At least 555 people have been killed in ongoing US-Israeli strikes across Iran, the Iranian Red Crescent Society reported on Monday The announcement comes amid a third day of intensive attacks that began on Saturday with a joint operation that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
The air campaign has struck more than 1,000 targets so far, including Iranian warships, according to officials Recent attacks have been reported in southern Iran’s Fars province and in the capital, Tehran In response, Iran has launched counterstrikes on Israel and United States assets in the Middle East
As the conflict intensifies, a key justification for the initial strikes has been challenged. On Sunday, Trump administration officials acknowledged in closed-door briefings with congressional staff that there was no intelligence suggesting Iran was planning to attack US forces first This appears to contradict earlier public statements that the strikes were launched partly due to indicators of a potential pre-emptive attack by Iran
Coinciding with the military operations, Iran has been plunged into a near-total internet blackout. Internet monitoring groups reported that connectivity dropped to approximately 1% of ordinary levels, a measure described as limiting civic engagement and the flow of information at a critical time
Mohsin Rana
