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A plume of smoke rises following reported explosions in Tehran on March 1, 2026.<\/p>\n
Atta Kenare<\/p>\n
Iranians and others across the Middle East awoke Sunday to a region in turmoil following the killing of Iran\u2019s supreme leader in U.S. and Israeli air strikes.<\/p>\n
The Iranian government, now without the country\u2019s spiritual leader but with a military command structure still seemingly intact, continued strikes on Israel and on U.S. targets in Gulf states, Iraq and Jordan.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s military said it began a new wave of attacks in Iran. Explosions were heard in the Iranian capital Sunday morning. Israel\u2019s military said it is striking targets belonging to \u201cthe Iranian terror regime\u201d located \u201cin the heart of Tehran.\u201d The Israeli air force said it conducted large-scale strikes to establish air superiority and \u201cpave the path to Tehran.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iranian state media Saturday confirmed the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, in air strikes targeting his office in Tehran. An Iran state broadcaster delivered the news in tears. Khamenei assumed the position of spiritual leader after the death in 1989 of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini – leader of Iran\u2019s Islamic revolution.<\/p>\n
Iran said it had established a three-person temporary leadership council to govern the country under Islamic law before a panel of Shia clerics chooses a new spiritual leader.<\/p>\n
On Sunday mourners packed Tehran\u2019s Enghelab Square and public spaces in other cities to mark what they consider Khamenei\u2019s martyrdom.<\/p>\n
In the southwestern city of Yasuj, videos posted to social media showed a large crowd chanting \u2018the lion of God has been killed\u2019. NPR could not independently verify the videos.<\/p>\n
Iran said the attack also killed Khamenei\u2019s daughter, grandchild, daughter-in-law and son-in-law. It said Armed Forces Chief of Staff Abdolrahim Mousavi and Major General Shahid Rezaian, a senior intelligence chief, also died in airstrikes.<\/p>\n
There was no apparent sign of renewed protests that rocked Iran starting in December.<\/p>\n
Iranian security forces are believed to have killed thousands of demonstrators at the time, after anger over Iran\u2019s financial crisis turned into anti-regime protests. U.S. treasury secretary Scott Bessent said the United States had engineered that financial crisis.<\/p>\n
One Tehran resident said she and her friends, who have joined protests over years, shouted in joy from the rooftops when they heard Khamenei had been killed.<\/p>\n
She said one of her friends in the city of Karaj near Tehran was later shot as he and other young people danced in the streets.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe basiji came,\u201d she said, referring to paramilitary internal security forces. \u201cHe was shot in his back and his leg.\u201d The woman, who asked to be identified only as Roxana in fear of regime retaliation, said her friend could not go to hospital in fear of arrest.<\/p>\n
In Lebanon, the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah announced a commemoration in Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs to mark the death. Hezbollah had warned it would not let Khamenei\u2019s death go unpunished, but has so far stayed on the sidelines.<\/p>\n
In Iraq, where Iran-backed paramilitaries are part of official government security forces, the government blocked entrances to Baghdad\u2019s green zone to protect the U.S. and other embassies based there. They deployed riot police against a group of militia members trying to breach the barricades.<\/p>\n
In Jordan, which discretely hosts major U.S. military bases, residents woke up to air raid sirens and the thud of missiles being intercepted.<\/p>\n
The oil-rich Gulf, long seen as a safe haven for expatriates and the economic engine for countries that provide most of its skilled and un-skilled labor, faced perhaps the biggest shocks.<\/p>\n
Iran on Saturday and Sunday targeted luxury hotels and high-rise apartments believed to house U.S. personnel. Instead of the usual flood of social influencer posts basking in the winter sunshine of Dubai and its neighboring emirates, videos of drones striking high-rise buildings dominated social media feeds. Some images showed smoke filling part of the concourse of Dubai\u2019s airport as staff fled the building.<\/p>\n
The attacks shut down several major airport hubs in the Middle East, including Dubai\u2019s international airport, one of the world\u2019s busiest. The airport and the emirate\u2019s famed Burj Al Arab hotel were damaged in Iranian attacks. Other projectiles also hit airports in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait.<\/p>\n
Iran Sunday threatened its biggest wave of attacks yet on Israel and U.S. military bases. It said that since the start of its retaliation for Saturday\u2019s strikes, its projectiles had hit 27 U.S. bases in the region, along with an Israeli base and the Israeli army\u2019s general command headquarters. There was no confirmation of these strikes from the U.S. or Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be no mercy or forgiveness in taking revenge for the leader,\u201d the Iranian ministry of defense said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Iran had also made clear Saturday that it would also attack shipping vessels and other commercial interests, and announced it was closing the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for Gulf oil exports.<\/p>\n
The OPEC group of oil producing countries was set to meet Sunday to decide on increasing production, hoping to avoid a severe rise in oil prices if supplies from the Gulf are restricted by the conflict.<\/p>\n
President Trump in announcing the attacks Saturday had told Iranians they should take back their government after the strikes were finished. The killing of Khamenei and widening of Iranian targets pushed Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities \u2014 the U.S. administration\u2019s original stated reason for attacking Iran \u2014 to the sidelines.<\/p>\n
President Trump on Sunday in a post on \u201cTruth Social\u201d warned<\/a> Iran against further retaliation, writing \u201cTHEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!\u201d<\/p>\n