TOP DEVELOPMENTS
Ayatollah killed: Iranian state TV confirmed the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday, hours after US President Donald Trump said he had been killed in joint US-Israeli airstrikes. Iranian media said his daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter were also killed.
Top Iranian officials dead: Iran’s chief of army staff and defence minister were killed in an airstrike on a defence council meeting, state television reported.
Iran vows retaliation: President Masoud Pezeshkian called Khamenei’s killing a "declaration of war against Muslims," vowing revenge. Security chief Ali Larijani promised to hit the US and Israel with "a force never seen before."
Israel resumes strikes: The Israeli military said it launched "large-scale" strikes targeting the "heart of Tehran," aiming to establish aerial superiority and "pave the path to Tehran."
Oil tanker attacked: Oman and Iran's state TV said an oil tanker, with 15 Indians among the crew, was attacked by Iran while attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump warns Tehran: Trump cautioned Iran against escalation, saying US forces would respond with "force that has never been seen before."
Interim leadership named: Iran appointed 66-year-old cleric Ayatollah Alireza Arafi to its leadership council alongside President Pezeshkian and judiciary chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehei until a new supreme leader is chosen.
School strike toll rises: A prosecutor said the death toll from Saturday’s US-Israeli strike on a girls’ elementary school inside Iran has risen to 148, with 95 wounded.
Flights cancelled in India: India’s Civil Aviation Ministry said 350 flights were cancelled "in view of airspace restrictions arising from geopolitical developments in the Middle East."
Protests across India: From Kashmir to Karnataka, Shia mourners took to the streets to express grief over Khamenei's killing. Tens of thousands in Kashmir staged protests, chanting "Death to America" and "Death to Israel."
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held a telephone call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi, during which the two exchanged views on the latest developments, a Turkish official said.
Turkey has voiced concern over recent US-Israeli attacks on Iran as well as Iranian strikes targeting Gulf countries. Ankara has also called for a ceasefire and a return to negotiations to de-escalate tensions.
The chairman of the US Senate Intelligence Committee says a priority for its joint military campaign is Iran’s “vast missile arsenal.”
Republican Tom Cotton of Arkansas told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that those missiles threatened American troops “from bases as far flung as the Indian Ocean to Western Europe.”
“We’re stopping a lot of them from being fired before Iran can fire them. It’s much easier to kill the archer on the ground than it is to shoot his arrows out of the sky,” he said in the television interview.
Gulf countries will convene this evening to discuss a unified response to Iran's attacks, two Gulf diplomats said, as Tehran presses on with a second day of strikes after US and Israeli attacks killed its supreme leader.
"It will be an online meeting of GCC foreign ministers due to the airport closures," a Gulf diplomat told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. He said the discussions will revolve around "Iranian attacks on Gulf states and coordination on a unified response."
Another Gulf diplomat confirmed the information.
Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry said it summoned the Iranian ambassador on Sunday, a day after the kingdom accused Tehran of targeting its territory with strikes.
"Foreign Ministry summons the Iranian ambassador to the Kingdom in response to Iran's brazen attacks that targeted the Kingdom and a number of brotherly countries," the ministry said in a statement on its X account.
Three people have been killed and 58 others injured in the UAE since Iran began its retaliatory campaign in the Gulf in response to US and Israeli attacks, authorities said.
The UAE has detected 165 ballistic missiles, destroying 152, and intercepted two cruise missiles, its defence ministry said.
A total of "541 Iranian drones were detected, 506 of which were intercepted and destroyed", the ministry added in a statement.
The attacks resulted in the deaths of three people of Pakistani, Nepalese and Bangladeshi nationality, it said.
A barrage of missiles launched from Iran killed at least eight people in the central Israel city of Bet Shemesh on Sunday, Israeli first responders said, updating an earlier toll.
The Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service said: "In the Beit Shemesh area, MDA EMTs and paramedics have pronounced the deaths of eight casualties", as well as 23 injuries, with police saying it was a direct hit on a building. These fatalities bring the total death toll in Israel from the latest confrontation with arch foe Iran to nine.
