The U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, triggered retaliatory strikes on multiple countries in the region and is reverberating around the world.
Related violence expanded Sunday to a growing number of places, with a rising death toll. A major Israeli strike targeted Tehran. Iran fired drones and missiles at Israel and U.S. military installations around the Gulf, and also at the global business and tourism hub of Dubai.
Nearly two dozen people were killed in clashes after protesters tried to storm a U.S. Consulate in Pakistan.
The joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, which started on Saturday, carried the potential for a wider war and the fallout could hit the world economy. Global reaction ranged from jubilation to condemnation. U.S. President Donald Trump urged Iranians to seize the moment and “take over.”
The latest strikes came two days after the latest U.S.-Iran talks, as Trump pressured Tehran for a deal to constrain its nuclear program.
Iran’s provisional governing council started its work Sunday, and is expected to name a new supreme leader. Iran’s theocracy has struggled with growing dissent following nationwide protests that began over the economy but turned into anti-government ones.
Khamenei among first targets
Israel said it had worked with the U.S. for months to plan the attacks. The U.S. military said targets in Iran included Revolutionary Guard command facilities, air defense capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and military airfields.
One of the first strikes hit near the offices of the 86-year-old Khamenei, who had ruled since 1989 and held ultimate power. Iranian state media reported Khamenei’s death, without details.
Israel said that it killed 40 top Iranian military officials, including the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and the defense minister. Iranian state media said more than 200 people have been killed.
The U.S. and Israel also struck Iran last June during earlier nuclear talks, greatly weakening Iran’s air defenses, military leadership and nuclear program. The Trump administration has asserted that Iran had been rebuilding its nuclear program, which Tehran has insisted is for peaceful purposes.
‘Crossed our red line’
Iran launched missiles and drones targeting Israel and strikes targeting U.S. military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. Three U.S. service members have been killed, according to U.S. Central Command.
“You have crossed our red line and must pay the price,” Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said in a televised address Sunday.
Eleven people have been killed in Israel as loud explosions caused by missile impacts or interceptions could be heard in Tel Aviv. Israel’s rescue services said that nine people were killed and 28 wounded in a strike that hit a synagogue in the central town of Beit Shemesh. Eleven people were still missing after the strike, police said, as rescue crews combed the rubble.
Air defense fire thudded over Dubai, the United Arab Emirates’ commercial capital, which has long drawn business and expatriates by billing itself as a safe haven in a volatile region. Shrapnel from Iranian attacks on the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, killed two people, state media said.
Attacks also extended into Oman — Iran’s longtime interlocutor with the West.
Saudi Arabia said that Iran had targeted its capital and eastern region in an attack that was repelled. Bahrain said a missile attack targeted the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters, and three buildings were damaged in the capital, Manama, and Muharraq city.
Kuwait’s civil aviation authority said a drone targeted the main international airport, injuring several employees. At least one person was killed in Kuwait on Sunday. Explosions could be heard in Qatar. Jordan said it “dealt with” 49 drones and ballistic missiles.
Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen have vowed to resume attacks on Red Sea shipping routes and on Israel, according to two senior Houthi officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because there was no official announcement from leadership.
Trump encourages Iranians to ‘take over’
In announcing the “major combat operations,” Trump indicated the U.S. was striking for reasons beyond Iran’s nuclear program. On Friday, he voiced frustration over lack of progress in negotiations to stop Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons.
He listed grievances stretching back to the beginning of the Islamic Republic following a revolution in 1979 that turned Iran from one of America’s closest allies in the Middle East into a foe. Iran’s ballistic missile program and support for armed proxies in the region were other issues.
Trump on Saturday told Iranians to take cover, but urged them to later rise up and topple the Islamic leadership.
“When we are finished, take over your government,” Trump said. “It will be yours to take.”
US military pressure
Trump later said “heavy and pinpoint bombing” in Iran would continue through the week or longer.
The U.S. had assembled a fleet of fighter jets and warships in the region as it negotiated with Iran about a deal over its nuclear program. The fleet has added more than 10,000 U.S. troops to the region.
The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and three guided-missile destroyers arrived in January to bolster the number of warships. The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and four accompanying destroyers were later dispatched from the Caribbean.
U.S. Democrats are leading efforts to limit Trump’s war powers.
Impact on other countries
The strikes elicited mixed global reactions, including angry protests, celebrations and calls by world leaders for a return to negotiations and peace.
At least 22 people were killed in clashes with police and paramilitary forces Sunday after hundreds of protesters attempted to enter the U.S. Consulate in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, authorities said.
Shipping companies suspended their vessels’ traffic through the Suez Canal. The strikes could rattle global markets, particularly if Iran makes the Strait of Hormuz unsafe for commercial traffic. A fifth of worldwide traded oil passes through the strait.
The fighting disrupted air travel in the region, with global repercussions.
Hundreds of thousands of travelers were stranded or diverted to other airports after Israel, Qatar, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain closed their airspace. There was no flight activity over the United Arab Emirates, flight tracking website FlightRadar24 said.
Brian Melley And Angela Charlton, The Associated Press
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