Ayatollah Ali Khamenei readies for violent end to Iran-Israel conflict

The war in Iran risks spiralling into a devastating regional conflict as White House officials said all options were on the table, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared ‘the battle ­begins’.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressing the crowd during his annual Nowruz speech, in Tehran. Picture: Iranian Supreme Leader’s Office / AFP

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The war in Iran risks spiralling into a devastating regional conflict after the country’s Supreme ­Leader issued a rallying call to his people and Donald Trump edged closer to green-lighting direct US strikes to destroy Tehran’s nuclear program once and for all.

As Israel continued to pound Iran’s nuclear sites and White House officials said all options were on the table, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared “the battle ­begins” and transferred key ­powers to his Revolutionary Guard Corps to ensure continuity of power if he was assassinated.

Earlier, in a flurry of social media posts, the US President called for Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”, and declared: “We now have ­complete and total control of the skies over Iran.”

Mr Trump, who had an 80-minute meeting with top advisers in the White House situation room on Wednesday AEST, said he was seeking a “real end” to the conflict, having previously dismissed calls for a ceasefire.

The President said “we know exactly where the so-called ­Supreme Leader is hiding” and that his patience with Khamenei was “wearing thin”. But he said no decision had been made to take out Khamenei “for now”.

The warning came as Israel’s military said more than 50 of its fighter jets had launched overnight strikes on weapons manufacturing sites and a facility used to make centrifuges in Tehran.

Despite damage to key facilities, experts believe America’s Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs, known as “bunker busters”, will be needed to destroy Iran’s deeply buried Fordow ­nuclear facility.

Israeli air defence systems are activated to intercept Iranian missiles over Tel Aviv. Picture: Menahem Kahana / AFP

Khamenei responded defiantly to the Israeli attacks and US ­warnings, declaring on X: “In the name of the noble Haidar, the ­battle begins.”

“Haidar” refers to Shia Islam’s first imam and successor to the prophet Mohammed.

The Supreme Leader, whose regime faces an existential threat, added on his English-language ­account: “We must give a strong response to the terrorist Zionist ­regime. We will show the Zionists no mercy.”

Khamenei, who has lost at least 14 of his top nuclear scientists and 16 of his military leaders to surgical Israeli strikes, reportedly transferred a “significant proportion” of his power to the Revolutionary Guards Supreme Council to ­ensure the continuation of the war effort if he was killed. “According to the IRGC regulations, the ­Supreme Council of the IRGC oversees the performance of the IRGC commander at the request of the leader,” the dissident website Iran International said.

The US has ordered at least 30 air-to-air refuellers to the region to support fleets of F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning fighters, as a second US carrier strike group steams towards the Middle East from the South China Sea.

It is weighing the prospect of ­retaliatory strikes by Iran on US military sites in the Middle East if it enters the conflict. There are also fears US involvement could unleash waves of cyber attacks, ­reactivate Iranian proxies in Yemen and Lebanon, and unleash a new era of Islamic terrorism.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Iran had launched more than 400 missiles and hundreds of drones at ­Israel since the Jewish state launched strikes on its enemy last Friday.

Iran claimed it launched ­Fattah-1 hypersonic missiles at ­Israel before dawn, local time, on Wednesday, saying the weapons were “repeatedly shaking the shelters” in Tel Aviv.

Twenty-four Israelis have been killed and 800 wounded, while at least 224 people have been killed in Iran since the strikes began, ­according to Iranian authorities.

US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters while flying back to Washington DC from the G7 summit in Canada. Picture: AFP

The exiled son of Iran’s last shah, Reza Pahlavi, said the ­Islamic Republic was collapsing and called on Iranians to rise up.

The US-based dissident said a transitional plan was in place and urged Iran’s military not to defend the country’s “decaying” system.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Israel was doing the “dirty work” for other countries by striking at Iran’s nuclear sites.

“I can only say I have the ­greatest respect for the fact that the Israeli army and the Israeli government had the courage to do this,” Mr Merz told German media at the G7 summit.

After days of calling for de-­escalation by both Iran and Israel, Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong shifted her language, declaring Tehran “must come to the table” and end its nuclear ­program.

“That is the fastest way out of danger for the globe, for the region, and for the Iranian people,” Senator Wong said.

US Vice President JD Vance added to mounting speculation the America could join Israel’s war effort, saying Mr Trump “may ­decide he needs to take further ­action to end Iranian enrichment”.

“And of course, people are right to be worried about foreign entanglement after the last 25 years of idiotic foreign policy,” Mr Vance said. “But I believe the president has earned some trust on this issue.”

Democratic congressman John Fetterman urged the administration to take out Khamenei and use its bunker-buster bombs to ­destroy the Fordow uranium-­enrichment facility.

“Take this facility out,” Mr Fetterman told Fox News.

“Use the B-2 and those gigantic bunker buster ones and partner up with Israel.”

Shiite Muslim women from the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen hold Iranian flags as they shout slogans during an anti-Israel protest in Islamabad. Picture: AFP

Republican senator Lindsey Graham said on Fox News that Mr Trump should be “all-in on helping Israel eliminate the ­nuclear threat”. “If we need to provide bombs to Israel, provide bombs,” Mr Graham said. “If we need to fly planes with Israel, do joint operations. But here is the bigger question: wouldn’t the world be better off if the ayatollahs went away and were replaced with something better?”

The prospect of US intervention in the war has divided Mr Trump’s MAGA base, after the President’s repeated vows to end US involvement in “forever wars”.

“Anyone slobbering for the US to become fully involved in the ­Israel-Iran war is not America First-MAGA,” said staunch Trump ally, Republican senator Marjorie Taylor Greene.

“Real America First/MAGA wants world peace for all people and doesn’t want our military killed and forever injured physically and mentally … I don’t want to see Israel bombed or Iran bombed or Gaza bombed.”

She said that taking this position was not anti-Semitic but was “rational, sane, and loving toward all people”.

Mr Trump has repeatedly said that Iran “cannot have a nuclear power”, and earlier posted a message on Truth Social that he received from the US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. It said the US President had been spared by God from assassination in last year’s election campaign “to be the most consequential president in a century – maybe ever”.

“The decisions on your shoulders I would not want to be made by anyone else,” the message said.

“You have many voices speaking to you Sir, but there is only ONE voice that matters. HIS voice. I trust your instincts. No president in my lifetime has been in a position like yours. Not since Truman in 1945.”