Israel’s police said at least five people were killed and 23 others wounded in a strike that hit central Israel on Sunday. A spokesperson for the rescue services said searches were ongoing for additional victims.
Iran has so far launched dozens of rockets at Israel.
Iran fired 97 ballistic missiles and 283 drones at Kuwait since the start of the war between the US, Israel and Iran, the Gulf nation’s military said.
The military said in a statement interception operations led to shrapnel falling in parts of the county, causing “limited damage.”
On Saturday, the military said three Kuwaiti troops were wounded when shrapnel landed in the Ali Al Salem airbase.
An air strike in central Iraq killed four fighters from the former paramilitary coalition Hashed al-Shaabi on Sunday, security officials and a Hashed source told AFP.
The fighters from the Hashed al-Shaabi, or the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), which is now part of Iraq's regular army, "were killed in an air strike on their base" in the central Diyala province.
Another eight fighters were wounded. A PMF source confirmed "the martyrdom of four fighters in an attack on their base" in Diyala.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Sunday they have launched a new wave of attacks against the "enemy" after Israeli and US strikes which killed the Islamic republic's supreme leader.
"Moments ago, the seventh and eighth waves of Operation Honest Promise 4 against the enemy were launched on a large-scale," the Guards said in a statement carried by local media, without specifying the targets.
Iran's state TV said Sunday that an oil tanker was sinking after it was struck while attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. The incident took place as Iran exchanged strikes with the United States and Israel.
"The fate of the offending oil tanker that was struck while attempting to illegally pass through the Strait of Hormuz is that it is now sinking," state TV reported, without elaborating. It carried footage showing heavy black smoke emanating from the burning tanker at sea.
On Saturday, Iran's Revolutionary Guards had warned that the strategic waterway was unsafe due to the US and Israeli attacks and was therefore closed to ships. The strait of Hormuz carries a quarter of the world's seaborne oil and a fifth of all liquified natural gas.
AFP correspondents and residents heard fresh explosions across the Gulf cities of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Manama on Sunday, as Iran pressed on with its retaliatory campaign for a second day.
Journalists heard several blasts in Dubai, with Abu Dhabi residents reporting loud bangs.
Sirens sounded in Manama, where correspondents also heard an explosion, while in the Qatari capital a journalist heard a blast faintly.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi sharply criticized the killing of Khamenei in a phone call with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
“The blatant killing of the leader of a sovereign state and the incitement of regime change are unacceptable,” he was quoted as saying by China’s official Xinhua News Agency. “These actions violate international law and the basic norms governing international relations.”
Wang Yi said attacking a sovereign state without UN Security Council authorization undermines the foundation for peace established after World War II. “The international community should speak in a clear and unequivocal voice, opposing the world regressing to the law of the jungle,” he said.
Pope Leo XIV said on Sunday he was “profoundly concerned” about the US and Israeli strikes on Iran and urged both sides to “stop the spiral of violence before it becomes an irreparable abyss.”
In the Holy See’s first reaction to the attacks, the American pope called for the resumption of diplomacy and a “reasonable, authentic and responsible” dialogue based on justice. Weapons, he said, only sow “destruction, pain and death," he said from his studio window overlooking St. Peter’s Square at his traditional noontime blessing
The Civil Aviation Ministry on Sunday announced that 350 flights operated by domesctic carriers have been cancelled "in view of airspace restrictions arising from geopolitical developments in the Middle East."
"Passengers are advised to check their flight status with the concerned airlines and remain in close coordination with them for any required assistance. The Ministry of Civil Aviation is in close coordination with airlines, airport operators and other stakeholders to proactively monitor the situation and facilitate necessary passenger support," it wrote on X.
Israel’s military said on Sunday it was “not aware” of any US or Israeli strike on a school in Iran, after Iranian authorities said the site had been hit a day earlier, killing more than 100 people.
