US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber flying in formation with US F-16 fighters (left) and Qatari Rafale fighters (right)
Netanyahu says he has mobilized the full power of his army, “like never before”. Trump warned that if Iran retaliated, it would be hit “with force that has never been seen before.” The Islamic republic responded that it imposes “no limits” on its right to defense. First 3 US military personnel killed.
Israel will intensify attacks on Tehran in the coming days, the Israeli prime minister announced, Benjamin Netanyahuon the second day of the Israeli and American offensive against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“Our forces are currently attacking the heart of Tehran with increasing intensity, which will further amplify in the days to come,” Netanyahu said in a video message, cited by the AFP news agency.
Netanyahu said he had given instructions “for the continuation of the campaign” against Iran, which began on Saturday together with the United States, and stated that Israel had mobilized “the full power of the army, like never beforein order to ensure the existence and future” of the country.
The Israeli and American offensive caused more than 200 dead in Iranaccording to Iranian authorities, including dozens of political, military and religious leaders.
A list of victims includes the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the ‘ayatollah’ Ali Khanemi, 86 years old, which was at the beginning of the bombings against Tehran on Saturday morning.
In , Iran has since launched missiles against Israel and countries in the region, with reports of attacks and victims in Bahrain, Jordan, Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Syria. Some of the Iranian missile targets are US military bases not Persian Gulf.
There are no red lines
This Sunday, Donald Trump warned Iran to don’t retaliateand threatened to hit the country “with a strength that has never been seen before”.
In a post on the social network Truth Social, Trump said that “Iran just stated that will attack very hard todaywith more force than he has ever attacked before. It’s better if they don’t; however, if they do, we will hit them with force that has never been seen before!”
It is not clear whether this is a rhetorical exaggeration or a concrete threat relating to the level of force to be used or a specific type of weaponry.
Also this Sunday, Abbas AraghchiIran’s foreign minister, stated that Iran imposes “no limits” on its right to defense against the campaign of Israeli and American attacks, classifying the action of the two countries as “an act of aggression”.
“We will defend ourselves, whatever the costand we will not impose limits on the defense and protection of our people. No one can tell us that we don’t have the right to defend ourselves,” Araghchi told ABC.
The head of Iranian diplomacy maintained that “what the United States is doing is a act of aggression” and countered that Tehran’s response constitutes self-defense. “What we are doing is defending ourselves. Which is very different”, concluded the Iranian Foreign Minister.
Three US soldiers killed
According to the US Central Command (CENTCOM) published on Facebook, three US soldiers died and five were seriously injured in operations against Iran, the United States Army reported today.
Several other soldiers “suffered minor shrapnel injuries and concussions” and are “in the process of returning to duty,” says the note, which adds that the situation remains “unstable”.
US forces also said that the main combat operations will continuewith no further details being released about the circumstances of the casualties.
This was the first announcement of US military deaths in the operation against Iran. At the beginning of the operation, in the early hours of Saturday, the Donald Trump had admitted the possibility of casualties among their forces.
In another, CENTCOM denied that missiles launched by Iran had aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln hitclassifying as “a lie” the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s claims that four projectiles had hit the ship.
“The missiles launched did not even come close”, states the CENTCOM note, which adds that Abraham Lincoln “continues to launch aircraft in support of the U.S. military command’s tireless campaign to defend U.S. citizens and “eliminate threats from the Iranian regime”.
The publication of CENTCOM comes after the Revolutionary Guard of Iran have claimed an attack on the aircraft carrier. “The North American aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln wasi hit by four ballistic missiles”, declared the Revolutionary Guard in a statement published by state media.
Four shots on the aircraft carriersaid the Revolutionary Guard. Water, water, water, waterCENTCOM responded.
