Iran launches deadly missile attacks on Israel, Gulf states as endless wars

The head of Iran’s powerful judiciary, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, said on Wednesday that while Israel is killing an increasing number of high-ranking people in Tehran, there is no “disruption of the will of the people, the administration of the country, or the administration of the media.”

He admitted that “a number of our people,” including commanders, “were martyred,” but said that even under these circumstances, the country is still sustainable.

An official in Iran’s western province of Lorestan said on Wednesday that seven people were killed and 56 others were injured in US-Israeli strikes in “populated areas of Dorud County.”

Justice officials earlier said the attack hit the region, killing and injuring civilians and law enforcement personnel.

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that Iran’s Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib was killed in an overnight strike in Tehran.

Katz warned of more “significant surprises” to come on Wednesday, in many forums, indicating a possible increase in operations against Iran and the Hezbollah proxy group in Lebanon.

He said on Tuesday that Israeli officials had authorized the administration to target any Iranian identified by intelligence without obtaining approval from the leadership.

“The intensity of the attacks on Iran is increasing,” Katz said.

Israeli strikes in central Beirut killed at least 12 people on Wednesday morning, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said, adding that the strikes hit the areas of Basta and Zuqaq al-Blat in central Beirut.

The strike also hit a residential building in Bachoura, central Beirut, and flattened it before dawn, the Associated Press said.

Israeli strikes targeting central Beirut have become more common in recent days, with or without warning. The attack struck far from the southern areas of the city, where the army issued evacuation orders at the beginning of the war with Hezbollah.

Lebanese officials put the death toll from Israel’s escalating attacks on the country at more than 900 on Wednesday, taking into account recent strikes in Beirut. More than a million people have been displaced in the country, or about one-sixth of the total population, according to Lebanese officials.

CBS/AP

The Saudi Foreign Ministry said the kingdom will hold a consultation meeting on Wednesday of the foreign ministers of several Arab and Muslim countries, “with the aim of achieving more consultation and communication on ways to support regional security and stability.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey said that the Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan will attend a meeting to discuss what is happening in the region, following Ankara’s announcement that Fidan will start a regional tour aimed at ending the war in Iran.

About 90 ships, including an oil tanker, have crossed the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the war with Iran. Maritime and commercial data platforms report that they are still shipping millions of barrels of oil at a time when it claims to have blocked a vital waterway for US and allied vessels.

Analysts say Iranian oil export prices remain stable. Many of the ships that have passed through the Strait are called “dark lanes” to evade Western sanctions and may have ties to Iran.

Recently, ships with ties to India and Pakistan have also successfully passed the spacecraft as the governments intensify negotiations.

Two people were killed near Tel Aviv overnight as debris from an Iranian missile interception fell on homes. Israel’s emergency agency Magen David Adom said police reported multiple impact areas around the city, and that among the rubble of a building in the Ramat Gan area, there were “two unconscious, pulseless and non-breathing people, with severe injuries to their bodies.”

CBS News national security correspondent Charlie D’Agata says Iran’s latest retaliatory attack on Israel includes cluster bombs. Designed to bypass Israel’s multi-layered air defense systems, they released dozens of small bombs into the air, which looked like a comet as they circled the Tel Aviv night sky before raining indiscriminately across the city.

Defense officials told CBS News that if it weren’t for Israel’s air defense and early warning systems, the death toll would have been much higher.

So far 14 people have been killed in Iran’s attacks on Israel, and two more have died from medical conditions related to the strikes.

The US military’s Central Command wrote on social media that the US military “successfully used 5,000 deep penetration weapons against Iran’s missile strongholds on the Iranian coast near the Strait of Hormuz” on Tuesday.

CENTCOM said the Iranian anti-ship missiles targeting cruise ship sites “put foreign exports at risk in this crisis.”

Iran has nearly shut down a key oil shipping route to international oil traffic since the war began by targeting commercial shipping, but that attack relies on air and naval drones at least as much as it does on missiles.