The palace of the “Experts” gathered to choose Khamenei’s successor was targeted in Qom: a few hours later his son would be appointed. The Emirates consider entering the conflict and Trump lashes out against Spain
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
JERUSALEM – The votes will remain secret. The urn with the name indicated by the eighty-eight Experts remained under the rubbleperhaps even the officials who were counting the ballots, escaped the bombing i mujahid who had gathered to elect the new Supreme Leader, the successor to Ali Khameneieliminated by an Israeli bombing in the first hours of the war. It was Israeli pilots who destroyed the Assembly building in the sacred city of Qom. The wise men would carry out the subsequent voting via the Internet and — according to the site Iran International — they would have chosen Mojtaba, 56, Khamenei’s son: he was injured in the attack that killed his father.
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It seems difficult for the regime to fill that “power vacuum” that even Donald Trump complains about: “Most of the people we had in mind to replace the top management were killed.” He remains convinced that he can find someone, he would prefer “from within”, so he excludes Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last shah: “We haven’t taken him into consideration”. However – continues the president – «it is now too late to negotiate, they no longer have the ships, the planes, they are running out of missile launchers. Sooner or later they will lay down their weapons and ask for amnesty.” He gets angry with Spain for denying the bases to his “armada”: “We will cut off all trade”. The other Europeans are moving in part: France sends the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to the Mediterranean and with Great Britain sends forces to protect Cypruswhere a British base had been hit on Monday.
Cross attacks
The question of arsenals to be replenished also concerns the United States and its allies in the region. Trump claims that production will be increased, the Gulf countries fear that the defense systems to stop the Pasdaran launches will run out. So the United Arab Emirates – yesterday Dubai was again targeted, with explosions at the American consulate – are considering hitting Iranian missile bases, effectively entering the war. As Riyadh is also planning, after the two drones exploded on the American embassy and the attacks on the oil depots of the Saudi kingdom. In Riyadh – writes the Washington Post – the CIA station would also have been targeted.
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In the sights
The Americans and the Israelis have intensified the bombing of Tehran, the Merhabad airport was also hit, the columns of black smoke rising against the white snow-capped Alborz mountains. The ski season is the memory of a normality that no longer exists, thousands of Iranians are fleeing the capital, the highways clogged. Tsahal announced that it had destroyed a secret base used by scientists to develop some components of nuclear weapons. The Israeli special forces – local news reports reveal – would have moved inside Iran on clandestine missions.
The United Nations condemns the attack on the girls’ primary school in Minab, southern Iran, and warns that it could be a war crime. The regime does not want to show any concessions: “We are ready for a very long clash, we have not yet used our most advanced weapons”, announces the spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense, while its head – just appointed to replace the murdered minister – was eliminated yesterday in a raid.
Sirens rang out all day in Israel, the holiday of Purim was celebrated in masquerade in underground shelters. Trump still seems to hope to be able to declare “victory” within a few days. At the same time the State Department closes embassies in Riyadh and Kuwait and urges Americans to leave 14 countries in the region, including Egypt. Washington is organizing military flights for the stranded people. The airport in Dubai is gradually reopening, like that of Tel Aviv where, however, flights are leaving empty to pick up Israelis abroad.
The new fronts
The conflict risks spreading even further. Pakistan ominously reminded Iran that it is bound by a mutual defense pact with Saudi Arabia. As the Israelis continue their bombing of Lebanon and troops are penetrating deep across the border. The general staff wants to demonstrate that it has learned the lesson of the summer of 2006, when commanders hesitated to order the invasion, a generation of officers – analysts attacked – accustomed to being in the front row in front of computer screens rather than on the front line with the soldiers. Now 110,000 reservists have already been mobilized to reinforce the borders and avoid surprise assaults by Shiite militiamen armed by Iran.
