A FORMER commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) says Iran knows where Benjamin Netanyahu convenes his meetings, a clear sign that the IRGC has the intelligence to target the head of the Israeli regime.
‘We know the locations of Netanyahu’s meetings, and our intelligence database has been completed,’ Yahya Rahim-Safavi said.
The comments came three days after Israel and the United States assassinated Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in an airstrike targeting his office in central Tehran.
Safavi, who has served for years as a senior military advisor to the late Leader, said Iran’s intelligence system is fully aware of the activities and locations controlled by the US and Israel around Iran.
Commenting on why the US and Israel started a new war against Iran, following a brief Israeli aggression that ended in a ceasefire in June 2025, he said that US President Donald Trump has been dragged into war by Netanyahu and his false information and assessments about Iran’s military power.
‘My political analysis is that Trump has become a tool in Netanyahu’s hands, meaning he is sacrificing the US for the Israeli regime … they thought the Islamic Republic of Iran had weakened after the 12-day war, while we have become tens of times stronger,’ said the general.
Safavi said Iran was aware of the deceitful tactics of the US and Israel and that they might launch fresh attacks on Iran while pretending to follow the path of diplomacy.
While Iran was committed to negotiations to solve issues related to its nuclear programme, he said, it simultaneously multiplied its defensive power and its offensive missile and drone capabilities by dozens of times compared to the June war.
The former IRGC chief said Iran had evacuated its missile centres before the current round of attacks, adding that the US and Israel have been hitting empty locations in their airstrikes in the past days.
Safavi said Iran’s political and military system is well-structured and has the capability for regeneration, flexibility, and reconstruction. Nothing would happen to the system with the death of individuals, he said.
He said that a successor to Ayatollah Khamenei will soon be picked by Iran’s Assembly of Experts.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran has denied any involvement in military strikes against the territory or ports of the Sultanate of Oman, following reports of drone attacks at the Duqm and Salalah ports.
In a statement released via its Communications Centre, the General Staff categorically rejected claims of aggression against its ‘friend and neighbour,’ Oman. The denial comes as regional energy infrastructure reportedly faces a wave of unexplained aerial strikes.
According to the Oman News Agency, a fuel tank at the Duqm commercial port was struck by several unmanned aircraft on Tuesday.
While authorities confirmed the damage was contained with no casualties, it marked the second such incident at the port this week; two drones targeted the facility on Sunday, leaving one worker injured.
Further north, the Omani government reported that two additional drones were intercepted over the Dhofar Governorate on Tuesday, while a third crashed near the port of Salalah.
The Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, Iran’s primary joint military command, issued a response, characterising the attacks on Muslim nations as a ‘desperate act’ by the US and Israel to tarnish Iran’s image.
‘The aggressor Zionists and Americans … are seeking to attack diplomatic centres and the interests of Muslim countries in the region with the aim of blaming the Islamic Republic of Iran,’ the Headquarters stated.
It said Iran’s military operations are strictly disciplined. ‘We explicitly declare that the offensive of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran is exclusively directed against the Zionist regime and the locations of the criminal US aggressor army and their military and security infrastructure and interests.’
The Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters said the strikes on neutral neighbours were designed to help the US and Israel escape their current impasse.
On Monday, Qatar halted production of liquefied natural gas (LNG), representing roughly 20% of global supply, while Saudi Arabia said it suspended operations at its largest domestic refinery.
In the United Arab Emirates, the Abu Dhabi government confirmed a fire at the Musaffah fuel tank terminal following a drone strike on Monday, though operations were reportedly not impacted.
Iran maintains that it holds no hostility toward neighbouring Muslim countries and remains committed to the security of the region. It says the retaliatory attacks are only directed against US and Israeli assets in the region.
A fresh wave of Iranian retaliatory strikes has crippled a major US air base in Bahrain, with strikes destroying command centres as Iranian forces continue launching firm response to the US-Israeli aggression.
‘Ten key and strategic command points and equipment complexes of the American terrorist forces at the “Sheikh Isa Air Base” in Bahrain were heavily hit by Iranian projectiles,’ The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said in a statement on the 15th wave of operation ‘True Promise 4’.
The targets destroyed included the air control command centre of the American terrorist forces, aircraft fuel depots, and the building housing high-ranking American commanders, according to the statement.
