A second wave of strikes targeted Iran early Monday, following a massive U.S.-Israeli military operation on Saturday that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to officials. The renewed attacks reach as Iran launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes across the region, targeting Israel, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, and ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
The initial strikes on Saturday, described by President Trump as a move to “prevent this very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests,” flattened Khamenei’s compound in Tehran. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported the deaths of dozens of senior Iranian political figures and leaders within the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), including Defence Council secretary Ali Shamkhani, Defence Minister Brig Gen Aziz Nasirzadeh, and IRGC commander Gen Mohammad Pakpour. Ahmad Vahidi has been named as the new commander in chief of the IRGC.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian condemned the killing of Khamenei as a “declaration of war against Muslims, particularly Shiites across the globe,” and vowed to pursue “justice and retaliation” against those responsible. He called it “one of the gravest trials facing the Islamic world today.”
As of Monday, the Iranian Red Crescent reported 555 deaths across 130 locations. Iranian officials have stated that more than 150 people, including children, were killed in a strike on a school in southern Iran near an IRGC base.
The attacks have left Iran grappling with a leadership crisis, its biggest test in five decades. Israel was likewise struck by missiles launched from Iran, including one that hit Jerusalem. Allies of the U.S. In the Gulf have borne the brunt of Iran’s response, with missile and drone attacks reported across the region.
President Trump has called on Iran’s military forces to lay down their weapons and urged Iranian civilians to “capture over your government.” He indicated that “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would “continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary.”
Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shia militia group, joined the fighting on Monday, launching rockets into Israel from its bases in Lebanon. The extent of further escalation remains unclear.
