Trump says Iran wants to talk to him and he will listen (Image: Getty)
Donald Trump claimed Iran’s new leadership wants to talk to him and that he has agreed to listen.
In an astonishing development 48-hours after a ferocious bombing blitz killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei the US President said: « They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them. They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long.”
A joint US-Israeli strike eliminated the 86-year-old cleric, his daughter, son-in-law, grandson, and top-ranking security officials including Iran’s army chief of staff, General Abdol Rahim Mousavi, and defence minister General Aziz Nasirzadeh. Also killed were Major General Mohammad Pakpour, who took over as the Revolutionary Guard’s top commander after Israel killed its last commander last June, and Ali Shamkhani, a top security adviser to Khamenei.
It was one of the most significant blows to Iran’s leadership since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Khamenei was only the second leader of Iran’s Islamic Republic since it was established in 1979 (Image: Getty)
A three-person temporary leadership council has been formed to govern the country in line with Islamic Republic law.
It includes Iran’s reformist president, Masoud Pezeshkian, and the hard-line head of the judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei.
There will also be a jurist, Alireza Arafi, who is a member of Iran’s Guardian Council and head of the Basij, a volunteer paramilitary force.
President Trump’s suggestion the new regime could get around the table came just hours after he issued a rallying call to oppressed Iranians to rise up and overthrow their despotic government” as war rages in the Middle East.
Tehran promised to wreak vengeance for the death of Khamenei, only the second leader of Iran’s Islamic Republic since it was established in 1979, who ruled the country through absolute power for almost 40 years.
His death sparked scenes of wild jubilation and a chance for 90 million repressed Iranians to topple a regime blamed for fuelling global terror.
Seizing on the chaos and uncertainty and in a direct message to its people Mr Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu encouraged those hopeful of lasting change to seize what they described as “probably the only chance for generations”.
Saturday’s audacious Operation Epic Fury, launched during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, marked the second time in eight months the Trump administration has used military force against Iran.
But in a chilling warning President Pezeshkian said revenge was the Islamic Republic’s “legitimate right and duty.”
Pezeshkian said authoritarian cleric Khamenei had been killed “at the hands of the most wicked villains in the world”.
As the bombing blitz on Tehran continued he said: “The Islamic Republic of Iran considers bloodshed and revenge against the perpetrators and instigators of this historical crime as its legitimate duty and right, and will do its utmost to fulfil this great responsibility and duty.”
On another day of high tension in the Middle East, the US military confirmed three servicemen had been killed with five more seriously wounded by an Iranian attack on Kuwait. The troops were part of an army sustainment unit based in the country.
Iran claimed the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier had been attacked with “four ballistic missiles”, but the US said the attack « did not even come close ».Mr Trump claimed that 48 Iranian leaders had been killed in the US-Israeli raids.
At least 153 people, including children, were killed after a missile strike hit a girls’ school in Minab, near an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base, in southern Iran. Officials blamed the US and Israel.
Violent clashes between protesters and security forces in Pakistan left at least 10 dead and more than 50 injured as pro-Iran demonstrators attempted to storm the US consulate in Karachi.
At least nine were killed and 28 others seriously injured after Iran launched a retaliatory strike on the central Israeli city of Beit Shemesh.
China’s foreign ministry condemned the attacks. Foreign Minister Wang Yi said: « These actions violate international law and the basic norms governing international relations. »
He said attacking a sovereign state without UN security council authorisation undermined the foundation for peace established after World War Two.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, embroiled in an ongoing war with Ukraine, broke his silence to describe Khamenei’s death a “cynical murder”.
In a statement issued via Russian state media the despot said the assassination violated “all norms of human morality and international law” and in a tribute said Khamenei would be remembered in Russia as an “outstanding statesman”.
Moscow and Tehran have long been key allies, with Iran providing Russia with military support including drones and ballistic missiles, and helping Moscow build a drone-manufacturing facility, amid its ongoing war with Ukraine.
Iran has started 40 days of mourning but after news of Khamenei’s death was confirmed spontaneous celebrations took place in the capital Tehran, Karaj and the central city of Isfahan, while others could be seen mourning in the streets.
President Trump called Khamenei as “one of the most evil people in history” and warned the US will hit Iran « with a force that has never been seen before » if it continued with retaliatory strikes.
He said: “Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime. A vicious group of very hard, terrible people. Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world.
“For 47 years, the Iranian regime has chanted Death to America and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder, targeting the United States, our troops and the innocent people in many, many countries.”
Mr Netanyahu said: “If anyone needed further proof of the murderous nature of the Ayatollah regime they received it last month. Because we all saw how this tyrannical regime in Tehran carried out an unprecedented mass slaughter of its own citizens in Iran. It cold-bloodedly murdered thousands of children, adults and the elderly. Tens of thousands were arrested, tortured and humiliated. And why? Just because they sought lives of freedom and dignity.”
Iran retaliated to the onslaught by targeting Israeli and US military bases across the Middle East.
Tehran has fired more than 25 waves of missiles and drones with explosions heard in Israel, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
One person was killed by falling debris and 11 others injured when a drone targeting Zayed International Airport was intercepted.
Dubai International Airport – the world’s busiest by passenger traffic – was damaged in Iran’s retaliatory attack that injured four staff. British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, and Emirates have suspended flights to the region.
Hundreds of thousands of travellers have been left stranded or diverted to other airports after Israel, Qatar, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain closed their airspace.
Meanwhile a woman and her child suffered minor injuries after debris from a drone, brought down by air defence systems, struck the facade of a building at Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi.
Meanwhile, Iranian missiles and drones had landed within « a few hundred yards » of some 300 British troops at a base in Bahrain, while two missiles had been fired in the direction of Cyprus, where thousands of UK personnel are based.
RAF planes continue to assist the US and Israel in « taking down » drones and missiles that were « menacing » British bases and allies in the region.
In the first UK Government response to the despot’s death Defence Secretary John Healey said: « I think few people will mourn the Ayatollah’s death, not least the family and friends of those thousands of young protesters murdered on the streets of Iranian cities.
« Iran and the regime he’s led for so long, it’s a source of evil, murdering its own citizens and sponsoring and exporting terror, including to countries like Britain. »
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