Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Wednesday they had launched around 40 missiles at US and Israeli targets, on the fifth day of war in the Middle East in retaliation for the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"Several hours ago, the 17th wave of operation Honest Promise 4 was conducted with the launch of 40 missiles by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' aerospace forces, towards American and Zionist targets," a statement read on state TV said, without giving further details.
The 86-year-old cleric was assassinated Saturday in a joint US-Israeli airstrike.
"The hand of revenge of the Iranian nation for a severe, decisive and regrettable punishment for the murderers of the Imam of the Ummah will not let go of them," the Guards had said soon after Khamenei's death was confirmed by the state media.
Unlike the ordinary military, which comes under the Defence Ministry in the elected government, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps answers directly to the supreme leader.
With global energy prices already on the rise over the expanding war, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said it has "complete control" of the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial chokepoint into the Gulf.
Governments scrambled to evacuate citizens stranded in the Middle East, where Iran expanded a retaliatory missile and drone barrage.
The US military said it has hit nearly 2,000 targets since first launching deadly strikes with Israel on Iran on Saturday.
The United States encouraged all Americans to leave the region if they can find commercial flights, even though air travel has been severely disrupted, while governments including Britain and France sent in chartered flights to get citizens out.
Israel's military said Wednesday it has launched a "broad wave of strikes" on targets in Iran, after the Islamic republic launched three separate missile barrages at Israeli territory.
Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened to assassinate any Iranian leader picked to succeed Khamenei.
"Any leader selected by the Iranian terror regime to continue leading the plan for Israel's destruction, threatening the United States, the free world and countries in the region, and suppressing the Iranian people, will be a certain target for assassination, no matter his name or where he hides," Katz said in a post on X.
Earlier, the United States military confirmed the destruction of the headquarters of Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Islamic republic's elite force, in a large-scale strike.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) stated that the IRGC had been responsible for the deaths of more than 1,000 Americans over the past 47 years.
In its announcement, CENTCOM described the action as cutting off "the head of the snake," adding that the US possesses the most powerful military on earth and that the IRGC now lacks a headquarters.
