IRGC commander says Iran will continue operations even if Israeli attacks stop
Mohammad Pakpour, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Ground Forces, said Monday that Iran will continue its military operations regardless of whether Israel halts its attacks.
“Even if Israeli attacks stop, we will carry on until the end,” Pakpour said, according to state media.
He added that key areas had been hit and that operations would continue.
New satellite imagery appears to show damage outside the Fordow nuclear site in Iran, The Times of Israel reported on Monday, citing images released by US geospatial intelligence firm Planet Labs.
The report said that before-and-after pictures show what may have been the collapse of a retaining wall on the side of the mountain, alongside a road that rings the edge of the underground nuclear facility, which is buried deep beneath the mountai
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett posted a video message on social media Monday addressing the Iranian people, calling on them to oppose the clerical establishment amid Israeli strikes.
“This is your chance to get rid of this terrible regime,” Bennett said. “The people of Iran are not Israel’s enemy. Your only enemy is this corrupt, brutal, and oppressive regime.”
Iran’s mission to the United Nations in Vienna said Monday that expecting Tehran to continue its voluntary commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is “unjustified” while its treaty rights are ignored and its nuclear sites are targeted by a non-member state.
The statement, cited by Iranian state media, comes amid growing internal calls for Iran to withdraw from the NPT. On Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei confirmed that parliament is preparing a bill to leave the treaty, while reiterating Iran’s opposition to weapons of mass destruction.
Separately, a member of parliament’s national security committee said the draft bill could be introduced as early as Tuesday.
