*Firebrand Former Iranian President Ahmadinejad Reportedly Killed In Airstrikes
*Despite Everything, Our Military Capability Intact -Iranian Foreign Minister
*8 Israelis Killed, Many Persons Under Rubble As Iranian Missile Hits Target
Donald Trump said today that Iran’s new leadership wants to talk to him and that he has agreed, according to an interview with The Atlantic.
“They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them.
“They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long,” Trump said in an interview from his Florida residence, the magazine reported.
The President added that some of the Iranians involved in the previous negotiations were no longer alive.
“Most of those people are gone,” he said. “Some of the people we were dealing with are gone, because that was a big—that was a big hit.”
…Says 48 Leaders Killed In Strikes, Operation ‘Moving Along Rapidly’
Trump told Fox News, also today, that 48 Iranian leaders have been killed in US and Israeli strikes.
“It’s moving along. It’s moving along rapidly. This has been this way for 47 years,” he is quoted as saying in an interview with Fox News.
“It’s moving along rapidly. Nobody can believe the success we’re having, 48 leaders are gone in one shot. And it’s moving along rapidly.”
Trump also told CNBC’s Joe Kernen that US military operations in Iran are “ahead of schedule.”
Iran’s Military Capability Intact – Foreign Minister
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said today that despite the attacks on his country, “nothing has changed in terms of … military capability.’
He told ABC’s This Week that in only a few hours after Iran was struck, Tehran retaliated against Israeli targets and American bases “and we have continued to do so. So, our military is in place. They are capable enough to defend our country.”
When asked whether a diplomatic deal with the Trump administration was still possible, he said: “We negotiated with the United States twice in the past 12 months. And in both cases, they attacked us in the middle of negotiation. And that has become a very bitter experience for us.”
He added: “A deal was at our reach, and we left Geneva happily with the understanding that we can reach a deal next time we meet.”
Deadly Iranian Missile Attack In Israel’s Beit Shemesh Kills 8
There have been reports of an Iranian missile hitting a residential neighbourhood in central Israel’s Beit Shemesh area.
Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) rescue service said at least eight people were killed in a strike there. In an update, the emergency rescue service said: “Additional MDA teams are treating and evacuating 28 casualties to hospital including: 2 in serious condition, 2 in moderate condition, and 24 in mild condition.”
Workers are currently searching for people feared to be trapped under the rubble.
Iran’s Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Reportedly Killed In Strikes
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the firebrand former Iranian President, who gained international notoriety by calling for Israel’s erasure and denying the Holocaust, appears to have been killed in Saturday’s military strikes, according to local media.
Several Iranian outlets ran reports confirming Ahmadinejad’s death today after it had initially been reported as confirmed by ILNA, a semi-official news agency.
ILNA later retreated somewhat from its original report in a later post that was headlined “Is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad martyred?”
The later report cited an unnamed source who the agency said had denied Ahmadinejad’s death “without providing further information”.
The original report, which ILNA said was based on “informed sources”, said the former President had been killed in strikes on his home in the Narmak district of Tehran.
The report was picked up by the websites of several Iranian newspapers, including Shargh and Etemad, before the agency qualified it with a question mark.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Structures hit by Iranian missiles.
