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Iranian state television confirmed the death of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday, after US President Donald Trump said he had been killed.The announcement came after the United States and Israel started launching waves of strikes Saturday against targets in Iran, sparking swift retaliation by the Islamic republic.Here are the latest developments.- Iran leader killed -Iranian state television reported Khamenei’s death in the early hours of Sunday, broadcasting archive images with a black banner.Iranian media also reported the deaths of his daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter.”Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” Trump had said hours earlier on his Truth Social platform.”Heavy and pinpoint bombing… will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST”, Trump wrote.He later warned Iran of force “never been seen before” after he said they country indicated it was going to strike back “harder than they have ever hit.””THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform early Sunday.Iranian state television announced a 40-day mourning period and seven public holidays following the ayatollah’s death.The country’s judiciary confirmed Sunday that the chief of the Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Pakpour, and another top security adviser, Ali Shamkhani were also “martyred” in the strikes.Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said the campaign sent a message to those who would do harm to Americans: “We will hunt you down and we will kill you.”Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s late shah, hailed the killing of Khamenei, saying the Islamic republic was entering the “dustbin of history”.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and two top other officials will lead the country in a transitional period following the death of Khamenei, state television reported.The joint US-Israeli operation began earlier on Saturday with smoke rising over Tehran after strikes that Israel said were pre-emptive.Shortly after, Trump announced US combat operations, with the goal of “eliminating imminent threats”.Israel’s military said it targeted multiple sites where senior Iranian officials had gathered in Tehran, and launched strikes against Iranian missile launchers.It said 200 fighter jets had taken part in the “extensive attack”, hitting more than 500 targets.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacks killed senior Iranian officials and warned that thousands more targets would be struck in the coming days.The Iranian judiciary said 108 people died in a strike on a girls’ school in Minab, citing a provincial official who blamed Israel.AFP was unable to access the location to verify the toll or the circumstances surrounding the incident.A new series of powerful blasts were heard Sunday in Tehran, AFP journalists in the Iranian capital reported. The source of the blasts was not immediately clear. – Missile, drone wave -In response to the US and Israeli attacks, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they targeted the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and other American bases in the Gulf on Saturday, after launching a first wave of missile and drone attacks at Israel.Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said a woman was killed and at least 21 were injured in the Tel Aviv area.The Israeli military said it deployed search and rescue teams to multiple locations across the country following reports of fallen projectiles.After Khamenei’s death, the Guards said Sunday they would launch the “most ferocious” operation in history against Israel and US military bases.AFP reporters heard blasts across the Gulf cities of Dubai, Doha and Manama on Sunday morning after a day of Iranian retaliatory strikes.Thick black smoke could be seen rising on the clear morning horizon in the south of Doha.- Gulf explosions, strait closed -Explosions had been reported across the Gulf region a day earlier following the strikes.The United Arab Emirates said that two people were killed in Abu Dhabi, including a Pakistani civilian.The country’s defence ministry said that 137 missiles and 209 drones were fired at its territory.Witnesses in Dubai said they heard an explosion and saw missiles streak across the sky. Others told AFP they heard an explosion and saw smoke rising from man-made island The Palm. Four people were injured.AFP correspondents heard loud explosions in the Saudi capital Riyadh.Qatar’s defence ministry said it had intercepted several missile attacks targeting the Gulf state.Two people were killed in air strikes on an Iraqi military base housing the powerful pro-Iran group Kataeb Hezbollah, which threatened the US with a response.Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also moved to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway through which much of the world’s oil and gas passes.- Allied support, warnings -The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting over the fighting, with Iran’s envoy accusing the US and Israel of committing a possible “war crime” by attacking civilians.UN chief Antonio Guterres said military action in the Middle East “carries the risk of igniting a chain of events that no one can control”.Oman’s foreign minister, who has been mediating talks between Tehran and Washington, said he was “dismayed” by the violence.The European Union said developments in Iran were “perilous”.Gulf states condemned Iran’s “cowardly” attacks in a joint statement read by Bahrain’s ambassador during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.Russia slammed the US-Israeli strikes as a “dangerous adventure” that could spark regional “catastrophe”.Another Iranian ally, Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, called on countries and people in the region to stand against Israel and the US.- Airspace closures, flights nixed -Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, the UAE and Israel all closed their airspaces to civilian traffic, at least in part, and multiple airlines cancelled flights to the Middle East. Russia cancelled commercial flights to both Iran and Israel “until further notice”.

