Tehran: After Israel and the US launched joint daylight strikes on Tehran on Saturday, the obvious question was about the whereabouts of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
According to Israel’s public broadcaster, Iran’s Supreme Leader was among the targets of the strikes.
“Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian were among the targets of the attack,” the state broadcaster reported.
One of the first reported impacts occurred near Khamenei’s offices in central Tehran.
According to Reuters, the 86-year-old leader was not in Tehran at the time of strikes, and had been shifted to a secure location.
President Pezeshkian is alive, Iranian state news agency IRNA reported, citing a source close to the presidency.
“President Pezeshkian is in good health,” IRNA said in a post on Telegram, shortly after the strikes.
The ripple effects of the Iran-Israel conflict were felt across the Gulf region.
Explosions were heard in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the UAE, Doha in Qatar, and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. American troops are present in all these Middle East cities.
The UAE Air Force and US Air Force share the Al Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi, while Jebel Ali Port in Dubai is the US Navy’s largest port of call in the Middle East that regularly hosts American aircraft carriers and other vessels.
Emergency sirens were also sounded in Bahrain after a missile threat targeting the headquarters of US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, according to the Gulf country’s Interior ministry.
