Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

"I want peace in the Middle East," Trump said. "If we didn't take out that nuclear, we wouldn't have peace in the Middle East."

There were reports that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “issued a directive” to mobilize the cyber apparatus against Pahlavi.

Iran’s Internet blackout denied protesters access to information and helped the regime outmaneuver the US in the information war.

Anwar Gargash, advisor to UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said the Gulf state does not want to see another regional confrontation.

US authorities are examining whether crypto platforms helped Iranian officials evade sanctions, as digital currency use in Iran surged to billions of dollars last year.

Experts stressed that Iran’s Islamic regime has spent decades covertly entrenching itself across the continent, often under the cover of diplomacy, making removal far from straightforward.

Firefighting teams arrived at the scene in Tehran's Jannat Abad neighborhood, attempting to extinguish the fire. It remains unclear if the fire was directly related to anti-regime protest activity.

"People are extremely angry," a former official said, adding a US attack could lead Iranians to rise up again. "The wall of fear has collapsed. There is no fear left."

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iranian protesters carried out acts similar to Islamic State and blamed the US for creating the group.

As Washington weighs talks with Tehran, former national security adviser Jacob Nagel warns that negotiations without prior dismantlement of Iran’s capabilities would repeat past strategic failures.