Trump Seeks Role in Selecting Khamenei Successor

Tehran, Jerusalem: Iran launched more missiles at Israel and US bases as the war in the Middle East enters a sixth day. The war has escalated each day, affecting an additional 14 countries across the Middle East and beyond. On Thursday, Azerbaijan accused Iran of attacking it with drones though Tehran denied that.Israel announced multiple incoming attacks early on Thursday and said it was intercepting the missiles. An Iranian state-owned newspaper called Iran reported bombings at a police station and a gym in Tehran as residents shuttled to grocery stores, pharmacies and gas stations to buy supplies and fill their tanks. Across the capital, metro stations were less crowded than before the war, although trains continued running. Authorities said they were equipping dozens of subway stations to serve as bomb shelters, as they did during the 12-day war last June.Iran says 4 health workers killed and 11 hospitals damaged by US-Israeli strikes. Iran has fired more than 500 ballistic and cruise missiles, and 2,000 drones since the start of the conflict. Mobile phone users in Dubai received emergency alert (not sirens ring) warning of potential missile threats.Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he needs to be personally involved in selecting Iran’s next leader. “Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” Trump said.”I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy in Venezuela,” Trump said.The Israeli military said it began new strikes against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. The war has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 100 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those countries. Six US troops have been killed.Fewer commercial flights were cancelled Thursday in the Middle East despite continued military strikes, with more than 100 flights taking off from the United Arab Emirates, according to a specialist data firm.Another 60 flights left Oman’s capital Muscat.However, no flights left the airports in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.Cirium said that the 43.1 percent of flights across the region were cancelled on Thursday.That is down from 61 percent on Wednesday, and more than 65 percent between Sunday and Tuesday.More tankers came under attack in Gulf waters on Thursday. A Bahamas-flagged crude oil tanker was targeted by an Iranian remote-controlled boat laden with explosives while anchored near Iraq’s Khor al Zubair port, according to initial assessments. A second tanker at anchor off Kuwait was taking on water and spilling oil after a large explosion on its port side.Nine vessels have come under attack since the conflict broke out between the US, Israel and Iran on Saturday. Iran launched a wave of missiles at Israel early on Thursday and also sent drones into Azerbaijan, injuring four people.The escalation comes after a motion to halt the US attacks was blocked in Washington and as the son of Iran’s slain supreme leader emerged as a frontrunner to succeed him, suggesting Tehran was not about to buckle under the pressure.Around 200 ships, including oil and liquefied natural gas tankers as well as cargo ships, remained at anchor in open waters off the coast of major Gulf producers, according to estimates based on ship-tracking data from the MarineTraffic platform.Hundreds of other vessels remained outside the Strait of Hormuz unable to reach ports, shipping data showed. The waterway is a key artery for around a fifth of the world’s oil and LNG supply.Sri Lanka evacuated 208 crew members of an Iranian navy vessel on Thursday, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said, a day after a US submarine struck and sank another Iranian frigate.He said Sri Lanka’s navy will also take over the second vessel and shift it to the northeastern port of Trincomalee for safe keeping amid fears that could be target for attack.



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