Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, issued his first public message Thursday since assuming power after the death of his father, Ali Khamenei. The statement was delivered as a written text read by a presenter on state television. That unusual format immediately fueled questions about both his health and the degree of his control over the country at a moment of acute regional crisis.
Unlike his father, Ali Khamenei, who rose to the supreme leadership after serving as Iran’s president, Mojtaba Khamenei has remained almost entirely out of public view. This was not only his first message as supreme leader, but effectively his first known public political address.
That contrast matters because Ali Khamenei entered the office with years of visible national political experience behind him. Mojtaba Khamenei, by comparison, has never given interviews and has never spoken publicly, making Thursday’s statement his first known public address.
The tone of Mojtaba Khamenei’s first message appeared aimed at establishing continuity. Much of it presented the current crisis as an extension of the struggle led by his father, suggesting that although Ali Khamenei is dead, his political and ideological struggle continues.
A US military refuelling aircraft crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, in an incident US Central Command said involved another aircraft but was not the result of hostile or friendly fire.
Friday will mark two weeks since a retired Air Force major general who previously oversaw a base associated with UFO lore was last seen in Albuquerque, N.M. 
Emmy-winning journalist and former New York news anchor Ernie Anastos has died at 82, station WABC confirmed.
The Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most vital shipping routes and a chokepoint for about one-fifth of the world's oil, is becoming a flashpoint in the Iran war as explosive-laden boats have attacked fuel tankers, setting ships on fire and killing at least one crew member, according to Reuters.
HRRC demands that Israel immediately stop all use of artillery-fired white phosphorus munitions in populated residential areas. The deployment of these weapons risks indiscriminately harming civilians, thereby violating international law. We also call on states that provide Israel with weapons to stop supplying the country with white phosphorus munitions.
A man is dead in Michigan after ramming a vehicle into one of the nation’s biggest synagogues that also houses an early childhood center, according to local officials.
TEHRAN, IRAN—Less than an hour before a deadly airstrike tore through a residential neighborhood in Resalat Square in eastern Tehran late Monday evening, Hassan Sharifi was walking through the area on his way home. He passed by the mid-rise apartment buildings that housed bakeries, shops, cafes, and small grocery stores on their ground floors. When the missile struck, he immediately ran back to the square.