"At this point not aware of an Israeli or an American strike there... We're operating in an extremely accurate manner," military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters at a briefing in response to questions about the strike.
Iran’s Red Crescent earlier put the death toll at 108. However, Ebrahim Taheri, a prosecutor in Minab, told the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency that the toll from Saturday’s US and Israeli strike on a girls’ school in southern Iran’s Minab county had risen to 148 killed and 95 wounded.
Israel’s military claimed on Sunday that its strikes had killed 40 top Iranian military officials, including the chief of staff for the Iranian armed forces, Abdolrahim Mousavi. Israel did not provide evidence, and neither Iran nor the United States 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 towards establishing aerial superiority over the skies of Tehran.”
The Omani port of Duqm that Iran struck Sunday has been used by the US Navy as a logistical hub and is capable of hosting aircraft carriers.
The US and Oman signed a strategic framework agreement in 2019 that expanded the Navy’s access to Omani ports by allowing ships to dock in Duqm and Salalah. Both ports lie on Oman’s Arabian Sea coast, allowing ships to dock without having to transit the narrow Strait of Hormuz to access other major ports in the Persian Gulf.
Oman and Iran front the Strait of Hormuz.
The US Navy has used access to Duqm for ship maintenance and replenishment, which typically involves activities such as refueling and loading of supplies. The UK also has a logistics base at the port.
The sultanate of Oman has long tried to keep a lower profile in the region. It has frequently acted as a bridge between the US and Iran, most recently mediating talks between the two countries in Geneva.
British Defense Minister John Healey said Iranian missile and drone strikes came within a few hundred yards of a group of 300 British military personnel in Bahrain and that two missiles were fired in the direction of Cyprus, where the UK has bases.
"We don’t believe they were targeted at Cyprus, but nevertheless, it’s an example of how there is a very real and rising threat from a regime that is lashing out widely across the region, and that requires us to act," Healey told Sky News. He said British planes will intercept any Iranian drones and missiles they see.
Meanwhile, Cyprus government spokesman Constantinos Letymbiotis posted on X that reports suggesting missiles had been fired toward Cyprus are not valid and that "there is no indication whatsoever that any threat to the country has occurred."
Crucial intelligence from the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) — indicating that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would attend a meeting of senior Iranian officials — helped shape the joint US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader, The New York Times has reported.
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah vowed Sunday to confront the United States and Israel over their strikes on the group's key backer Iran.
"We will undertake our duty of confronting the aggression" of the US and Israel, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said in a statement, adding that they would not leave "the field of honour and resistance."
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday slammed the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US and Israeli strikes as a "cynical violation" of morality and law.
In a letter to his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian published by the Kremlin, Putin expressed "deepest condolences for the assassination of" Khamenei, saying the killing was "carried out in a cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law."
Iran has selected a 66-year-old cleric to join the three-member leadership council that will govern the country until a new supreme leader is selected.
Alireza Arafi, a cleric member of the Guardian Council, has been appointed as the jurist member of Iran’s Leadership Council, a body tasked with fulfilling the supreme leader’s role until the Assembly of Experts elects a new leader, reported Al Jazeera.
Arafi will be part of the temporary Leadership Council alongside President Masoud Pezeshkian and Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei. He was handpicked by late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a member of the Guardian Council in 2019.
AFP reported its correspondents and residents in Riyadh hearing loud explosions in the east of the Saudi capital on Sunday, as Iran presses on with a second day of retaliatory strikes across the Gulf.
Residents in eastern Riyadh told AFP they heard several loud bangs and saw smoke rising, with correspondents also hearing the explosions.
Iran's security chief Ali Larijani vowed on Sunday to hit the US and Israel with a force never seen before following their strikes on the Islamic republic which killed the country's supreme leader.
