Iran Attacks Israel: Khamenei Death Sparks Retaliation & US Response

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran fired missiles at targets in Israel and Gulf Arab states Sunday after vowing massive retaliation for the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by the United States and Israel, prompting U.S. President Donald Trump to threaten Tehran against further escalation.

Iran acknowledged 86-year-old Khamenei’s death in the joint Israeli-American airstrike Saturday at his Tehran office, an event that has thrown the future of the Islamic Republic into question and raised the risk of regional instability. The attack on Iran opened a stunning recent chapter in U.S. Intervention, and carried the potential for retaliatory violence and a wider war.

“This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country,” Trump said.

Iran’s Cabinet vowed that this “great crime will never go unanswered” and the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened to launch its “most intense offensive operation” ever, targeting Israeli and American bases.

Confirmed Reports of Attacks and Casualties

“You have crossed our red line and must pay the price,” Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said in a televised address Sunday. “We will deliver such devastating blows that you yourselves will be driven to beg.”

“Iran just stated that they are going to hit very hard today, harder than they have ever hit before,” Trump fired back in a social media post. “THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, Though, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!”

After the initial strikes, Iran immediately launched missiles and drones toward Israel and U.S. Military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. The Israeli military said Iran fired dozens of missiles at Israel, with many intercepted. The Magen David Adom rescue service reported that a woman in the Tel Aviv area died after being wounded in an Iranian missile attack – the first reported Israeli fatality of this conflict. An apartment block where she was living was heavily damaged.

Flights across the Middle East were disrupted, and air defense fire was reported over Dubai, the United Arab Emirates’ commercial capital. Shrapnel from an Iranian missile attack on the UAE capital killed one person, state media said, and debris from aerial interceptions caused fires at the city’s main port and on the facade of the iconic Burj Al Arab hotel. Saudi Arabia said Iran targeted its capital and eastern region in an attack that was repelled, and Jordan said it “dealt with” 49 drones and ballistic missiles.

The Death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who led the Islamic Republic since 1989, died at the age of 86. His death, confirmed by Iranian state media, follows a joint Israeli-American airstrike on Saturday. He had assembled theocratic power in Iran over the decades, seeking to turn it into a regional powerhouse, and often brought it into confrontation with Israel and the United States over its nuclear program while suppressing domestic dissent. Reuters details his 36-year rule, during which Iran became a powerful anti-U.S. Force.

The strikes could rattle global markets, particularly if Iran makes the Strait of Hormuz unsafe for commercial traffic. A third of worldwide oil exports transported by sea passed through the strait in 2025.

Iran quickly formed a council to govern the country until a new supreme leader is chosen. The killing of Khamenei created a leadership vacuum, given the absence of a known successor and because the supreme leader had final say on all major policies during his decades in power.

What the Sources Confirm About the Strikes

The U.S. Military said targets in Iran included Revolutionary Guard command facilities, air defense systems, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields. The U.S. Reported no casualties and minimal damage at U.S. Bases despite “hundreds of Iranian missile and drone attacks.” Israel said the operation had been planned for months with the United States. Targets in the Israeli campaign included Iran’s military, symbols of government and intelligence targets.

In southern Iran, at least 115 people were reported killed when a girls’ school was struck, and dozens more were wounded, the local governor told Iranian state TV. U.S. Central Command spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins said he was “aware of reports” that a girls’ school was struck and that officials were looking into them. An Iranian diplomat told the United Nations Security Council that hundreds of civilians were killed and wounded in the strikes.

IRNA reported at least 15 people were killed in the southwest, quoting the governor of the Lamerd region, Ali Alizadeh, as saying a sports hall, two residential areas and a hall near a school were hit.

Background: Rising Tensions and Previous Conflicts

Tensions have soared in recent weeks as the Trump administration built up the largest force of American warships and aircraft in the Middle East in decades. The president insisted he wanted a deal to constrain Iran’s nuclear program while the country struggled with growing dissent following nationwide protests.

Though Trump had previously claimed the Iranian nuclear program was obliterated in strikes last year, the country was rebuilding infrastructure that it had lost, according to a senior U.S. Official. The official said intelligence showed that Iran had developed the capability to produce its own high-quality centrifuges, an important step in developing the highly enriched uranium needed for weapons.

Iran had said it hoped to avert a war, but it maintained its right to enrich uranium.

The attack was coordinated between Israel and the U.S., and had been planned for months. The Associated Press reports that Israeli officials confirmed the joint operation.