Iran Update: US and Israel Intensify Strikes After Death of Supreme Leader Khamenei
US and Israeli forces launched another wave of intensive attacks across Iran on the second day of a military campaign that began on Saturday, after an Israeli airstrike killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This iran update matters because the strikes have already produced large explosions in Tehran, damage to major Gulf airports and public threats from the US president that raise the prospect of further escalation.
Israel Defense Forces operations in Tehran
The Israel Defense Forces said their air force was striking "in the heart of Tehran" with operations focused on destroying Iran's remaining air defences. The campaign began on Saturday morning with a barrage of missiles and airstrikes and continued into Sunday as part of what Israeli and US officials framed as a coordinated effort.
Donald Trump’s threats and stated goals
President Donald Trump wrote on social media that the United States would hit Iran "with a force that has never been seen before" if Tehran carried out threats to retaliate after Khamenei's death. In the same post he wrote, "Khamenei, one of the most evil people in history, is dead, " and said Khamenei "was unable to avoid our intelligence and highly sophisticated tracking systems" and that "there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do. " Trump described the goal of the military campaign as regime change and called on "the Iranian people to take back their country. " The campaign is the second time in eight months that the Trump administration has used military force against Iran.
Tehran blast near police headquarters and state television
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 Iran's police headquarters and Iranian state television, and near Tehran's revolutionary court and a defence ministry building. Iranian officials described heavy civilian harm later in the day.
Amir-Saeid Iravani at the United Nations
Amir-Saeid Iravani, the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, told an emergency security council meeting that hundreds of civilians had been killed or injured in the US-Israeli strikes. He said the strikes deliberately attacked civilian neighbourhoods in multiple cities.
Impact on Gulf aviation and Dubai infrastructure
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 Doha, witnesses said. Puffs of white smoke from missile interceptions were glimpsed in the skies over Dubai while billows of dark smoke rose over its port. Dubai's Burj Al Arab hotel and its airport, which handles more than 1, 000 flights a day, were damaged in Iranian attacks overnight on sites that also hit airports in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait. The airport in Dubai remained shut, along with other major Middle East airports, producing what commentators called one of global aviation's most severe disruptions in years.
British reaction and regional escalation
John Healey, the British defence secretary, warned the situation was "really serious and deteriorating, " saying there were rising risks of increasing indiscriminate retaliatory attacks by Iran and accusing Iran of "lashing out. " The joint US-Israel offensive has been described by officials as opening a new chapter in US intervention in the Middle East and as bringing the prospect of a wider war and months of chaos.
Iranian retaliation has already resulted in strikes on infrastructure and military targets across the region, and air raid sirens sounded repeatedly across Israel early on Sunday, with a series of loud explosions heard in Jer (unclear in the provided context). What makes this notable is the rapid sequence: an Israeli airstrike that killed Khamenei on Saturday was followed within 24 to 48 hours by coordinated US and Israeli attacks, which in turn prompted countermoves that damaged international aviation hubs and generated broad diplomatic alarm.
This iran update remains fluid: hundreds of civilian casualties have been claimed, major airports in the Gulf have been closed, and senior officials from multiple countries are issuing public warnings about escalation. The timing matters because the effort is framed as regime change and, being only the second use of force against Iran by this administration in eight months, it risks extending the conflict and its economic and humanitarian consequences.
