Israel launches new wave of strikes on Iran: what we know on day five of war

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Original article by Guardian staff

The US defence secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that a US submarine sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, marking the first US attack on Iranian forces outside of the Middle East. More than 80 people were killed.
In a press briefing at the Pentagon, Hegseth declared that “America is winning” and suggested that in under a week the US and Israel “will have complete control of Iranian skies”. Hegseth said the US is able to continue the military action against Iran “for as long as we need to” and Iran “can no longer shoot the volume of missiles they once did”.
Hegseth also said that the leader of the Iranian covert unit that planned to assassinate Trump in 2024 had been killed in the strikes.
Dan Caine, the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, who also spoke at the briefing, said more than 20 Iranian naval vessels have been destroyed and that the US had “effectively neutralised Iran’s major naval presence”.
Hegseth said that the US was investigating the deadly strike on a girls’ school in Iran that killed a reported 168 people on Saturday, but provided no further detail. “All I can say is that we’re investigating, and that we, of course, never target civilian targets,” Hegseth said.
The US and Israel’s airstrikes against Iran continued, with the Israeli military announcing a “broad wave of strikes” against Tehran’s security forces. In turn, Iran upped its retaliatory strikes against Israeli and US targets across the region, with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait all announcing Iranian attacks on Wednesday.
Lebanon’s health ministry said on Wednesday that Israeli strikes on two towns south of Beirut killed six people and wounded eight. Aramoun and Saadiyat are both towns outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds. Meanwhile, the Israeli military issued an “urgent warning” to residents of a large swathe of southern Lebanon, urging them to evacuate to the north of the Litani River. At least 30,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon, according to the UN, after heavy Israeli airstrikes.
Clerics in Iran said they were close to choosing a successor to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to state media. It has been widely suggested that his second son, Mojtaba Khamenei, could replace him.
The funeral ceremony for Khamenei that was supposed to take place on Wednesday night in Tehran has been postponed. State media, citing officials, reported that the funeral was delayed to allow time for expanded infrastructure because of “overwhelming demand”. No timeframe was given for when the funeral would take place.
The death toll in Iran has reached 1,045, according to Iranian officials. Iran’s foundation of martyrs and veteran affairs said the death toll represented the number of bodies that had been identified and prepared for burial, state media reported.

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Israel launches new wave of strikes on Iran: what we know on day five of war

Click any word to translate

Original article by Guardian staff

The US defence secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that a US submarine sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, marking the first US attack on Iranian forces outside of the Middle East. More than 80 people were killed.
In a press briefing at the Pentagon, Hegseth declared that “America is winning” and suggested that in under a week the US and Israel “will have complete control of Iranian skies”. Hegseth said the US is able to continue the military action against Iran “for as long as we need to” and Iran “can no longer shoot the volume of missiles they once did”.
Hegseth also said that the leader of the Iranian covert unit that planned to assassinate Trump in 2024 had been killed in the strikes.
Dan Caine, the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, who also spoke at the briefing, said more than 20 Iranian naval vessels have been destroyed and that the US had “effectively neutralised Iran’s major naval presence”.
Hegseth said that the US was investigating the deadly strike on a girls’ school in Iran that killed a reported 168 people on Saturday, but provided no further detail. “All I can say is that we’re investigating, and that we, of course, never target civilian targets,” Hegseth said.
The US and Israel’s airstrikes against Iran continued, with the Israeli military announcing a “broad wave of strikes” against Tehran’s security forces. In turn, Iran upped its retaliatory strikes against Israeli and US targets across the region, with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait all announcing Iranian attacks on Wednesday.
Lebanon’s health ministry said on Wednesday that Israeli strikes on two towns south of Beirut killed six people and wounded eight. Aramoun and Saadiyat are both towns outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds. Meanwhile, the Israeli military issued an “urgent warning” to residents of a large swathe of southern Lebanon, urging them to evacuate to the north of the Litani River. At least 30,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon, according to the UN, after heavy Israeli airstrikes.
Clerics in Iran said they were close to choosing a successor to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to state media. It has been widely suggested that his second son, Mojtaba Khamenei, could replace him.
The funeral ceremony for Khamenei that was supposed to take place on Wednesday night in Tehran has been postponed. State media, citing officials, reported that the funeral was delayed to allow time for expanded infrastructure because of “overwhelming demand”. No timeframe was given for when the funeral would take place.
The death toll in Iran has reached 1,045, according to Iranian officials. Iran’s foundation of martyrs and veteran affairs said the death toll represented the number of bodies that had been identified and prepared for burial, state media reported.