Earlier in the day, the IRGC announced that its naval forces launched a large-scale drone and missile operation on the US air base in the Sheikh Isa area of Bahrain as part of the fourteenth wave of the operation.
The IRGC detailed the scale of the attack, reporting that 20 drones and 3 missiles struck their intended targets with precision.
‘The main command building and headquarters of the US air base were destroyed, and its fuel depots were set ablaze, with flames and smoke drawing everyone’s attention,’ the statement added.
‘All infrastructure of this base has been rendered inoperative, a humanitarian crisis has occurred, and the American terrorist forces have fled from this base,’ the IRGC added.
Simultaneously, Iran’s Army announced it has joined the offensive in force. The Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in its eighth communique, reported conducting drone and missile offensive operations since dawn against enemy positions and forces.
‘From this morning, the Navy of the Army targeted enemy vessels and bases in the region with surface-to-surface missiles,’ the Army said in a Tuesday statement.
It further revealed the expansive scope of the operation: ‘Combat drones of the ground, air, and naval forces from various parts of the country targeted military zones of the Zionist regime in the occupied territories and bases of American forces in Al Udeid, Qatar.’
The Army emphasised that its operations are ongoing. ‘Offensive and defensive operations against the aggressor enemy continue with full force,’ the communique stated.
These retaliatory strikes demonstrate coordinated action between the IRGC and the regular army against US and Israeli assets across the region.
The attacks come in response to an unprovoked war of aggression initiated by the United States and Israel against the Islamic Republic over the weekend.
Since then, Iran’s military has been conducting sustained retaliatory operations against American military installations in regional countries and targets within the Israeli-occupied territories.
The Israeli regime has detained two CNN journalists reporting on the damage caused by Iranian drone and missile strikes against Israeli targets.
According to the Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS), reporter Emrah Cakmak of CNN Turk and cameraman Halil Kahraman, who ‘were in Tel Aviv to follow the news, have been detained’ by the Israeli regime’s forces.
Burhanettin Duran, Chief of Communications for the Turkish government, condemned Israel over its ‘attacks on the press.’
He wrote in a post published on X: ‘We are making the necessary efforts for the immediate release of our journalist colleagues and are following the matter with sensitivity.’
TGS stated that the journalists had travelled to Israel specifically to report on the Iran strikes and provide updates to audiences in Turkey.
TGS further said: ‘Blocking journalists who are responsible for informing the public, and failing to protect journalists in war zones, is a violation of press freedom.’
It demanded Israel release ‘our colleagues’.
Correspondent Çakmak and cameraman Kahraman were taken into custody while reporting outside Israel’s Ministry of Military Affairs, a key building in central Tel Aviv.
The live feed was abruptly cut as Israeli military personnel approached the crew and halted the broadcast.
The incident took place shortly after Iranian armed forces launched a missile attack targeting Tel Aviv.
As the situation unfolded, the CNN Turk team went live from the area near the ministry to report on developments on the ground.
During the broadcast, the crew was describing the immediate aftermath of the strike, including scenes of Israelis moving toward shelters.
It was at the moment that the Israeli military intervened and stopped the transmission.
The crew had also been relaying updates about previous Iranian missile strikes and their impact in Tel Aviv when the intervention occurred.
The Israeli regime has provided no information regarding the whereabouts of the crew or the duration of their custody.
Iran’s strikes against Israeli targets in the occupied lands began immediately after the regime and the US launched their military aggression against Iran on Saturday.
A spokesman for the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says more than 650 US military personnel have been killed and wounded within the first two days of Iran’s retaliatory Operation True Promise 4 by Iranian Armed Forces against US military installations and warships across West Asia.
‘In the first two days of the war, 650 American troops were killed and wounded,’ Brigadier General Ali Mohammad Naeini stated on Tuesday.
He emphasised that it was natural for the US military to deny or conceal the casualties; nevertheless, Iranian intelligence as well as all field reports confirm the toll.
He said that the Iranian strikes, which included missile and drone attacks, against US naval assets and military headquarters in Bahrain, forced the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier to flee towards the southern Indian Ocean.
He highlighted that Iranian forces have also managed to inflict heavy losses on US military facilities in the Persian Gulf region.
The spokesman said Iranian missiles and drones had repeatedly hit the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.