Trump said Iran no longer had “an air force or air defenses.” Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani said Iranian forces were “waiting” for a U.S. ground invasion and prepared for a long war.
Strikes continued on targets in Tehran, with witnesses saying bombardment of the Iranian capital overnight was heavier. Israel also continued a ground operation in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah warned of a new wave of attacks on northern Israel and urged residents to leave their homes.
Israeli missiles hit Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight, which Israel said contained Hezbollah installations. Earlier, Israeli forces said they carried out 26 strikes on Dahieh, a densely populated southern suburb of Beirut, targeting “terrorist infrastructure of Hezbollah,” according to a post on X.
At least eight explosions were heard in Tel Aviv on Friday morning after an alert over missiles launched toward Israel from Iran, AFP reported. Israel’s medical and rescue service Magen David Adom said in a post showing a damaged building in Tel Aviv that “there are no reports of serious injuries.” Israel’s military said it had “identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel,” AFP reported.
Iran has yet to select a new leader, the source text said, adding that an unnamed council tasked with choosing a successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met overnight for a fourth time.
In an interview with NBC News on Thursday, Trump said a ground invasion of Iran would be “a waste of time” because the country had already lost its military potential.
“It’s a waste of time. They lost everything. They lost their navy. They lost everything they could lose,” Trump said in a phone interview, suggesting the campaign would continue with standoff strikes.
“We want to go in and clean everything out. We don’t want someone who would rebuild [the previous regime] in 10 years,” he said, adding the United States had “a few people” he believed could serve as new leaders, without naming them.
He said earlier that Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the slain Iranian leader, was “unacceptable”. It added that the 56-year-old has longstanding ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel had planned to kill Ayatollah Ali Khamenei since November, and that the operation was accelerated by unrest in Tehran due to fears Iran could launch a “preemptive attack”.
“Already in November we met with the prime minister in a very tight forum, and the prime minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] set himself the goal of eliminating Khamenei,” Katz told Israel’s N12 television.
Katz said the plan was consulted with U.S. authorities and aimed to eliminate threats linked to Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, as well as topple the rule of the ayatollahs.
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Source: Polish Radio, PAP