The Iranian capital under fire
Flames lit up the sky over Tehran this Saturday. A fuel depot, a facility that supplies the capital and northern provinces, was hit. State media attributed it to an “attack by the United States and the Zionist regime.”
As plumes of smoke rose, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised “many surprises” for the next phase. On the other side of the ocean, Donald Trump ruled out one more actor on this board.
“The war is complicated enough without having—without involving the Kurds,” Trump told reporters.
A leadership that shows cracks
In the midst of the bombing, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian apologized. Its missiles had flown toward Arab Gulf states. In an apparently hastily filmed message, he asked not to attack neighboring countries anymore.
But its power seems limited. True control of the missiles lies with the Revolutionary Guard, who answers only to the Supreme Leader. And from other sectors of the regime came contradictory messages.
“That’s a dream they should take to their graves,” Pezeshkian said of Trump’s demand for unconditional surrender.
Meanwhile, hardline Chief Judge Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei posted on X that “the intense attacks on these targets will continue.” The official narrative was fractured in the midst of the crisis.
The human cost and the shadows of the future
The balance is brutal: at least 1,230 lives lost in Iran, more than 290 in Lebanon and 11 in Israel. Six American soldiers have also died. A student in western Tehran described constant fear, even far from military targets.
And among the warlike declarations and apologies, news emerged that speaks of the country’s uncertain future. The leadership council has requested to convene the Assembly of Experts to elect the next supreme leader. They didn’t say when.
War no longer just burns fuel tanks. Now it also burns the certainties about who really rules in Tehran.