"YESTERDAY IRAN FIRED MISSILES AT THE UNITED STATES AND ISRAEL, AND THEY DID HURT. TODAY WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT THEY HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED BEFORE," said Larijani in a post on X.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said Sunday that the killing of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US and Israeli strikes was a "declaration of war against Muslims".
"The assassination of the highest political authority of the Islamic Republic of Iran and a prominent leader of Shiism worldwide... is perceived as an open declaration of war against Muslims, and particularly against Shiites, everywhere in the world," Pezeshkian said in a statement carried by state TV.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran considers it its legitimate duty and right to avenge the perpetrators and masterminds of this historic crime," he added.
Iran's police intelligence chief Gholamreza Rezaian was killed during US and Israeli strikes on the Islamic republic, local media reported Sunday.
"General Gholamreza Rezaian, head of the national police intelligence, was killed following the yesterday's (Saturday) enemy attacks," Fars news agency reported, alongside other media outlets.
Air France cancelled its flights scheduled for Sunday to Beirut, Dubai and Riyadh as a result of Israeli-US strikes on Iran and Tehran's retaliation, the airline said in a statement.
Those suspensions came on top of the previously announced cancellation of its flights to Tel Aviv in Israel.
"Air France will provide further information on its flight schedule to these destinations for the following days at a later date," the French flag carrier said in a statement.
Palestinian group Hamas on Sunday mourned Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and described his assassination by the US and Israel as a "heinous crime."
"We in Hamas mourn the passing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He provided all forms of political, diplomatic and military support to our people, our cause, and our resistance," the Palestinian resistance movement said in a statement.
"The US and the fascist occupation government bear full responsibility for this blatant aggression and heinous crime against the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as for its serious repercussions on the security and stability of the region."
Oman said an oil tanker was targeted off the coast of an exclave in the UAE on Sunday, with its crew evacuated and four of them injured, as Iran carried out retaliatory strikes on US military bases in the Gulf.
"The Maritime Security Centre announced that the oil tanker (SKYLIGHT), flying the flag of the Republic of Palau, was targeted 5 nautical miles north of the port of Khasab in the governorate of Musandam," the Oman News Agency said on X.
"All crew members of the tanker, consisting of 20 people, including 15 Indians and 5 Iranians, were evacuated. Initial information indicates that four members of the ship's crew sustained varying injuries," it added.
A top Emirati official said Sunday Iran's Gulf attacks had isolated the country, warning Tehran not to target its neighbours, as its retaliatory campaign in the region entered its second day.
"The Iranian aggression against the Gulf states was a miscalculation and it isolated Iran at a critical juncture. Your war is not with your neighbours," said presidential adviser Anwar Gargash.
"Return to reason, to your surroundings, and deal with your neighbours rationally and responsibly before the circle of isolation and escalation widens."
Several explosions were heard in the Iranian capital on Sunday, as Israeli army announced it had begun striking targets deep inside Tehran, a day after it killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a joint military action with the US.
The blasts were heard in northern Tehran and smoke was seen emanating from a building, reported AFP. It was not immediately clear what the target was.
"The IDF is striking targets that belong to the Iranian terror regime in the heart of Tehran," the military said. "Over the past day, the Israeli Air Force conducted large-scale strikes in order to establish aerial superiority and to pave the path to Tehran."
Thousands of flights have been delayed or cancelled in the biggest disruption to global air transport since the Covid pandemic as airlines suspend services to the Middle East following the US and Israeli attacks on Iran.
Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates all announced at least partial closures of their skies after Saturday's strikes and Iran launching missiles at capital cities around the wealthy Gulf region.
Major carriers from the Middle East, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the United States announced widespread cancellations, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.
Notable airlines that cancelled services included Emirates, Etihad, Air France, British Airways, Air India, Turkish Airlines, and Lufthansa.
Hundreds of people stormed the US Consulate in Pakistan's port city of Karachi on Sunday, smashing windows after the US and Israeli attacked Iran and killed the country's supreme leader, police said.
Police and paramilitary forces used batons and fired tear gas to disperse the crowd, said Mohammad Jawad, a police official.