President Donald Trump made his case for war against Iran early on Saturday as US and Israeli forces bombed the Islamic republic, saying conflict was required to eliminate “imminent threats” from Tehran.Iran “rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions,” Trump said in a roughly eight-minute video message posted on social media more than an hour after US strikes began.”They attempted to rebuild their nuclear program and to continue developing long-range missiles” that “could soon reach the American homeland,” the US president said, also calling on Iranians to overthrow their government.But Iran was said to have signaled in talks that it was willing to cease stockpiling nuclear material, while Tehran may still be years away from developing significant quantities of missiles with intercontinental range — raising significant questions about Trump’s rationale for the conflict.”President Trump did not make a strong case for an imminent threat posed by Iran that would justify the massive joint US-Israeli strikes,” said Mona Yacoubian, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.”His call for the Iranian people to prepare to take control underscores that the ambitions here are more akin to regime change,” Yacoubian said, also noting that according to intelligence assessments, Iran’s nuclear program was “still not close to weaponizing.”Trump had repeatedly claimed to have obliterated Tehran’s nuclear program in June 2025 strikes, and the US military did not mention nuclear-related sites in a list of targets it had struck on Saturday.- Progress in negotiations? -Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, who has been mediating talks between Tehran and Washington, said Friday that Iran had agreed to cease stockpiling nuclear material needed to make a weapon — a major concession he said would have eliminated the nuclear threat.”If you cannot stockpile material that is enriched then there is no way you can actually create a bomb,” Albusaidi told CBS’s “Face the Nation.””If the ultimate objective is to ensure forever that Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb, I think we have cracked that problem through these negotiations,” the foreign minister said.Trump’s assertion that Iranian missiles could “soon” strike the United States is meanwhile called into question by a 2025 Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that said Tehran did not have intercontinental ballistic missiles then, and that it could take until 2035 for it to develop 60 such weapons.Tehran currently possesses short- and medium-range ballistic missiles with ranges that top out at about 1,850 miles (3,000 kilometers), according to the US Congressional Research Service.Aside from nuclear and missile issues, Trump cited other sources of tension with Iran, including the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran, attacks by Iranian proxy groups on US forces and international shipping in the region, as well as Iran’s deadly crackdown on protesters.But proxy attacks on American forces were not currently ongoing, and Trump had hailed a ceasefire last year as having halted attacks on shipping by Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels.And while Trump had repeatedly threatened military intervention if Iran killed protesters, he pulled back from ordering strikes last month at the height of Tehran’s crackdown on dissent.

Countries around the world voiced fears of a Middle East conflagration after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran Saturday, and Iran targeted US bases in the region in retaliation.- Iran Guards vow ‘severe’ punishment -Iran’s Revolutionary Guards vowed to punish the “murderers” of supreme leader Ali Khamenei, after his death was confirmed by state television.”The hand of revenge of the Iranian nation for a severe, decisive and regrettable punishment for the murderers of the Imam of the Ummah will not let go of them,” the Guards said in a statement.- UN condemns escalation -United Nations chief Antonio Guterres condemned the latest developments.”I call for an immediate cessation of hostilities and de-escalation,” he said in a statement, adding that the attacks on both sides undermined international peace and security.UN rights chief Volker Turk said further attacks would “only result in death, destruction and human misery”.- EU condemns Iran -EU chief Ursula von der Leyen condemned Iran’s “unjustifiable attacks” on the United Arab Emirates.”These attacks constitute a blatant violation of the UAE’s sovereignty and a clear breach of international law,” the European Commission President wrote on X.EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers for Sunday.- Russia: Nuclear ‘catastrophe’ -Russia condemned the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, warning they were “bringing the region to the brink of a humanitarian, economic, and — this cannot be ruled out — radiological catastrophe”. – UN nuclear watchdog: ‘monitoring’-The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in a statement calling for restraint added that so far, there was “no evidence of any radiological impact”.