Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has rejected proposals for reducing tensions with the United States, while asserting that Tehran must defeat America and Israel.
The proposals for reducing tensions or for a ceasefire were conveyed to Tehran by two intermediary countries, Reuters news agency cited a senior Iranian official as saying on Tuesday.
The official further said that in his first foreign policy session, the Supreme Leader’s had taken a “very tough and serious” stance on revenge against the US and Israel. However, it was not clear whether Khamenei attended the session in person. Track live updates on the Iran-US conflict here
Israel says it killed chief of Iran Revolutionary Guards’ Basij force
Meanwhile, Israel on Tuesday said it had killed the head of the Basij force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, and also said that Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani had been targeted in a strike.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz in a statement said both Iranian leaders were “eliminated last night” The Israeli military had earlier said it killed Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani in a strike on Monday. “During internal protests in Iran, particularly in recent periods as demonstrations intensified, Basij forces under Soleimani’s command led the main repression operations, employing severe violence, widespread arrests and the use of force against civilian demonstrators,” the IDF said in a statement.
While Iran did not immediately acknowledge or address the claim regarding Soleimani, it said a message from Larijani’s office would be published. Shortly after, a handwritten note by Larijani to commemorate the Iranian sailors who had died in a US strike and whose funeral is to take place on Tuesday, was published on the security chief’s social media.
Meanwhile, Iran has continued retaliatory strikes on its Gulf neighbours, also targeting energy infrastructure. It struck an oil facility in Fujairah, a UAE emirate on the country’s east coast