At least one protester was killed and several others were wounded in clashes between protesters and security forces, he said.
(Associated Press)
Hundreds of pro-Iranian protesters tried to storm the United States consulate in the Pakistan megacity of Karachi on Sunday, an AFP journalist saw.
A crowd of young people climbed over the main gate and gained access to the driveway of the consular building, smashing some windows.
Police fired tear gas at the protesters who dispersed, the AFP journalist saw.
Several people attacked an Iranian cultural centre in Ecuador's capital Quito, police said Saturday, leaving one person injured and the facility damaged amid US and Israeli strikes against Iran.
According to authorities, the group arrived in a convoy of vehicles and used sticks, stones and tear gas to break the centre's windows and assault people inside. People at the centre were praying during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
One person was reportedly injured in the attack. It was unclear whether anyone had been arrested.
"It is an act of aggression," police said in a statement to the media.
Videos shared on social media show people with Israeli, US and Iranian opposition flags near the facility.
A woman can be heard shouting, "Get out, murderers, get out, terrorists. You have to leave this country."
The United Nations' nuclear agency will hold an extraordinary meeting on Iran on Monday in the wake of the US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic republic.
In a statement late on Saturday, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the meeting was at the request of Russia, a key ally of Tehran.
Iran had made the same request in a letter to IAEA chief Rafael Grossi on Saturday following the strikes, which killed the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
As a result, the agency will hold a "special session of the IAEA Board of Governors on matters related to military strikes of the United States and Israel against the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran," the IAEA said in a statement.
That extraordinary meeting will precede an already scheduled session of the board, which represents 35 countries.
Air raid sirens sounded and explosions were heard over Jerusalem on Sunday after the Israeli military said it had detected missiles launched from Iran towards Israel.
"Sirens were sounded in several areas across the country, following the identification of missiles launched from Iran toward the State of Israel," the military said.
"At this time, the Israeli Air Force is operating to intercept and strike threats where necessary to remove the threat."
Iraq announced on Sunday a three-day mourning period after the death of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Government spokesman Bassem al-Awadi said in a statement that "with deep sorrow, we extend our condolences to the noble people of Iran and the entire Muslim world" after Khamenei was killed in "a blatant act of aggression."
He said the government had announced three days of mourning.
Iran's security chief Ali Larijani warned on Sunday against attempts to divide Iran following the killing of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US and Israeli strikes.
In a statement published by the Fars state news agency, Larijani said the Israeli "regime has no choice but to resort to partitioning large countries in order to ensure its own survival."
Larijani also described US President Donald Trump as "the perfect symbol of plunder" and accused him of seeking to grab resources from Iran.
"America and the Zionist regime burned the hearts of the Iranian nation, and we will burn their hearts too," he added.
AFP correspondents in Dubai heard a second wave of explosions on Sunday morning, as Iran carried out retaliatory attacks on US military bases in the Gulf following the US and Israeli strikes that killed its supreme leader.
Earlier blasts were heard in Dubai, Doha and the Bahraini capital Manama.
According to Reuters, Dubai's international airport, which handles more than 1,000 flights a day, sustained damage during an Iranian retaliatory attack. Airports in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait were also hit.
Middle Eastern countries have shut their airspaces amid the attacks and major airlines are cancelling their services to and from the region.
On Sunday, the UAE's Etihad Airways said it has suspended flights to and from Abu Dhabi until 2 am on Monday.
Thousands of mourners have gathered in the historic Iranian city of Isfahan to pay tribute to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reported Al Jazeera.
The 86-year-old leader, along with his daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law and grandchild was killed in a joint airstrike by Israel and US in Tehran on Saturday.
Iran's top security official has said that that the trasition of leadership following the assassination of the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will begin on Sunday, reported AFP.
"An interim leadership council will soon be formed. The president, the head of the judiciary and a jurist from the Guardian Council will assume responsibility until the election of the next leader," said Larijani, the head of Iran's top security body, the Supreme National Security Council, who was an adviser to Khamenei.
