Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke by phone with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday and said the safety of Indian nationals and the uninterrupted transit of goods and energy remain India’s top priorities.
Anyone serving Iran’s regime is not immune from being attacked, an Israeli military spokesperson told a press conference for Persian-language media representatives on Thursday.
“Every individual, every figure, every institution, every organization, every group — anyone who is serving the regime — is not immune from attacks,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson referred to the recent Israeli drone attack on Basij and Law Enforcement checkpoints in Tehran, describing them as part of broader efforts to undermine the Islamic Republic's internal security apparatus.
“Every person who is serving them, whether in the Basij forces, the police, or the Revolutionary Guards, is certainly considered both a threat to Israel and to the people of Iran,” the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson said Israel achieved air superiority across Iran’s airspace within 24 hours of the strikes which began on Feb 28.
“Within 24 hours, air superiority across Iran’s entire airspace was achieved.”
So far more than 7,000 hours of operational flights have been carried out, the spokesperson said.
“The Israeli Air Force has carried out more than 4,200 strike sorties across Iran and attacked 3,400 targets, including 750 targets in Tehran. In total, more than 10,000 different types of munitions have been used in this operation.”
The spokesperson said more than two-thirds of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers have been destroyed and that most of Iran’s air defense capabilities are now out of action.
“Most of Iran’s air defense capabilities are now out of action and there is almost full freedom of action for air forces.”
The spokesperson said Iran has changed its missile launch strategy as its missile capabilities have weakened.
“Previously, a massive wave of ballistic missiles would be launched, but now the waves have been divided,” the Israeli military said. “Previously, tens of missiles would be launched in each wave, but now ten waves are carried out with one missile. In this way they want to show that they still have the capability.”
The spokesperson added that this is the reason for the intermittent sounding of warning sirens in Israel.
Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, the wife of Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, is alive and earlier reports claiming she had been killed were incorrect, the IRGC-affiliated Fars News reported Thursday.
The report came after questions were raised earlier in the day when the new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, did not mention his mother’s death in his first statement.
In the days following Khamenei’s killing, several state media outlets had reported that his wife had also been killed.
"The Iran National Soccer Team is welcome to The World Cup, but I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety," US President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Thursday.
Iran's sports minister said on Wednesday Team Melli will not participate in the 2026 World Cup after co-host the United States launched airstrikes alongside Israel that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and triggered a wider regional conflict.
“Our children are not safe and, fundamentally, such conditions for participation do not exist,” the minister said.
Two diplomats of the Islamic Republic in Denmark and Australia have applied for asylum, informed sources told Iran International.
Alireza Sohbati, a diplomat at the Iranian embassy in Copenhagen, and Mohammad Pournajaf, a diplomat at the Iranian embassy in Canberra, have submitted asylum requests.
Pournajaf had previously served as the chargé d'affaires of the Islamic Republic’s embassy in Australia.
In recent months, amid escalating political and social developments linked to the Iranian national uprising, other cases of Islamic Republic diplomats abandoning their posts and seeking asylum have also been reported.
Iran International had previously reported that Alireza Jeyrani Hakamabad, a senior diplomat at the Iranian mission to the UN Office in Geneva, had left his workplace and applied for asylum in Switzerland.
Similarly, Gholamreza Derikvand, the chargé d'affaires of the Islamic Republic’s embassy in Austria, applied for asylum in Switzerland after leaving his post.
US President Donald Trump recently called on Islamic Republic diplomats around the world to distance themselves from the government and apply for asylum.
Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued his first message on Thursday, calling for continued military resistance and saying the Strait of Hormuz should remain a tool of pressure, even as questions persist about his health and whereabouts.
The message was not delivered in person. Instead, it was read aloud by a state television anchor while a still photograph of Khamenei was displayed on screen, meaning that nearly two weeks after the conflict began, no video or audio recording of the new leader himself has been released.
