Israel puts civilians on high alert as Iranian leaders vow response to US strikes
‘Washington must bear the consequences,’ a senior Houthi leader tweeted
The supreme leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, is seen broadcasting on Israeli TV, during the ongoing war between Israel and Iran, June 21, 2025. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)
(JTA) — Israelis have been barred from gathering and most businesses have been ordered closed following the U.S. attack on Iranian nuclear sites.
Schools were already closed and the civilian alert level was already high following Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear program that began June 13, triggering waves of missile attacks from Iran that have sent Israelis racing to bomb shelters multiple times a day. Nearly two dozen Israelis have been killed by Iranian missiles since the war’s start.
But the threat level was raised again early Sunday Israel time as Iranian officials began to indicate their planned response to the U.S. attack, which targeted three nuclear sites. The officials and their proxies suggested that they plan to take aim primarily at U.S. targets.
“It is now our turn to act without delay,” a representative of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told Iranian state media. Khamenei himself has retreated and cut off public communication amid fears that he is being targeted.
The representative said Khamenei wanted to attack the United States’ position in Bahrain, the hub of the U.S. Navy in the Middle East, and to close the Strait of Hormuz, a shipping corridor, to ships flown under the flags of the United States and its allies.
The U.S. strike also threatened to undo the deal President Donald Trump struck last month with the Houthis, an Iranian proxy based in Yemen. The group agreed to stop attacking U.S. ships without promising to withhold fire against Israel.
After the U.S. attack on the Iranian sites, Hizam al-Assad, a senior Houthi official, tweeted, “Washington must bear the consequences.”
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