security adviser Ali Shamkhani, and former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
A US official said American strikes have focused on Iran’s ballistic missiles, while Israeli strikes have targeted Iranian officials as well.
At present, it’s unclear how much of Iran’s civilian and military leadership has been killed.
The death toll is expected to become clearer later today.
President Trump addressed the nation in an eight-minute speech and said that Iranian regime must be held accountable for its historical attacks on the US and its allies, and for its refusal to abandon its ambition to acquire nuclear weapons.
He said the US will now destroy Iran’s missile capabilities, its navy and its “terrorist proxies” in the region.
He also called on the Iranian people to “take over your government” once the military operation is finished.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the US for the latest strikes.
“My brothers and sisters, citizens of Israel, a short time ago, Israel and the United States embarked on an operation to remove the existential threat posed by the terrorist regime in Iran.
“I thank our great friend, President Donald Trump, for his historic leadership.”
Meanwhile, the heir-to-Iran’s-throne-in-exile issued a call to Iran’s security forces to lay down their weapons and help the US dismantle the ayatollahs’ “apparatus of repression.”
In a video-and-text message posted to X, Reza Pahlavi said “decisive moments lie before us.”
“The assistance that the President of the United States had promised to the brave people of Iran has now arrived. This is a humanitarian intervention, and its target is the Islamic Republic, its apparatus of repression, and its machinery of killing—not the country and great nation of Iran.
“However, despite the arrival of this assistance, the final victory will still be achieved by us. It is we, the people of Iran, who will finish this task in this final battle. The time to return to the streets is approaching.”
Pahlavi then urged security forces to lay down their weapons and “help ensure a stable and secure transition.”
“You have sworn an oath to protect Iran and the Iranian nation, not the Islamic Republic and its leaders. Your duty is to defend the people, not to defend a regime that has taken our homeland hostage through repression and crime. Join the nation and help ensure a stable and secure transition. Otherwise, you will sink with Khamenei’s ship and his crumbling regime.”
He then thanked President Trump, and asked him to “exercise the utmost possible caution to preserve the lives of civilians and my compatriots.”
“The people of Iran are your natural allies and the allies of the free world, and they will not forget your assistance during the most difficult period of Iran’s contemporary history.”
Pahlavi ended his message by telling the Iranian people to prepare themselves for “final action at the appropriate time.”
“We are very close to final victory. I hope to be with you as soon as possible so that together we may reclaim Iran and rebuild it.”
