What happened during the night Drastic words: Iran threatens government opponents after call for regime overthrow

Saudi Arabia destroyed drones and missiles near an airbase. Attacks are reported from Tehran. And Israel attacks Hezbollah in Lebanon. These are the developments of the past few hours.

The attacks in the Middle East continue. Israel's Prime Minister called on the Iranians to overthrow their leadership. The Iranian police chief then used drastic words to warn opponents of the government against protests.

blue News summarizes what happened on Wednesday night.

Following Israel's call to overthrow the leadership of the Islamic Republic, Iran's police chief has warned opponents of the government against protests in drastic terms. "We no longer regard anyone who takes to the streets at the request of the enemy as a demonstrator. We see them as enemies and will treat them as enemies," said Ahmed-Resa Radan on state television. "All our men have their finger on the trigger."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously called on Iranians to rebel against their government. Israel and the USA were waging "a historic war for freedom", he said in an open letter. "This is a unique opportunity for you to overthrow the regime of the Ayatollahs and gain your freedom." The Iranian people had asked for help, "and the help has arrived".

US President Donald Trump has also repeatedly encouraged the Iranians to use the American-Israeli attacks as an opportunity to overthrow the leadership in Tehran.

At the beginning of the year, security forces in Iran brutally crushed protests. On the nights of January 8 and 9, security forces killed almost 6,500 demonstrators, according to investigations by the US-based human rights network HRANA. More than 50,000 people were arrested.

The Iranian armed forces have once again attacked Israel and the Gulf states with missiles and drones. In Israel, the missiles were either intercepted or hit uninhabited areas, as reported by the newspaper "The Times of Israel". The Tasnim news agency, which is close to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, spoke of the most intense wave of attacks since the beginning of the war.

The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Defense announced that seven ballistic missiles and seven drones had been intercepted in various regions of the country. According to the Ministry of Defense, four drones were intercepted in Kuwait and another crashed in open terrain. An air alert was also triggered in Bahrain.

Following reports of mines laid by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, US President Donald Trump has threatened Tehran with retaliation. "If for any reason mines have been laid and they are not removed immediately, there will be unprecedented military consequences for Iran," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. A little later, the US Regional Command for the Middle East (Centcom) announced that US forces had destroyed several Iranian naval vessels, including 16 so-called minelayers, near the Strait of Hormuz.

According to CNN, Iran had placed around a dozen mines in the strait, which is important for shipping, in recent days. The broadcaster based this on statements from unnamed sources. One of the people said that Iran still has the majority of its small boats and minelayers. The armed forces could therefore lay hundreds of mines in the waterway. The broadcaster CBS reported on Iran's plans in this regard.

The approximately 55-kilometer-wide Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman is considered one of the most important shipping routes for global oil exports. Even before the war began, experts assumed that Iran's naval forces could block or mine the Strait.

The Israeli armed forces have once again attacked Hezbollah militia positions in Lebanon. According to the military, the target of the attacks was the infrastructure of the pro-Iranian Islamists in the suburbs known as Dahija in the south of the capital Beirut. The district is considered a stronghold of the Shiite Hezbollah.

In response to the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel again just over a week ago after a long pause in fighting. Since then, the Israeli military has been attacking targets in Lebanon on a larger scale. According to official information from Beirut, almost 760,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced by the escalation of violence to date.