"This council will be established as soon as possible. We are working to form it as early as today," he said in an interview broadcast by state TV.
Thick black smoke could be seen over Doha on Sunday morning after several loud explosions were heard across the Qatari captial, according to an AFP journalist.
The smoke could be seen on the clear morning horizon in the south of the city after Iran targeted US bases across the Gulf states in retaliation for a massive US and Israeli attack that killed Iranian leader Ali Khamenei.
Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Sunday described US and Israeli leaders as "filthy criminals" who will face "devastating blows" for their attacks on his country.
"We have prepared ourselves for these moments and have considered all scenarios," Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a video carried on state TV, adding US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have "crossed our red lines" and "will suffer the consequences."
"We will deliver such devastating blows that you yourselves will be driven to beg," he said.
At least 148 people has been killed and 95 others injured in the US-Israeli attack on an elementary girls’ school in southern Iran’s Minab city, reported Al Jazeera.
US President Donald Trump on Sunday said he would hit Iran with "force that has never been seen before" if the country retaliated against US and Israeli strikes that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"Iran just stated that they are going to hit very hard today, harder than they have ever hit before," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
"THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!"
Israel's defence minister hailed on Sunday the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in joint strikes with the United States, saying "justice has been served."
"Khamenei was eliminated... along with senior members of the Iranian fortress of terror," Minister Israel Katz said in a statement shared on social media.
"Justice has been served, and the Axis of evil has taken a severe beating."
President Donald Trump made his case for war against Iran early on Saturday as US and Israeli forces bombed the Islamic republic, claiming conflict was required to eliminate "imminent threats" from Tehran.
Iran "rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions," Trump claimed in a roughly eight-minute video message posted on social media more than an hour after US strikes began.
"They attempted to rebuild their nuclear program and to continue developing long-range missiles" that "could soon reach the American homeland," the US president claimed, also calling on Iranians to overthrow their government.
But Iran was said to have signaled in talks that it was willing to cease stockpiling nuclear material, while Tehran may still be years away from developing significant quantities of missiles with intercontinental range -- raising significant questions about Trump's rationale for the conflict.
Hundreds of Iraqis attempted early Sunday to storm Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, where the US embassy is located, after the death of Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, a security source told AFP.
"Their attempts had been thwarted so far, but they keep trying," the source said.
Videos shared on social media showed protesters throwing stones at security forces, who responded with tear gas. An AFP staffer saw hundreds of people holding flags of a pro-Iran armed group.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has announced a sixth wave of retaliatory attacks on Israel and US on 27 military bases in the Middle East, reported Al Jazeera, citing Iranian state media.
The IRGC said 27 US bases, as well as the Israeli Tel Nof airbase, the Israeli army’s command headquarters at HaKirya in Tel Aviv, and a large defence industrial complex in the same city, were attacked.
It added that Iranian forces will "implement a different and harsh step of revenge, with successive, regrettable slaps."
Iran launched a new wave of missile and drone strikes on Sunday targeting US military bases in the region and Israel, state media said, in retaliation for a massive attack that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Twenty-seven US bases in the region, as well as Israel's military headquarters and a defence industries complex in Tel Aviv, were among the targets, Iranian state TV said.
Israel's military said it was responding to Iranian missile fire on Sunday, with air raid sirens activated across central Israel and parts of the occupied West Bank.
"Sirens were sounded in several areas across the country, following the identification of missiles launched from Iran toward the State of Israel," a military statement said, adding that the air force was "operating to intercept and strike threats where necessary".
Thousands of mourners gathered on Sunday in the centre of Iran's capital after the death of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to AFP journalists.
The mourners, dressed mostly in black and some crying, chanted "death to America" and "death to Israel" in Enghelab (Revolution) Square, with many waving Iran's flags and holding photos of Khamenei.
