A senior Iranian cleric said women without proper hijab should not be excluded from wartime gatherings, while Nour News, affiliated with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, called for reason and moderation over ideological confrontation

Iran is celebrating Nowruz, the Persian New Year, during wartime for the first time since the 1980s; believed to have been celebrated in ancient Iran since at least the fifth century B.C., it marks the solstice of spring and symbolizes new beginnings

Iran’s Assembly of Experts has named Mojtaba Khamenei to serve the country as new supreme leader after his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been confirmed killed under US and Israel fire earlier this month

In retaliation for an ongoing attack by US and Israel forces hitting Teheran and a number of cities in the country, Iran launched strikes across Middle East, targeting countries hosting US facilities