The American and Israeli attacks—and Iran's retaliation—sent shock waves through various sectors, from shipping to aviation to oil, amid warnings of rising energy prices and disruption to business in the Persian Gulf, a strategic waterway and global trade hub.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkan said that following the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a leadership council composed of himself, the head of the judiciary, and a member of the influential Guardian Council had temporarily assumed the duties of supreme leader.
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 reported. The Americans subsequently denied this.
The Israeli emergency services reported that nine people were killed in a rocket attack in the city of Beit Shemesh, The United Arab Emirates said three people were killed in Iranian attacks, and Kuwait reported one death in Iranian airstrikes, signaling deepening unrest in the region.
What the Israeli army is planning
The Israeli army has announced that Israeli aircraft carried out attacks yesterday with the aim of opening "the road to Tehran" and that most of the air defense systems in western and central Iran have been shut down.
Its representatives added that "Ali Khamenei was attacked as part of a precise and extensive operation by the Israeli Air Force based on accurate intelligence information from the Israeli Defense Forces while he was at his central complex in the heart of Tehran, where he was with other senior officials."
Israeli army spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said that many targets remain, including military-industrial production sites. "We have the capacity and the targets to continue this for as long as necessary," he said.
When asked if Israel was considering deploying ground forces, Shoshani replied that this was not being considered, even though US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called on Iranians to seize a rare opportunity to overthrow their leaders.
Sadness and joy over Khamenei's death
Just hours after the US and Israel announced that Khamenei had been killed in an airstrike, Iranian state media confirmed the death of the 86-year-old leader.
In Iran, some people mourned Khamenei, while others celebrated his death, revealing a deep divide in a country stunned by the sudden "demise" of a man who had ruled for nearly four decades.
However, videos posted on social media showed joy and defiance elsewhere, with people cheering as a statue was toppled in the city of Dehloran in Ilam province, dancing in the streets of Karaj near Tehran in Alborz province, and celebrating in the streets of Izeh in Khuzestan province. Reuters verified the locations where these videos were found.
Khamenei, who during his 36-year reign with an iron fist has built Iran into a powerful anti-American force and expanded its influence throughout the Middle East, was working in his office at the time of Saturday's attack, state media reported. His daughter, granddaughter, daughter-in-law, and son-in-law were also killed in the attack.
Two American sources and an American official familiar with the matter said that Israel and the US timed their attack on Saturday to coincide with Khamenei's meeting with his 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 mean the end of Iran's entrenched clerical rule or the influence of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps over the population.
As supreme leader, Khamenei had supreme power in Iran, served as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and decided on the direction of foreign policy, which was largely defined by confrontation with the United States and Israel.
Both Trump and Iran promise threatening strikes
Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned Khamenei's death as a cynical murder, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called it a "blatant killing," while European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Khamenei's death was "a decisive moment in Iran's history."
After Iran responded to Israeli aggression with air strikes in the Persian Gulf, Anwar Mohammed Gargash, foreign policy adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates, called on Tehran to "come to its senses" and said it was not fighting Iran's Arab neighbors in the Persian Gulf. The United Arab Emirates has borne the brunt of Iran's retaliation so far.
On Sunday, following waves of Iranian retaliatory attacks, Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, warned on social media that Iran is not attacking Middle Eastern countries, but only US bases located there.
"To the countries of the region: We do not want to attack you. But when bases located in your countries are used against us, and when the United States carries out operations in the region that rely on these forces, we will target these bases. These bases are not the territory of these countries, they are American territory," Larijani wrote on social network X.
On Sunday, Trump warned that the US would attack Iran with "force like they've never seen before" if Iran strikes back at Israel in retaliation for the attacks.
Iran subsequently threatened the United States and Israel with harsh retaliation after the weekend attacks, which also killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani said Tehran would strike "with a force they have never seen before."
According to him, Iran has already fired missiles at Israeli targets and US bases in the region and is preparing another unprecedented action.
Shipping is at a standstill
Shipping data released on Sunday after the US and Israeli attacks show that at least 150 tankers, including vessels carrying oil and liquefied natural gas, have anchored in the open waters of the Persian Gulf beyond the Strait of Hormuz, and dozens more remain anchored on the other side of the narrow strait.
The oil tankers were located in open waters off the coast of major oil producers in the Persian Gulf, including Iraq and Saudi Arabia, as well as liquefied natural gas giant Qatar, according to Reuters estimates based on ship tracking data from MarineTraffic.
Global air travel remained severely disrupted as ongoing air strikes closed major airports in the Middle East, including Dubai, the world's busiest international hub, representing one of the biggest disruptions to air travel in recent years.
Witnesses reported hearing several explosions for the second day in a row in Dubai and over the Qatari capital of Doha. Dark smoke billowed over Dubai's Jebel Ali port, one of the busiest in the Middle East.
Unrest in Pakistan and Iraq
Khamenei had followers among his Shiite colleagues outside Iran in countries such as Iraq and Pakistan, which have the largest Shiite populations after Iran.
In Pakistan, clashes broke out between Pakistani police and demonstrators who, following reports of Khamenei's death, broke through the outer wall of the US consulate in Karachi, leaving nine people dead after a shootout.
In Iraq, police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse hundreds of pro-Iranian demonstrators who had gathered in front of the Green Zone in Baghdad, where the US embassy is located.
Iran, which has declared that it will target US bases in the event of an attack, has also struck a number of other targets, keeping the Persian Gulf tense.
Trump said the air strikes were aimed at ending decades of threats from Iran and ensuring that Iran could not develop nuclear weapons. He also sought to justify the risky move, which appeared to contradict his stated opposition to US involvement in complex foreign conflicts.
(reuters, im)