TEHRAN:
Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday his country would never surrender, as Iranian military unleashed a volley of hypersonic missiles at Israel on the sixth day of war between the longtime enemies.
The barrage of missiles came hours after Israel said it had destroyed Iran’s internal security headquarters in Tehran, and reported a new wave of attacks targeting missile systems and storage sites in the country’s west.
Khamenei – in power since 1989 and the final arbiter of all matters of state in Iran warned the United States against becoming involved in the conflict, after President Donald Trump appeared to flirt with the idea in recent days, calling for Tehran’s “unconditional surrender”.
“This nation will never surrender,” Khamenei said in a televised address, in which he called Trump’s ultimatum the other day as “unacceptable”. He said: “America should know that any military intervention will undoubtedly result in irreparable damage.”
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said earlier that air force jets had destroyed Iran’s internal security headquarters. He called the facility as “the main arm of repression”. A London-based watchdog said Iran was in the midst of a “near-total national internet blackout”.
Iran later announced heavier internet restrictions due to “the aggressor’s abuse of the country’s communication network for military purposes”, according to the Fars news agency. It first imposed internet curbs at the outset of Israel’s campaign last week.
Iran said that Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people, including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians. It has not issued an updated toll since Sunday. Since Friday, when the war began, at least 24 people have been killed in Israel and hundreds wounded, according to Netanyahu’s office.
Earlier, Israeli strikes destroyed two buildings making centrifuge components for Iran’s nuclear programme in Karaj, in Tehran, the International Atomic Energy Agency said. In another strike, “one building was hit where advanced centrifuge rotors were manufactured and tested”, it added.
Israel said its surprise air campaign was aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weaponsan ambition Tehran denies. Israel has maintained ambiguity regarding its own atomic activities, but the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) says it has 90 nuclear warheads.
Residential areas in both countries have suffered deadly strikes since the fighting broke out, and some Iranians have reported shortages in recent days. Foreign governments have scrambled to evacuate their citizens from both countries since the conflict began.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday urged Israel to end strikes on targets in Iran not linked to nuclear activities or ballistic missiles, his office said. Some Israelis stranded abroad since last week decided to return home on special flights.
