Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Friday that “some countries” have begun mediation efforts aimed at resolving the ongoing conflict involving Iran, the United States and Israel. The conflict intensified last week after the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
In a post on X, Pezeshkian said some countries had begun mediation initiatives and stressed that Iran remained committed to lasting peace in the region. However, he added that Tehran would not hesitate to defend the nation’s dignity and sovereignty. He also said that mediation efforts should address those who underestimated the Iranian people and sparked the conflict.
The Iranian president’s remarks came as reports suggested that Iran had launched a fresh wave of attacks on Israel using ballistic missiles, including the newly developed Khorramshahr 4 missile.
Iran’s semi official Tasnim news agency quoted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as saying that the twenty second wave of Operation True Promise 4 had begun. The operation reportedly involved the launch of multiple Khorramshahr 4 missiles directed toward what it described as the heart of the occupied territories.
Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike targeted a residential building in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon on Friday afternoon, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. The report said the strike hit a floor just below the top level of the Maqassed building located near Al Siddiq Mosque in the city. Ambulances were dispatched to the scene, although the scale of casualties and damage was not immediately known.
Earlier in the day, according to India time, the United States indicated that its military campaign against Iran would expand in the next phase of Operation Epic Fury. American and Israeli forces are preparing to intensify strikes aimed at dismantling Tehran’s military and missile infrastructure.
Speaking at United States Central Command headquarters in Tampa, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the operation had already caused significant damage to Iran’s military capabilities. He praised CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper and the more than 50,000 American service members involved in the mission.
Hegseth said that within just a few days of Operation Epic Fury, the campaign had delivered devastating and precise strikes that neutralised a large portion of Iran’s naval capability, disabled missile launch sites and established control over key air and maritime areas. He added that the United States was prepared for the conflict and determined to prevail.
Admiral Cooper said the campaign had entered its sixth day and was steadily weakening Iran’s military capacity. He noted that the mission aimed to eliminate Iran’s ability to threaten American forces.
According to Cooper, United States air power had carried out extensive strikes deep inside Iranian territory. He said that over the previous seventy two hours, American bomber forces had targeted nearly 200 locations inside Iran, including sites around Tehran.
He also revealed that US stealth bombers had struck hardened missile facilities. Cooper said that within the previous hour, Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit aircraft had dropped dozens of two thousand pound bunker penetrating bombs aimed at deeply buried ballistic missile launchers.
American forces also targeted Iranian military infrastructure linked to space and missile operations. Cooper said the strikes had hit Iran’s equivalent of a space command centre, weakening its ability to threaten United States forces.
US officials said the campaign had significantly reduced Iran’s missile and drone attacks. Cooper stated that ballistic missile attacks had dropped by around 90 percent since the first day of the operation, while drone attacks had declined by 83 percent.
Naval operations have also intensified during the campaign. Cooper said that while earlier reports suggested 24 Iranian ships had been sunk or destroyed, the number had now exceeded 30 vessels.
He added that in the previous few hours, US forces had struck an Iranian drone carrier roughly comparable in size to a World War II aircraft carrier, which was currently on fire.
The next phase of the operation is expected to focus on dismantling Iran’s missile production capability. Cooper said the United States had been tasked with destroying not only Iran’s current missile systems but also its ability to rebuild its ballistic missile infrastructure.
