Iranian state TV has reported that the spokesman for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Ali Mohammad Naini, was killed in US and Israeli strikes. The Guards announced on their Sepah News website that Naini "was martyred in the criminal cowardly terrorist attack by the American-Zionist side at dawn." This marks another high-level casualty in the conflict, though there has been no immediate confirmation from Israel or the US.
US President Donald Trump has drawn criticism after comparing US strikes on Iran to Japan's 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor during a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Trump allegedly stated, "You believe in surprise, I think much more so than us." Takaichi appeared visibly uncomfortable during the exchange, shifting in her seat as Trump invoked the attack that brought the US into World War II. Reactions in Tokyo have been mixed, with some viewing it as a joke and others expressing unease given the historical context.
Nowruz, the Persian New Year, begins on Friday afternoon with the start of spring in the northern hemisphere, but the festival remains overshadowed by war and conflict. Traditionally, people decorate a table with seven symbolic items starting with the letter "S" in Persian, but cities will be plunged into gloom, shops will close, and metropolis lights will be switched off while muffled explosions echo in the distance and fighter jets roar overhead.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait both reported Iranian missile attacks early on Friday morning, with air defenses in action in both countries. Saudi Arabia's defense ministry said it had intercepted a drone in the east of the country, while Bahrain's interior ministry said air raid sirens were activated. In Lebanon, President Joseph Aoun reiterated calls for "a full truce" between Hezbollah and Israel, to "disarm" the Iran-backed Islamist group and for "direct negotiations" with Israel.
The Israeli military said early on Friday that it was continuing to strike unspecified "infrastructure" in the Iranian capital Tehran, as Iranians prepared to mark Nowruz. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu purportedly claimed that "Iran is weaker than ever" and unable to produce ballistic missiles or enrich uranium after three weeks of war. Netanyahu pledged that attacks on Iran would continue "for as long as necessary," but agreed to refrain from further strikes on the key South Pars gas field at the request of US President Donald Trump.
Source: www.dw.com