EXPLAINER
Iran carries out retaliatory assaults as Supreme Chief Khamenei is killed in US-Israeli assaults, pushing the area on edge.
Printed On 1 Mar 2026
Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been killed within the assaults by the US and Israel, alongside his high safety officers, as Tehran vows to take “revenge” for the killing of the supreme chief.
Khamenei’s killing is a severe setback for Iran, the place greater than 200 folks have been killed within the assaults throughout 24 out of 31 provinces since Saturday. Iran’s retaliatory assaults have focused Israel and neighbouring Gulf international locations internet hosting US army property.
Khamenei, 86, was killed within the strike at his workplace in Tehran. The supreme chief’s daughter, son-in-law, and grandson have been additionally killed within the assault.
Right here is all the pieces that occurred thus far on Day 2
Inside Iran
- The Israeli army mentioned on Sunday that it had begun putting targets deep inside Tehran, a day after a joint US-Israeli assault killed Khamenei.
- Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) introduced the sixth wave of “in depth missile and drone” assaults concentrating on Israeli army property and 27 US bases within the Center East in retaliation.
- Iran’s state media confirmed the killing of Khamenei, in addition to safety adviser Ali Shamkhani and IRGC Commander-in-Chief Mohammad Pakpour. In accordance with the Hamshahri newspaper, Ahmad Vahidi has been named the IRGC’s new commander-in-chief. Al Jazeera couldn’t independently confirm the information.
- Iranian armed forces’ chief of workers, Abdul Rahim Mousavi, and Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh have been additionally killed within the assaults.
- A 3-person council – consisting of Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, head of the judiciary, and one of many jurists of the Guardian Council – will briefly assume all management duties within the nation, Iran’s state TV reported.
- Iran’s high safety official, Ali Larijani, mentioned plans are in place to type a brief governing physique to hold out Khamenei’s duties.
- The demise toll within the assault on an elementary ladies’ faculty in southern Iran’s Minab metropolis climbed to 148 folks, and 95 others have been injured.
- Khamenei’s supporters have taken to the streets in the principle Iranian cities, together with Tehran and Isfahan, to mourn the killing of the supreme chief.
- Iran’s highest-ranking official to look on digicam since Khamenei’s killing, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the parliament speaker, known as the US and Israeli leaders “filthy criminals” who will face “devastating blows that you simply yourselves will likely be pushed to beg”.
Newest from Trump
- “Iran simply said that they will hit very exhausting at the moment, tougher than they’ve ever been hit earlier than,” US President Donald Trump wrote in a Fact Social put up late at night time. “They higher not try this, nonetheless, as a result of in the event that they do, we’ll hit them with a power that has by no means been seen earlier than!” he added.
- In an interview with CBS Information, Trump mentioned he believes the US is best positioned to achieve a diplomatic answer with Iran. “A lot simpler now than it was a day in the past, clearly”, Trump mentioned, including, “as a result of they’re getting beat up unhealthy”.
Israeli assaults and Iranian retaliation
- The Israeli ambulance service says one Israeli lady has been killed, and 121 others wounded, largely with minor accidents, in waves of Iranian missile assaults.
- Air raid sirens proceed to blare in and across the metropolis of Tel Aviv.
- The Israeli army mentioned nearly all of these missiles and drones have been intercepted or downed, however some managed to get by means of in Tel Aviv and Beit Shemesh, a metropolis west of Jerusalem.
- Israel’s army mentioned it struck greater than 30 targets in assaults on western and central Iran in one other wave of strikes “to focus on the ballistic missile array and air defence methods of the Iranian terror regime”.
- Assaults will proceed on air defence installations, missile websites, army headquarters, and different “regime targets” in Iran, the assertion from Israel’s army added.
Iran continues to focus on the Gulf area
- At the least 11 explosions have been heard above Qatar on Sunday morning. The Qatari Ministry of Inside says a complete of 16 eight further accidents have been recorded following the Iranian assaults.
- Oman’s Duqm industrial port was hit by two drones, injuring one particular person, the state information company mentioned on Sunday. Oman was mediating between the US and Iran.
- Oman’s maritime safety centre mentioned on Sunday that the Palau-flagged oil tanker Skylight was focused about 5 nautical miles (9km) off Musandam. “A twenty-person crew have been evacuated, preliminary info reveals 4 folks have been injured,” it mentioned.
- Jordanian defence methods intercepted missiles that entered the airspace of the capital, Amman, in addition to northern areas.
- The US embassy in Jordan issued a safety alert early on Sunday morning, urging folks to shelter in place.
- Sirens have additionally been reported in Kuwait as Iran continues its retaliatory assaults towards the US allies within the Gulf.
- Extra explosions have been heard in Dubai as properly, a day after a hearth broke out within the metropolis’s Palm Islands vacationer attraction. Particles from a drone intercepted by Dubai’s army led to a hearth at Jebel Ali port, a frequent cease for US Navy ships within the Gulf.
- Iraq’s Muqtada al-Sadr expressed “disappointment and sorrow” over Khamenei’s killing as protesters in Baghdad confronted safety forces in areas that host the nation’s authorities, parliament, and international embassies.
- Protests have erupted in neighbouring Iraq in addition to in Indian-administered Kashmir and Pakistan. At the least six folks have been killed and a number of other injured in riots that broke out close to the US consulate within the Pakistani port metropolis of Karachi.
- Iraq has introduced three days of public mourning throughout the nation within the wake of Khamenei’s killing.
On the United Nations Safety Council
- US Ambassador Mike Waltz mentioned the strikes on Iran have been directed in direction of dismantling its ballistic missile capabilities, degrading naval property, and guaranteeing that “the Iranian regime can by no means, ever threaten the world with a nuclear weapon”.
- Russia’s UN envoy strongly condemned the most recent army assaults on Iran, calling them “one other unprovoked act of armed aggression”. Vassily Nebenzia mentioned, “The US and Israeli army operation has been a betrayal of diplomacy.”
- China’s Ambassador Fu Cong known as the US-Israeli strikes “brazen”, condemning the specter of power and calling for respect for Iran’s “sovereignty, safety, and territorial integrity”. He mentioned it was “stunning” that the US and Israeli assaults got here in the course of diplomatic negotiations between the US and Iran.
- The UN Chief mentioned that the army motion carries the chance of “igniting a series of occasions that nobody can management in probably the most risky area of the world,” and added that “all the pieces have to be performed” to stop wider escalation of battle throughout the Center East.
What’s the most recent state of affairs on the Strait of Hormuz?
- Iran moved to shut the Strait of Hormuz, whereas ships within the Gulf reported receiving warnings from Iran’s Revolutionary IRGC that vessels wouldn’t be permitted to move by means of the strategic waterway.
- Reuters reported that the IRGC mandated that “no ship is allowed to move the Strait of Hormuz”.
- Practically 20 per cent of the world’s oil consumption passes by means of the strait, making it one of many world’s most significant oil export routes.
