Tehran (AFP) – Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on Friday the country had dealt its enemies a “dizzying blow” in the war with the US and Israel, as fresh blasts hit Tehran on the first day of the Persian New Year festival. Israel accused Tehran of an “attack on the holy sites” of Jerusalem, after a blast left a crater in the Old City a few hundred metres from the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Western Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Khamenei has not appeared in public since being named to succeed his father Ali Khamenei, who was killed in Israeli airstrikes at the start of a war that has engulfed the region, and has only issued written statements.
Iranians have “dealt him (the enemy) a dizzying blow so that he now starts uttering contradictory words and nonsense,” Khamenei said in a written message for Nowruz, the Persian New Year. “At the moment, due to the particular unity that has been created between you our compatriots — despite all the differences in religious, intellectual, cultural and political origins — the enemy has been defeated,” Khamenei said in the message. The statement of defiance came as Iranians marked a muted Nowruz with the war now approaching its fourth week. AFP journalists heard several blasts in Tehran on Friday, from the eastern and northern parts of the city.
In the Iranian capital’s markets, shoppers were out in force buying new clothes and gifts, although pavements were less packed than usual for this time of year, with many people having fled north, AFP correspondents said. Huge banners bearing images of Nowruz, which begins officially in the evening, have replaced portraits of the former leader Ali Khamenei, assassinated on the first day of the war on February 28 by Israel. Israel said it had confirmed that Ismaeil Ahmadi, the chief of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force, was “eliminated” in a strike earlier this week that also killed its top commander.
Elsewhere in Iran, the Israeli military also targeted a northern region around the Caspian Sea, a popular holiday destination that has so far been largely spared attacks. And in Jerusalem, the Israeli military blamed “Iranian missile fragments” for a blast that hit the Old City. The foreign ministry accused Iran of attacking the ancient city’s holy sites, saying it “reveals the madness of the Iranian regime.” It was not immediately clear if the missile had been intercepted or what its intended target was. On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated that an end to the fighting could be close, saying Iran was “being decimated” and that he saw the war “ending a lot faster than people think.”
The war has sent global energy markets into turmoil, with Iran all but closing the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for oil and gas tankers, and striking energy infrastructure across the Gulf. On Friday, drone attacks hit Kuwait’s giant Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery, causing a fire that was later brought under control, a day after a direct hit on Qatar’s vital Ras Laffan facility. US President Donald Trump renewed his attack on his NATO allies, branding them “cowards” for rebuffing his call to send military hardware to reopen Hormuz, which normally carries a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG).
US allies “don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a simple military maneuver that is the single reason for the high oil prices,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “So easy for them to do, with so little risk. COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!” Trump has veered between critiquing allies for not helping and insisting the United States needs no outside assistance. On Friday, the White House said the US military could “take out” Kharg Island whenever they wanted, as US media reported that up to 2,500 extra Marines are being deployed to the Middle East. Kharg, around 30 kilometres (19 miles) off the Iranian mainland, handles almost all of Iran’s crude exports. A US media report said Trump was mulling occupying or blockading the island to put pressure on the Iranian government.
Energy analysts and consumers are scrambling to count the cost of Iranian missiles hitting Qatar’s huge Ras Laffan natural gas complex on Thursday. The attack caused “extensive damage” that Qatar’s state energy company said could cost $20 billion a year in lost revenue and take five years to repair. That could lead to high energy prices worldwide that outlast the conflict, increasing inflation and lowering economic growth. Spain became the latest country to take action to cushion the economic impact of the war, announcing a five-billion-euro package including a VAT cut on petrol to slash pump prices.
The war, which has killed thousands and displaced millions, quickly spread to Lebanon, where the Israeli military has carried out regular bombardments in response to rocket fire on Israel by Iranian ally Hezbollah. Lebanon’s health ministry said the death toll from Israeli airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon as well as on the capital Beirut and its southern suburbs has surpassed 1,000.
© 2024 AFP