- China: ‘Immediate halt’ -China urged “an immediate halt to military actions”, with Beijing’s foreign ministry insisting that “Iran’s national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity should be respected”.- Qatar: ‘Right to respond’ -Qatar, which hosts a US military base, condemned an Iranian missile attack on its territory and warned it “reserves its full right to respond to this attack”.- Australia: Khamenei not mourned -Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “will not be mourned” after Iranian state media confirmed his death.- Norway: Israel broke international law -Norway’s foreign minister said Israel’s strikes on Iran broke international law, noting that “a pre-emptive attack would require the existence of an imminent threat”.- SAfrica: Israel, US broke international law -The US and Israeli strikes on Iran violated international law, said South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa.”Anticipatory self-defence is not permitted under international law and self-defence cannot be based on assumption or anticipation,” he said in a statement, calling for “maximum restraint”.- India: ‘Dialogue and diplomacy’ -India’s foreign ministry insisted that “dialogue and diplomacy should be pursued” while the “sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states must be respected”.- UK-France-Germany slam Iran – Britain, France and Germany jointly condemned Iran’s retaliatory strikes, each saying they had played no part in the US-Israeli operation.London expressed fears the situation could escalate “into a wider regional conflict”.French President Emmanuel Macron, urging a halt to the “dangerous” escalation, called for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council.- Lebanon: Won’t be dragged into war -Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam vowed his country would not be dragged into war, after Israel announced it was carrying out strikes targeting Iran proxy Hezbollah in south Lebanon amid the Iran operation. – Shah’s son: ‘Final victory’ near -Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s last shah and a leading critic of Tehran, claimed “final victory” was near following the strikes. “Together we can take back and rebuild Iran,” said Pahlavi — who lives in exile in the US.- Egypt: ‘Grave risks’ -Egypt’s foreign ministry said it “strongly condemns Iran’s targeting of the unity and territorial integrity of brotherly Arab states”, warning of “the grave risks this poses to the security and stability of Arab states”.- Turkey condemns both sides -“We are deeply disturbed over the US-Israel attacks on our neighbour Iran,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised address.He also denounced Iran’s drone and missile attacks against the Gulf as “unacceptable, regardless of the reason”.”In order to prevent our region from experiencing greater suffering, all actors, especially the Islamic world, must take action,” he added.- Jordan: Defend itself -Jordan’s government urged de-escalation while warning it would defend the kingdom’s interests “with all its might”. A government spokesman said the country was not part of the conflict.- Hamas: US-Israel ‘aggression’ -Palestinian militant group and Iran ally Hamas condemned the US and Israel’s “aggression” towards Tehran, calling it “a direct assault on the entire region”.- Palestinian Authority: condemns Iran -The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) “strongly condemned” Iran’s attacks on Arab countries, including several Gulf nations.It rejected “any infringement on their sovereignty or aggression against them by any party”, without mentioning the earlier US-Israeli strikes on Iran.- Ukraine: Oust ‘terrorist regime’ -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky argued the strikes on Iran created an opportunity for the Iranian people to oust the “terrorist regime” in Tehran.- Red Cross: ‘Dangerous chain reaction’ -International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric warned that the “military escalation in the Middle East is igniting a dangerous chain reaction across the region, with potentially devastating consequences for civilians”.- African Union: Stability at risk -The African Union called “for restraint, urgent de-escalation and sustained dialogue” after the strikes, warning that conflict could risk harming people on the continent. – New Zealand: new talks needed -New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon called for “a resumption of negotiations” and respect for international law to bring an end to the crisis, urging “the Iranian leadership to seek a negotiated solution”.burs-jj/cc/jfx/hmn

