The Middle East appeared to edge away from the brink of regional war as Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, refrained from directly threatening Israel in his first remarks since the weekend’s attacks.
The Shia cleric, 85, met the families of four Iranians who were killed during the airstrikes.
Despite satellite imagery suggesting significant damage to Iranian military infrastructure, he offered an equivocal response as Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, announced his country had “achieved all its objectives”.
The Israeli military action, which included strikes by warplanes, severely damaged Iran’s air defence capabilities
AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Khamenei said it was up to “officials” to “assess and precisely apprehend what needs to be done”. But he also added: “Zionists are making a miscalculation with respect to Iran … we need to make them understand these things.”
In Iran there has been a concerted