New Delhi, June 13 -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday that Israel will face a "severe punishment" as the latter launched fresh strikes in Tehran early in the day.

Khamenei issued a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency. It confirmed that top military officials and scientists had been killed in the attack.

Israel "opened its wicked and blood-stained hand to a crime in our beloved country, revealing its malicious nature more than ever by striking residential centers," Khamenei said.

According to Iran International, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said in a statement, "In the early hours of today, the Zionist regime extended its evil and bloodstained hand to commit a crime in our beloved count...