Tel Aviv: Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that top Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed in his country’s air strikes on the Islamic republic.
He said this at a news conference even as the West Asia crisis entered its 14th day, as reported by News18.
He also criticised Iran’s newly appointed supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, describing him as a “puppet of the Revolutionary Guards”. The leader cannot appear in public, Netanyahu said.
Khamenei has not been seen publicly since being selected as Iran’s new supreme leader. On Thursday, Iranian state television aired a statement said to be from him. There are reports that he was injured at the start of the war.
In the statement, the 56-year-old Iranian leader vowed to keep up attacks on Gulf Arab countries and use the effective closure of the strategic Strait of Hormuz as leverage against the United States and Israel.
Meanwhile, British tabloid The Sun has reported that Mojtaba Khamenei lost a leg in an attack – possibly the one that killed his father – and is in a coma. If this is correct then it raises serious questions on who is running affairs in Iran.
The Israeli PM also tried to reach out to the Iranian public during the briefing. The moment for a “new path of freedom” for Iran was approaching, Netanyahu said.
Israel stands with the Iranian people, he said, but stressed that the future ultimately depends on them.
“But at the end of the day, it depends on you. It is in your hands,” Netanyahu said.