Loud explosions were heard early Sunday near Erbil airport, which hosts US-led coalition troops in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region.
According to a report by AFP, thick black smoke was seen rising from the airport area.
On Saturday, US-led coalition forces downed several missiles and explosive-laden drones over Erbil.
As outlined in its constitution, Iran on Sunday formed a council to assume leadership duties and govern the country.
The council is made up of Iran's sitting president, the head of the country's judiciary and a member of the Guardian Council chosen by Iran's Expediency Council, which advises the supreme leader and settles disputes with parliament.
Iran's reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian and hard-line judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei are its members who will step in and "temporarily assume all the duties of leadership."
The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and a top security adviser to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were killed in American-Israel airstrikes on the country, state media reported Sunday.
The Guards' commander, General Mohammad Pakpour, and Ali Shamkhani, the head of the national defence council, were "martyred" in Saturday's attacks, the Iranian judiciary's Mizan online news portal reported.
Flights across the Middle East were cancelled Saturday as several countries closed their airspace after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday they would launch the "most ferocious" operation in history against Israel and US bases.
"The most ferocious offensive operation in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran's armed forces will begin any moment now," the Guards posted on Telegram.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead, Iranian state media reported early Sunday.
Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency confirmed Khamenei's death early Sunday, hours after Donald Trump announced the killing of the 86-year-old cleric he described as "one of the most evil people in History."
IRNA news agency reported the 86-year-old's death without elaborating on the cause.
The United States and Israel on Saturday defended their attacks on Iran, which called resulting civilian deaths a "war crime" during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
"The international community has long affirmed a simple and necessary principle: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon," said US ambassador Mike Waltz, pointing to past UN resolutions ignored by Tehran.
"That principle is not a matter of politics, it's a matter of global security, and to that end, the United States is taking lawful actions," he added.
Referencing Iran's recent deadly crackdowns on protesters, Waltz said that Iran's presence at Saturday's emergency meeting in New York "makes a mockery of this body."
"But where the UN lacks moral clarity, the United States of America will maintain it," he added.
A major attack launched by Israel and the United States killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Donald Trump said Saturday, announcing an assassination that he said gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back" their country but that also put the future of the Islamic Republic in doubt and raised the risk of regional instability.
“Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” Trump wrote in a social media post. He warned of “heavy and pinpoint bombing” that he said would continue throughout the week and even beyond, part of a lethal assault the U.S. has justified as necessary to disable the country's nuclear capabilities.
Iran did not immediately confirm the death.
The US Central Command, in a post on X, shared unclassified footage of the air strikes on Iran.
Describing the operation as a "bold action", CENTCOM said its objective was to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime.
"The President ordered bold action," the post read, adding that CENTCOM forces were delivering an overwhelming and unrelenting blow.
Iranian state media on Sunday confirmed the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in joint strikes by the US and Israel in Tehran on Saturday.
Khamenei's daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter were also killed in the strikes. Iran state television announced a 40-day mourning period and seven public holidays following the death of the 86-year-old leader, who is revered by Shia Muslims accross the globe.
Following the death of Khamenei, Alireza Arafi has been appointed to lead Iran temporarily. Arafi, a cleric member of the Guardian Council, has been appointed as the jurist member of Iran’s Leadership Council.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) plegded revenge and vowed the "most ferocious" operation in history against Israel and US in retaliation to the killing of Khamenei. Responding to the threat, US President Trump on Sunday said he would hit Iran with "force that has never been seen before."
Explosions were reported in Israel, Doha, Dubai and Manama as the IRGC announced attacks on Israel and 27 military bases of US in the Middle East.
Israel and the US carried out waves of strikes on Saturday, including a daylight attack on Tehran. The first strike was reported near Khamenei’s office. An Israeli strike also hit an elementary girls’ school in Minab in Hormozgan province in southern Iran, killing at least 148 people, including students.
The Iranian Red Crescent said on Saturday evening that at least 201 people had been killed and 747 injured in the attacks.