WORLD NEWS – U.S. attacks Iran during Ramadan, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
By Renae Hefty, Staff Writer and Wendy Thompson, Editor
On Saturday, President Donald Trump declared war on Iran, vowing “major combat operations” would destroy the Iran military and their nuclear program. The strikes occurred in Tehran’s Pasteur district killing the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran has confirmed. The State Department has authorized non-emergency US embassy personnel to leave Israel, in the midst of U.S. and Iran negotiations over Iran’s nuclear development program. Other countries, including Australia, have also told their embassy personnel to leave Israel. The attack occurred during Ramadan, the holy month for Muslims.
U.S. special envoys to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, led the negotiations on Thursday in Geneva, Switzerland. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were concerned that Iran is rebuilding it’s nuclear development program, which was mildly crippled after U.S. strikes to it’s facilities in June. Trump had said he was considering missile strikes to prevent this, and that he was open to diplomacy. The exact amount and nature of Iran’s weapons is unknown.
Reportedly, experts doubted that negotiations would come to an agreement and believed that a conflict was imminent. Iranian government officials said they didn’t think the disagreement would come to that, while Vice President J.D. Vance also downplayed the possibility of a catastrophic war that would impact other nations in the Middle East, however it has. The U.S. joined Israel’s attack on Iran overnight on Friday.
In June, the U.S. attacked Tehran, which responded by launching missiles at the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East. Though the missiles were intercepted, military experts concluded that the job remained unfinished. Retired U.S. Army Lt Gen. H.R. McMaster said he believes the approaching U.S. military campaign will be “extensive,” not just a strike on specific facilities.
