US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth says Iran’s new supreme leader “is wounded and likely disfigured.” Hegseth spoke Friday, a day after supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei released a written statement vowing to continue the war. It was Khamenei’s first statement since he assumed Iran’s top office after the death of his father in an Israeli strike. A large explosion rocked an area of Iran’s capital where thousands had gathered on Friday for the annual state-organised Quds Day to support the Palestinians and call for Israel’s demise. Israel had earlier warned that it would target the area in central Tehran.

 

There were no immediate reports of casualties. But the decision to proceed with the mass demonstrations, and Israel’s threat to target the area, underscored the fierce determination on both sides nearly two weeks into a war that has rattled the global economy and shows no sign of letting up. US President Donald Trump posted a new threat to Iran’s leaders Friday on his Truth Social website, saying: “They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them,” Trump wrote. “What a great honour it is to do so!” Thousands of people took to the streets in Tehran on Friday, chanting ‘death to Israel’ and ‘death to America.’ US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said more than 15,000 enemy targets have been struck. Iran has continued to launch widespread daily missile and drone attacks on Israel and neighbouring Gulf states, and has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil passes, even as US and Israeli warplanes pummel military and other targets across Iran.

 

With growing global concerns about a possible energy crisis and no end to the war in sight, the price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, remained over USD 100 per barrel. Brent prices have spiked as high as about USD 120 per barrel and are about 40 per cent higher than when Israel and the United States launched the war on February 28. In a social media post hours earlier, US President Donald Trump had said “watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today,” while claiming that Iran’s military had been decimated and that its leaders had been “wiped from the face of the earth.” The US military meanwhile said that four of six crew members of an American KC-135 refuelling plane that went down in Iraq had been found dead and that recovery efforts were ongoing to find the other two. US Central Command said that the crash wasn’t related to friendly or hostile fire, and that two aircraft were involved, including one that landed safely.

 

The KC-135 is the fourth publicly acknowledged aircraft to crash as part of the US military’s operations against Iran. Last week, three American fighter jets were mistakenly downed by friendly Kuwaiti fire. Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Thursday vowed to continue the attacks and keep the strait closed in his first public statement since succeeding his father, who was killed in the opening day of the war. Khamenei has not been seen in public since taking over leadership, and the written statement was read by a state TV anchor.

 

The explosion rocked the Ferdowsi Square area midday, where thousands had gathered for an annual rally organised by the Government in which they chanted “death to Israel” and “death to America.” Israel had issued a warning on a Farsi-language X account for people to clear the area shortly before the blast. But few Iranians would have seen it, as authorities have almost completely shut down the Internet since the start of the war. Footage from the scene showed people chanting “God is greatest,” as smoke rose in the area. Israel did not say what it was targeting, but Iranian leaders often attend the annual rallies.

 

Israel had earlier announced another wave of strikes in Iran targeting infrastructure, and said its air force had hit more than 200 targets in the last 24 hours, including missile launchers, defence systems and weapons production sites. Iran has been attacking oil and other infrastructure around the Gulf region, and on Friday Saudi Arabia that it had downed nearly 50 drones sent in multiple waves. In Oman, two people were killed when two drones crashed in an industrial area in the region of Sohar, the Oman News Agency reported. Sirens also sounded in Bahrain warning of incoming fire, and black smoke billowed from an industrial area in the business and tourism hub of Dubai, after a blaze that authorities said was sparked by debris from an interception.

 

A building at the Dubai International Financial Centre also sustained damage when hit with debris from what authorities described as a “successful interception.” DIFC is an economic free zone for banks, capital traders and wealth managers, home to exclusive restaurants and nightclubs. Iran said earlier this week that it would target banks and financial institutions, after an airstrike hit a bank in Tehran. In Turkey, NATO defences intercepted another ballistic missile fired from Iran, the third time since the war began. Residents in the southern city of Adana reported hearing a loud explosion and sirens sounding at Incirlik Air Base, which is used by US forces, in the early hours of the day.