Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is alive and is being continuously briefed about the situation, a security source told Reuters, following an Israeli attack on Iran early on Friday.
Pakistan strongly condemned Israel’s military strikes on Iran, calling them a blatant violation of international law and Iran’s sovereignty. Islamabad urged the United Nations and the global community to intervene and prevent further escalation in the region.
Oil prices soared more than 12 percent and stocks sank Friday after Israel launched strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites and warned of more to come, stoking fears of a full-blown war.
Israel pounded Iran in a series of air raids on Friday, striking 100 targets including Tehran's nuclear and military sites, and killing the armed forces' chief of staff, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and top nuclear scientists.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami, who was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran Friday, was a veteran officer close to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei known for his tirades against Israel and its US ally.
Israeli naval forces boarded and seized a charity vessel that had tried to break a naval blockade of the war-torn Gaza Strip on Monday and the boat with its crew of 12, including activist Greta Thunberg, is now heading to a port in Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned the fatal shooting of two embassy staffers in Washington as a vile act of antisemitic violence, intensifying fears of growing hostility toward Israelis abroad amid mounting global tensions.
The leaders of the United Kingdom, France, and Canada threatened to take “concrete actions” on Monday, including targeted sanctions, if Israel does not stop its renewed military offensive and continues to block aid from entering Gaza.
