Mojtaba Khamenei Breaks Silence as US-Israel Strikes Devastate Iranian Infrastructure

Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued a written message to the Iranian people on March 30, 2026, thanking them for their support in the war against the United States and Israel, exactly one month after US-Israeli strikes killed his father, Ali Khamenei, and set off the current conflict. The message marked one of only a handful of public communications from Mojtaba Khamenei since he assumed leadership, as state television reported he is still recovering from injuries sustained in the same February 28 airstrike that killed his father. US President Donald Trump said days earlier that Washington was in contact with a "high-ranking person" in Iran but explicitly stated it was not the supreme leader. „We have not heard from the son — we don't even know if he's alive.” — Donald Trump via N-tv The statement underscored the deep uncertainty surrounding Iran's leadership at a moment of acute military pressure, with Israeli and American strikes continuing to strike targets across the country. Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar announced Islamabad's readiness to host direct talks between Washington and Tehran in the coming days, offering a potential diplomatic channel amid the ongoing hostilities. „Pakistan will consider it an honor to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in the coming days in order to achieve a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the ongoing conflict.” — Ishaq Dar via N-tv

Israeli missiles hit Tehran research center and arms factory The Israeli military reported firing more than 120 rockets and cruise missiles at targets in Tehran over a 24-hour period, striking a facility for developing critical components for ballistic missiles, a research center of the Revolutionary Guards, and an arms factory. Iranian authorities separately reported that the latest wave of attacks targeted power supply infrastructure in the capital, causing outages across multiple districts of Tehran. The IAEA confirmed that Iran's Chondab heavy-water reactor, formerly known as the Arak reactor, was severely damaged by shelling and is no longer operational, citing satellite imagery and its own knowledge of the facility. The agency noted the plant contained no declared nuclear material at the time of the strike, which Iran reported on March 27. The BBC reported, citing analysts, that surveillance camera footage from the Iranian city of Lamerd likely showed a US precision missile of the PrSM type shortly before impact in an attack on a residential area on the first day of the war, in which Iranian authorities said at least 21 people died. The US Central Command declined to comment on that report.

Over 100,000 civilian sites damaged, UN peacekeeper killed in Lebanon The Red Crescent reported that more than 100,000 civilian facilities have been damaged or destroyed across Iran in the four weeks of US-Israeli strikes, with nearly 40,000 residential buildings and commercial units hit in Tehran alone. The organization also reported approximately 600 schools and nearly 300 health centers attacked during the same period, though it noted the figures cannot be independently verified. In a separate development, a UNIFIL peacekeeper was killed and another seriously injured when a projectile exploded at a UN position in southern Lebanon, with the origin of the projectile remaining unclear as investigations were initiated. The UN mission warned that no one serving for peace should lose their life. Fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia has intensified in southern Lebanon in the wake of the broader Iran conflict, repeatedly placing peacekeepers in the line of fire. Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen, which officially entered the war on Tehran's side on March 28, continued to fire drones and missiles at Israel, with the Israeli military reporting two drones intercepted near the port city of Eilat on the Red Sea. Iranian missile attacks near the southern Israeli city of Beersheba injured 11 people, according to the Israeli rescue service Magen David Adom.

Operation Epic Fury, the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran, began on February 28, 2026, with strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who had led Iran since 1989. His son Mojtaba Khamenei was appointed as the third Supreme Leader of Iran in March 2026. The conflict has drawn in regional actors, including the Houthi militia in Yemen, which had previously attacked Israeli and commercial shipping targets during the Gaza war that began in October 2023. Iran's nuclear program, including the Arak heavy-water reactor, had long been a central point of contention in international negotiations over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Rushdie doubts bombs can bring freedom, Bolton warns Europe Writer Salman Rushdie, who has lived under an Iranian death threat for decades, said he sympathizes with efforts to bring genuine freedom to Iranians but expressed doubt that such a goal could be achieved through external military force. He also said he does not believe the freedom of Iranians is part of US President Donald Trump's agenda, and described the Iranian regime as more resilient than many had assumed because of its willingness to use lethal force against its own population. „One thing is certain: it will not succeed by bombing them.” — Salman Rushdie via N-tv Former US National Security Adviser John Bolton took a sharply different view, urging European governments to recognize the conflict as directly relevant to their own security. Bolton argued that Iran's missiles have a longer range than previously understood and could reach nearly all of Europe, that the continent has repeatedly been targeted by Iranian-directed terrorism, and that rising oil prices tied to the conflict are already affecting European economies. „If the Europeans say Iran is not our war, then that allows Trump to say, well, Ukraine is not America's war.” — John Bolton via N-tv Bolton warned that such a posture would benefit Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, declared persona non grata by Beirut over alleged interference in the country's domestic politics, refused to leave the country in defiance of a Lebanese Foreign Ministry deadline, according to Iranian diplomatic sources cited by AFP.