Iran Update — iran update: US and Israel launch new wave of attacks on Iran
US and Israeli forces opened a second day of intensive strikes on Iran after an Israeli airstrike killed the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The offensive, which began with a barrage of missiles and airstrikes on Saturday morning, has already shaken Tehran and spread violence across the Gulf, raising the prospect of wider regional war.
Trump warns of "a force that has never been seen before" after Khamenei's death
President Donald Trump said on Sunday the US would hit Iran "with a force that has never been seen before" if Tehran carried out threats to retaliate after what the administration described as the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an Israeli airstrike on Saturday. Trump wrote in a social media post: "Khamenei, one of the most evil people in history, is dead. " He added that Khamenei had been unable to avoid US intelligence and tracking systems and that "other leaders that have been killed along with him" could not escape the operation. Trump said the goal of the campaign, which began on Saturday morning with a barrage of missiles and airstrikes, was regime change and called on "the Iranian people to take back their country. "
Huge blast in Tehran near police headquarters, state TV and defence ministry
On Sunday morning a huge blast in Tehran sent a plume of smoke into the sky and shook the ground. The explosion appeared close to the country's police headquarters and Iranian state television, and was near Tehran's revolutionary court and a defence ministry building. The Israel Defense Forces said their air force was striking "in the heart of Tehran, " with efforts focused on destroying Iran's remaining air defences.
Iranian UN envoy Amir-Saeid Iravani says hundreds of civilians killed or injured
At an emergency security council meeting on Saturday Amir-Saeid Iravani, the Iranian ambassador to the UN, said hundreds of civilians had been killed or injured in the US-Israeli strikes. Iravani said the strikes had deliberately attacked civilian neighbourhoods in multiple cities.
Regional attacks hit Dubai, Doha and Gulf airports, causing major travel disruptions
Iranian retaliation has targeted Israel as well as civilian infrastructure and US military bases across the Arab Gulf states. Loud blasts were heard for a second day on Sunday in Dubai and over Qatar's capital, Doha, witnesses said. In Dubai, puffs of white smoke from missile interceptions were glimpsed in the skies while billows of dark smoke rose over the city's port, one of the busiest in the Middle East.
Dubai's Burj Al Arab hotel and its airport were damaged in Iranian attacks overnight, on sites that also hit airports in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait. The context notes that the Dubai airport, described as the world's busiest international travel hub, remained shut along with other major Middle East airports, creating one of global aviation's most severe disruptions in years. The context also states that the Dubai airport handles more than 1, 000 flights a day.
Warnings of escalation and the wider consequences for the region
The renewed violence on Sunday came amid heated rhetoric from Washington and Tehran that suggested further escalation in the coming hours and days and has plunged the Middle East into a new regional conflict with no certain timeline or outcome. The joint US-Israel offensive was described in the context as opening a new chapter in US intervention in the Middle East and bringing the prospect of a wider war in the region and months of chaos. The offensive is the second time in eight months that the Trump administration has used military force against Iran.
John Healey, the British defence secretary, said on Sunday morning: "This is a really serious and deteriorating situation, [with] rising risks of increasing Iranian indiscriminate retaliatory attacks. " Healey also accused Iran of "lashing out. " Air raid sirens sounded repeatedly across Israel early on Sunday, with a series of loud explosions heard in Jer unclear in the provided context.
As the strikes continue, the iran update underscores an unfolding crisis that has already killed and injured civilians, damaged major infrastructure and disrupted international travel across the Gulf, while officials warn the confrontation could widen in the coming days.
