China’s foreign ministry said Thursday it has maintained communication with Iran, Israel, and Oman amid the ongoing conflict, and called on all parties to de-escalate tensions as soon as possible.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will attend a special session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul on Saturday, a Turkish foreign ministry source told Reuters, as the conflict with Israel escalates.
The 51st OIC Council of Foreign Ministers is expected to focus on Israel’s latest attacks, including Thursday’s strike on Iran’s Khondab nuclear site in Arak.
Israel said the targeted heavy-water reactor could produce weapons-grade plutonium. Turkey has condemned the attacks as illegal and backed Iran’s right to defend itself.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei appointed Mohammad Karami as the new commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ ground forces, state media reported Thursday.
Karami previously led the Quds Headquarters of the IRGC Ground Forces in southeastern Iran.
Hezbollah issued a statement Thursday backing Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, calling threats by US and Israeli officials to kill him “foolish and reckless and will have disastrous consequences.”
“Merely uttering them is an offense to hundreds of millions of believers and those connected to Islam, and it is utterly reprehensible,” the group said. “Today, we are more determined and united around him.”
Hezbollah has not entered the fighting since Israeli forces began striking inside Iran on Friday. While the group condemned the attacks, it signaled to Beirut it would not intervene.
