Hours after US and Israel struck deep into Iran with the goal of displacing the Islamic regime, speculation about the whereabouts and wellbeing of Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
Israeli TV reported that their assessment suggested that the supreme leader has likely been killed in the strike.
However, the Iranian’s issued a speedy denial. Representative of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, in India, Dr Abdul Majid Hakeem Ilahi, said, “The Supreme Leader is in good health and never has a fear of America or any other people… He will continue by his dignity and wisdom, and I hope that we will win this war.”
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaking in an interview with NBC News said, “All high-ranking officials are alive… we are handling this situation, and everything is fine.”
Iran’s Al-Alam TV reported that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will speak to the Iranian people soon.
Meanwhile, the representative of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran in India, Dr Abdul Majid Hakeem Ilahi, also condemned the US-Israel led aggression
“We were in negotiations and discussion to reach a diplomatic conclusion. We were thinking that very soon we reached to very good statement by Iran and the United States of America… But unfortunately, today, within this last month, month of Ramadan, we got attacked from Israel and United States of America against Iran. Firstly, they started attacking civilian people. They announced that attacked some government state and also a governmental building, but it’s not true, they attacked civilians,” he said
“We condemn this aggression against Iran, this attack against Iran… We hope that international law and United Nations will and stop this war against Iran,” he added.
In Iran, IRNA reported that officials converted a key highway linking the capital to northern Iran into a one-way route to accommodate the heavy outbound traffic. The agency reports heavy traffic heading north out of the capital.
In northern Tehran, supermarkets saw a surge of customers seeking bread and bottled water. However, supply has been limited. Long queues have also been observed at gas stations across the city.
State television showed footage from one of Tehran’s highways, Soleimani highway, where extremely heavy traffic was visible on west-to-east routes.
Earlier, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Saturday unequivocally condemned the military escalation in the Middle East, saying that the “use of force” by United States and Israel, and Iran’s “subsequent retaliation” undermine international peace and security.
While invoking the UN charter, the Secretary General, said that the principal document guiding the international body clearly prohibits “the threat of the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.” (ANI)
