Israel says its warplanes hit Tehran again after killing Khamenei but many targets remain

Summary

• Israel and Iran each launch fresh strikes
• More blasts heard in Dubai and Doha
• Air raid sirens sound in Israel
• Protests in Pakistan
• Top Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Sistani offers condolences after Khamenei's killing

Israel launched a new wave of strikes on Tehran on Sunday, saying it aimed to dominate the skies after killing Iran's supreme leader and leaving the Islamic Republic grappling to rebuild its leadership amid its biggest test in five decades.

The US and Israeli strikes -- and Iranian retaliation -- sent shockwaves through sectors from shipping to air travel to oil, amid warnings of rising energy costs and disruption to business in the strategic waterway, a global trade hub.

In a sign of widening turmoil, Israel's ambulance service said eight people were killed by a missile strike in the town of Beit Shemesh, the United Arab Emirates said Iranian attacks killed three people and Kuwait reported one dead in Iranian raids.

The Israeli military said its air force had killed Khamenei, adding that over the past day Israeli planes conducted strikes to open the "path to Tehran", and the majority of aerial defence systems in western and central Iran had been dismantled.

But Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said many targets remained, including sites of military‑industrial production. "We have the capabilities and the targets to keep going on for as long as necessary," he said.

Ground forces not being considered, Israel says

Asked whether Israel was considering deploying ground forces to Iran, Shoshani said that was not under consideration even though US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have urged Iranians to seize a rare opportunity to topple their leaders.

Hours after the US and Israel said an air strike killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the military campaign to overthrow the government of the Islamic Republic, Iran's state media confirmed the 86-year-old leader had died.

Inside Iran, some grieved for Khamenei while others celebrated his death, exposing a deep fault line in a country stunned by the sudden demise of the man who ruled for decades.

Thousands of Iranians were killed during a crackdown authorised by Khamenei against anti-government protests in January, the deadliest wave of unrest since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

Footage from Tehran showed mourners packed into a square, dressed in black and many of them weeping.

But videos posted on social media also 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 city, near Tehran in Alborz province, and celebrating in the streets of Izeh in Khuzestan province. Reuters has verified the locations of these videos.

Khamenei, who built Iran into a powerful anti-US force and spread its sway across the Middle East during his 36-year iron-fisted rule, was working in his office at the time of Saturday's attack, state media said. The raid also killed his daughter, grandchild, daughter-in-law and son-in-law.

Two US sources and a US official familiar with the matter said Israel and the US timed their attack on Saturday to coincide with a meeting Khamenei was holding with top aides.

Insiders in Iran said the ruling establishment would immediately seek to name a successor to Khamenei to signal stability and continuity.

Experts said that while his death and those of other Iranian leaders would deal Iran a major blow, it would not necessarily spell the end of Iran's entrenched clerical rule or the sway of the elite Revolutionary Guards over the population.

As supreme leader, Khamenei held ultimate power in Iran, acting as commander-in-chief of the armed forces and deciding on the direction of foreign policy, defined largely by confrontation with the United States and Israel.

Under Iran's constitution, the Supreme Leader is appointed by the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member clerical body that supervises and in theory can sack that figure.

'Go back to your senses', UAE adviser tells Iran

Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced Khamenei's death as a cynical murder and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi described it as "blatant killing", while European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the death of Khamenei was "a defining moment in Iran's history".

Pope Leo told pilgrims in St. Peter's Square he is following events after the strikes with "deep concern" and appealed for a halt to what he called a "spiral of violence".

After Iran retaliated with airstrikes around the Gulf, Anwar Gargash, adviser to the president of US ally and oil power the United Arab Emirates, urged Tehran to "go back to your senses", saying the war is not with Iran's Gulf Arab neighbours. The UAE has so far borne the heaviest brunt of Iran's retaliation.

Trump warned on Sunday that the US would hit Iran "with a force that has never been seen before" if it strikes back after the attacks on it.

Iran vows 'terrifying blows'

In remarks directed at Trump and his close ally Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said "we will strike you with such terrifying blows that you yourselves will be driven to beg".

"I say to Trump and Netanyahu and their agents and proxies, I repeat, I say to these two filthy criminals and to all their agents: you have crossed our red line, and you must pay the price for it."

At least 150 tankers including crude oil and liquefied natural gas vessels dropped anchor in open Gulf waters beyond the Strait of Hormuz and dozens more were stationary on the other side of the chokepoint, shipping data showed on Sunday, after the U.S and Israeli strikes.

The oil tankers were clustered in open waters off the coasts of major Gulf oil producers including Iraq and Saudi Arabia as well as LNG giant Qatar, according to Reuters estimates based on ship-tracking data from the MarineTraffic platform.

Khamenei had a following among fellow Shi'ites outside Iran in countries such as Iraq and Pakistan, which have the largest Shi'ite populations after Iran.

Unrest in Pakistan, Iraq

Pakistani police on Sunday clashed with protesters who breached the outer wall of the US consulate in Karachi, leaving nine people dead, following news of Khamenei's death.

In Iraq, police fired tear gas and stun grenades to scatter hundreds of pro-Iranian protesters who gathered outside the Green Zone in Baghdad, where the US Embassy is located.

Global air travel remained heavily disrupted as continued air strikes kept major Middle Eastern airports, including Dubai - the world's busiest international hub - closed in one of the biggest aviation interruptions in recent years.

Several blasts were heard for a second day in Dubai and over Qatar's capital of Doha, witnesses said. Dark smoke rose over Dubai's Jebel Ali port, one of the busiest in the Middle East.

Iran, which had said it would target US bases if attacked, hit a range of other targets, keeping the Gulf on edge.

Trump said the air strikes aimed to end a decades-long threat from Iran and ensure it could not develop a nuclear weapon. He also sought to justify a risky gambit that seemed to contradict his professed opposition to American involvement in complex overseas conflicts.