Amid the US and Israeli war with Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, 35 countries are convening for an emergency summit aimed at restoring freedom of navigation in the Gulf. Washington is not taking part in the meeting, while European countries are preparing for the possibility of using military force.
Although Tehran officially maintains that it is not interested in nuclear weapons, the regime is holding an intense internal debate over whether to pursue an atomic bomb. A senior Iranian commentator said: “We must work to build nuclear weapons. Either we build them ourselves, or we buy them.”
A senior IRGC official said on state television that children as young as 12 are now being enrolled for checkpoint duty and logistics – a sign of deepening desperation as the force struggles to find adult volunteers.
After repeatedly condemning the US-Israeli war against Iran, propaganda outlets in Tehran have issued a public thank you to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. After calling the war in Gaza a “genocide,” Sánchez is stepping up his solidarity with the axis of evil.
Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public and did not deliver a Nowruz address for the Iranian New Year, and the rumor mill is in full swing. “This is more than strange,” a senior US official told Axios. “We have no proof he is holding the reins.” An Israeli official added: “We have no evidence he is the one giving orders.”
State Department program offers financial rewards and possible relocation to anyone providing information on new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and other senior figures in the Iranian regime.
Israel and the US are already preparing for the next stage after the war, intending to help the Iranian people replace the government in Tehran. However, officials familiar with the details stress that everything ultimately depends on the decisions of the Iranian people themselves.
Mojtaba Khamenei becomes the third supreme leader since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979. The announcement comes eight days after the elimination of his father, Ali Khamenei, who ruled Iran for more than three decades
Opposition outlet Iran International says Assembly of Experts selected Mojtaba Khamenei under pressure from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The International Atomic Energy Agency revealed the exact location where the uranium was stored. The material was enriched to 60%, close to the 90% required for a nuclear weapon. Assessments that it was being kept at the underground complex had previously been reported in Western media.
