US President Donald Trump warned Iran against escalating its attacks in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, after Tehran issued threats following its acknowledgment of the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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“Iran just stated that they are going to hit very hard today, harder than they have ever hit before,” Trump wrote.
His comments came as tensions continued to rise in the wake of coordinated US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
On Sunday, Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf denounced the leaders of the United States and Israel as “filthy criminals,” warning they would face “devastating blows” over the continued attacks on the Islamic Republic.
“You have crossed our red line and must pay the price,” Qalibaf said in a televised address, becoming the highest-ranking Iranian official to appear publicly since the strikes began. “We will deliver such devastating blows that you yourselves will be driven to beg.”
Ali Khamenei dead, Iranian state media confirms
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in a large-scale assault on Iran carried out by Israel and the United States, casting uncertainty over the future of the Islamic Republic and heightening fears of regional instability.
Iranian state television and the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported the 86-year-old’s death early Sunday.
Trump had announced it hours earlier, saying it presented Iranians with their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country.
The announcements followed a coordinated US-Israeli air campaign targeting Iranian military and government facilities. According to Trump, the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue throughout the week or for as long as needed.
The strikes marked a dramatic escalation in US involvement in Iran, representing the second time in eight months that the Trump administration has launched attacks during negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Khamenei’s death after decades in power was widely expected to leave a major leadership vacuum, given the lack of a publicly identified successor and the supreme leader’s ultimate authority over key state decisions.
Read our live blog for full coverage of Saturday’s developments.
Additional sources • AP, AFP
