Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability.
Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country.
The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long as necessary.
Photo: West Asia News Agency via Reuters
Iran responded by firing drones and missiles at Israel and US military installations around the Gulf, and also at the global business hub of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Earlier yesterday, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened to launch its “most-intense offensive operation” ever targeting Israel and US bases.
Israel also continued its attacks on Iran with an enormous strike that targeted Tehran.
Iranians took to the streets cheering with joy, setting off fireworks and playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death, according to witnesses and video footage verified by Agence France-Presse.
Photo: Reuters
The celebrations in Tehran began shortly after 11pm on Saturday, even before Iranian state television had confirmed Trump’s statement that Khamenei was dead, according to multiple witnesses and audio recordings.
However, people were not coming out en masse to celebrate, according to social media.
Meanwhile, the thousands who did gather in the center of Iran’s capital yesterday were instead mourning Khamenei’s death. They dressed mostly in black and some, crying, chanted: “death to America” and “death to Israel” in Enghelab Square, with many waving Iranian flags and holding photos of Khamenei.
Photo: West Asia News Agency via Reuters
Iranian state television announced a 40-day mourning period and seven public holidays.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian branded Khamenei’s killing a “declaration of war against Muslims” by Israel and the US.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran considers it its legitimate duty and right to avenge the perpetrators and masterminds of this historic crime,” Pezeshkian said in a statement carried by state TV.
The Israeli military yesterday said that its strikes had killed 40 top Iranian military officials, including Chief of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Abdolrahim Mousavi.
Israel did not provide evidence, and neither Iran nor the US immediately commented on the claim.
The Israeli military also said it had “dismantled the majority of the aerial defense systems in western and central Iran” and was “paving the way toward establishing aerial superiority over the skies of Tehran.”
A nearly total Internet blackout continued in Iran yesterday morning, a monitoring group said.
NetBlocks said connectivity has flatlined at 1 percent of its ordinary levels.
Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain have all reported intercepting incoming attacks.
The Qatari Ministry of Defense said the country’s air force and air defense units intercepted missiles and drones fired from Iran, and that there were no casualties.
The Bahrain News Agency, citing the Bahraini National Communication Center, said the country intercepted a wave of missiles and drones launched by Iran.
It said “limited” debris landed in a number of areas, without providing further details.
The Kuwaiti Ministry of Defense said the military’s air defenses repelled “a number of hostile aerial targets,” but did not mention any human or material losses.
The Abu Dhabi Media Office said shrapnel from a drone that was intercepted by air defense units fell at a tower in Abu Dhabi, lightly wounding a woman and her child.
The office said that the sounds heard yesterday in the city were those of successful interceptions.
Oman said an oil tanker in the strategic Strait of Hormuz came under attack, wounding four mariners on board.
The attack targeted a Palau-flagged vessel called Skylight, the state-run Oman News Agency said.
It described the crew as Indian and Iranian.
It was not clear who attacked the vessel, but it came as authorities have said Iran has been threatening ships traveling the strait via radio since the US and Israel launched their attack.
A massive explosion struck Iran’s capital yesterday as the Israeli military said it was targeting the “heart” of the city.
The blast sent a huge plume of smoke into the sky and shook the ground.
It was not immediately clear what the target was. The blast appeared centered in a neighborhood home to the country’s police headquarters and Iranian state television.
The Israeli military said it was striking targets in central Tehran.
It said that on the first day of the war the military cleared the path to Tehran and on the second day it was striking central Tehran.
The Israeli military said it has identified another round of missiles headed toward Israel from Iran.
Early yesterday, there were repeated barrages of missile fire across Israel, including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
According to Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue services, one person was killed and 121 were injured in the first 24 hours of the conflict.
Some airports across the Middle East remained closed yesterday.
Emirates Airlines has suspended all flights to and from Dubai.
The Qatar airport was closed until at least this morning, Qatar Airways said.
Israeli airspace also remains closed.
The closures have stranded tens of thousands of travelers around the world.
Airport authorities in Indonesia’s island of Bali said more than 1,600 tourists were stranded at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport yesterday after several flights to the Middle East were canceled or postponed due to airspace closures in a number of countries.
Five flights to Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Doha operated by Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways were affected, involving 1,631 passengers, Indonesian state owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura Indonesia said.
The airport said overall operations remained normal and passengers were being handled under airline policies while authorities coordinated with airlines and air navigation officials.
The US embassy in Jordan urged Americans in the kingdom to remain indoors as Iran continued its attacks across the Gulf Arab states and Israel.
The embassy made the warning yesterday morning in a post on X, citing reports of “missiles, drones, or rockets are in Jordanian airspace.”
The Qatari Ministry of the Interior said eight people were wounded early yesterday in Iranian attacks on the country, raising the total number of those wounded since strikes began the day before to 16.
The ministry said attacks also caused “limited” material damages.
It urged people in Qatar to stay home and only go out in case of emergency and keep roads open for ambulances.
Ebrahim Taheri, a Minab prosecutor, told the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan News Agency that the death toll from Saturday’s US and Israeli strike on a girls’ school in southern Iran’s Minab county has risen to 148 killed and 95 wounded.
Trump yesterday warned Iran not to escalate its attacks, writing online that US forces would strike back with exceptional force.
“Iran just stated that they are going to hit very hard today, harder than they have ever hit before,” Trump wrote, adding that “THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!”
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