Israel carried out another round of airstrikes on Tehran on Sunday, saying it was aimed at ensuring air superiority after the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, as the country seeks to reorganize its leadership amid one of the most serious crises it has faced in decades, Reuters reported.
The exchange of US and Israeli attacks and Iranian retaliation have shaken key global industries, from shipping and aviation to oil, fueling fears of higher energy prices and trade disruptions in the Persian Gulf, a vital corridor for international trade, according to a Reuters report.
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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that after the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a three-member leadership council has been established to temporarily carry out the duties of the supreme leader. The council is made up of himself, the head of Iran’s judiciary and a representative of the powerful Guardian Council, and will serve in that role until a new supreme leader is chosen as part of the country’s constitutional process.
Iran says US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln ‘strike’
The US military said it sank an Iranian ship, while Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they launched an attack on the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln with four ballistic missiles, state media said.
CENTCOM shares fact-checking
Meanwhile, CENTCOM said in a post on X: “🚫Iranian IRGC claims to have hit USS Abraham Lincoln with ballistic missiles. LIE. ✅Lincoln was not hit. Missiles fired did not even come close. Lincoln continues to fire aircraft in support of CENTCOM’s relentless campaign to defend the American people from threats from the Iranian regime.”
In a sign of the widening confusion, Israel’s emergency services said nine people were killed in a rocket attack in the city of Beit Shemesh, the United Arab Emirates said Iranian strikes killed three people and Kuwait reported one dead in Iranian airstrikes.
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Israel’s military said Israeli jets had carried out strikes in the past day to open “the road to Tehran” and that most air defense systems in western and central Iran had been dismantled, Reuters reported.
He added: “Ali Khamenei was the target of a precise, large-scale operation carried out by the Israeli Air Force, led by precise IDF intelligence services, while he was in his central command complex in the heart of Tehran, where he was with other senior officials.
Israeli army spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said many targets remained, including military-industrial production sites. “We have the capabilities and objectives to continue for as long as necessary,” he said.
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Hours after the United States and Israel announced that an airstrike had killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian state media confirmed the death of the 86-year-old leader. Reactions inside Iran were sharply divided: while some mourned him, others openly celebrated, exposing deep social rifts in a nation shaken by the sudden loss of a ruler who had held power for decades.
Khamenei also in January approved a sweeping crackdown on anti-government protests that killed thousands of Iranians – the country’s bloodiest riots since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Footage from Tehran showed mourners crammed into the square, dressed in black and many of them crying.
But videos posted on social media showed both joy and defiance elsewhere, with people cheering when a statue was toppled in the city of Dehloran in Ilam province, dancing in the streets of the city of Karaj near Tehran in Alborz province and celebrating in the streets of Izeh in Khuzestan province. Reuters has verified the location of these videos.
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Khamenei, who built Iran into a powerful anti-American force and expanded its influence across the Middle East during his 36-year rule with an iron fist, was working in his office at the time of Saturday’s attack, state media said. The raid also killed his daughter, grandson, daughter-in-law and son-in-law.
Two US sources and a US official familiar with the matter told Reuters that Israel and the US had timed their attack on Saturday to coincide with a meeting Khamenei was holding with top aides.
Experts said that while his death and that of other Iranian leaders would deal a major blow to Iran, it would not necessarily mark the end of Iran’s entrenched clerical rule or the influence of the elite Revolutionary Guards over the population, Reuters reported.
As supreme leader, Khamenei held ultimate power in Iran, acting as commander-in-chief of the armed forces and deciding the direction of foreign policy, defined largely by confrontation with the United States and Israel.
UAE adviser tells Iran to ‘come to your senses’
Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned Khamenei’s death as a cynical murder, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi described it as a “flagrant murder,” while European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Khamenei’s death was a “defining moment in Iran’s history,” Reuters reported.
After Iran retaliated with airstrikes around the Persian Gulf, Anwar Gargash, an adviser to the president of ally and oil powerhouse the United Arab Emirates, urged Tehran to “come to its senses” and said the war was not with Iran’s Arab neighbors in the Persian Gulf. The UAE has so far borne the brunt of Iran’s retaliation. Trump warned on Sunday that the US would hit Iran with “force never seen before” if it strikes back after the attacks.
Iran promises ‘terrifying blows’
Underscoring pressure on energy flows, shipping data showed at least 150 tankers, including oil and liquefied natural gas vessels, anchored in the open waters of the Persian Gulf off the Strait of Hormuz, while dozens more remained idle on the opposite side of the strategic choke point on Sunday following US and Israeli strikes, Reuters reported.
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According to Reuters estimates based on MarineTraffic ship tracking data, the vessels were concentrated in waters off key Gulf energy producers such as Iraq and Saudi Arabia, as well as LNG heavyweight Qatar, Reuters reported.
Elsewhere in the region, unrest spread to Pakistan, where police in Karachi clashed with protesters who breached the outer wall of the US consulate. The violence left nine dead after news of Khamenei’s death sparked protests.
(With inputs from Reuters)
