Iran’s new Ayatollah has called for ‘the shedding of Zionist blood, the shedding of Trump’s blood’ as the war in Iran expands.
Abdollah Javadi Amoli issued a rare call for violence from an ayatollah, telling state television viewers: ‘Fight the oppressive America, his blood is on my shoulders.
‘We are now on the verge of a great test and we must be careful to fully preserve this unity, to fully preserve this alliance.’
His remarks come after the US and Israel launched the war on Saturday, targeting Iran’s leadership, missile arsenal and nuclear programme while suggesting that toppling the government is a goal.
Calls for jihad have also been issued in Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-linked chats online, calling on supporters in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, to ‘burn the embassies and assets’ of enemies.
The operation has killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which some view as an opportunity for regime change, though others warn of a chaotic power vacuum.
The war has killed more than 1,230 people in Iran, more than 70 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those countries.
Today, Iran launched a new wave of attacks at Israeli and American bases, saying that the US would ‘bitterly regret’ torpedoing an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean.
The US Navy sank an Iranian warship on Tuesday night in the Indian Ocean, killing at least 87 Iranian sailors, which Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi decried as ‘an atrocity at sea’.
‘Frigate Dena, a guest of India’s navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning,’ he wrote on social media.
‘Mark my words: The US will come to bitterly regret (the) precedent it has set.’
Israel announced multiple incoming missile attacks, and air sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Iranian state television said additional strikes also targeted US bases.
Iran launched its large Khorramshahr-4 missiles in an attack on Thursday targeting Israel, the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said.
The Guard said the missiles had a one-ton warhead. The missiles can also have multiple warheads.
The Guard claimed attacks in Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates as well.
The Israeli military said it launched targeted attacks in Lebanon at the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group and a ‘large-scale wave of strikes against infrastructure’ in Iran’s capital, without elaborating.
Explosions were heard in multiple locations in Tehran a short time later.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