Jubilant Iranian Americans on Saturday took to the streets from Boston to Los Angeles to cheer the death of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and voice hope for a brighter future for their homeland.In Los Angeles, home to a massive Iranian diaspora, singing and ululating marchers carried flags of shah-era Iran and posters bearing US President Donald Trump’s image, with some wearing shirts that said “Free Iran.”Trump announced Saturday that the strikes had killed Khamenei — and Iranian state television confirmed the news hours later — though some marches started earlier in the day.”It’s mixed feelings,” Fartach Razmjoo told AFP at a gathering in Canada’s largest city Toronto.”It seems this brutal regime is going to be gone, but at the same time I am very concerned about the people in Iran.”Razmjoo said he hoped the “people in Iran now get the courage to get in the street and try to overthrow” the government.Trump made similar calls, urging Iranians to rise up and “take over your government.”But at an anti-war protest in New York, people expressed skepticism about the strikes, which Trump has vowed to continue “as long as necessary.”Layan Fuleihan, a 36 year-old activist, told AFP: “Bombing people does not help them free themselves.””If Trump cared about democracy or if he cared about the well-being of Iranian people, he would have lifted the brutal sanctions on the Iranian economy that have made it impossible for everyday working Iranians to find enough to put food on their table,” she said.Brent Gray, a 27-year-old engineer in the US capital Washington, said Trump was “taking military action without any congressional approval.”Anti-war activist group ANSWER called for nationwide demonstrations Monday, denouncing “an unprovoked, illegal war.”- ‘Very complicated feelings’ -The scene couldn’t have been more different in Boston, where people sang and stomped on an Iranian flag in the street, while waving American flags and at least one Israeli flag.”Iranians can finally get to live the free life that they want,” Navid Aghasadeghi told AFP.”We don’t call it a war. We call it the Iran Rescue Operation,” said Sherry Yadegari, a 42-year-old artist in the southern city of Atlanta.Azi Adibi, 45, also in Atlanta, said she was worried about family in Iran, having been unable to reach her brother since “the internet got cut off.”Roozbeh Farahanipour, a restaurant owner in Los Angeles’s Westwood neighborhood — sometimes known as “Tehrangeles” or Little Persia — told AFP he has “very complicated feelings.””I saw the footage of people dancing in the streets,” the 54-year-old said. “That reminded me of the first days of the war in Iraq. At the time, the people of Iraq were also dancing in the streets.””I hope the scenario will be different this time,” he said.burs-nro/sst

If there’s one thing the 21st century has in spades, it’s conspiracy theorists — many of them angry, unhinged people hacking at their keyboards about grievances real and imagined.But when screenwriter Will Tracy sat down to pen his Oscar-nominated script for “Bugonia,” he wanted to create a protagonist with a little more nuance.”The main thing I wanted was the sense of empathy you felt for Teddy,” he said of the lead character, played with characteristic bravura by the always-watchable Jesse Plemons.”It’s quite easy to make a version of that story where he’s a sort of toxic incel male conspiracy theorist nut who you don’t really sympathize with,” he told AFP.”I wanted to do my best to make him be a guy who’s… been properly abused by the system.”- Aliens -“Bugonia” tells the story of Teddy Gatz (Plemons), who — accompanied by his slow-witted cousin Don — kidnaps big pharma CEO Michelle Fuller (best actress nominee Emma Stone) because he believes… she is an alien.In Teddy’s mind, Michelle has assumed a powerful position on Earth, which her alien race is exploiting for its own ends.Over several disturbing but darkly comic scenes, they torture her as she tries to convince them she is human and they are making a big mistake.But all is not what it seems, and both Stone’s character and the organization she works for have questions to answer, including over the death of Teddy’s beloved mother.Director Yorgos Lanthimos skillfully brings viewers along for the ride, stretching and then rewarding their sympathy with Teddy, even as his behavior becomes ever more outlandish.That is a deliberate choice, says Tracy, because Teddy is not — or at least not just — a lunatic.”He’s got a point, and actually, he ends up being right about quite a bit,” said Tracy.”I think he has some legitimate grievances.”- ‘Trust’ -The script, which is competing in the best adapted screenplay category, is a reworking of “Save the Green Planet,” a 2003 film by Korean writer Jang Joon-hwan.Tracy said he wanted to respect the source material, but without feeling constricted by it.”I think I tried not to be too faithful. I didn’t want the film sort of in my head, kind of hanging over me,” he said. “So I tried to take a pretty free hand with it and kind of plow my own furrow.”That approach produced a screenplay that attracted the attention of six-time Oscar nominee Lanthimos, whose 2023 fantasy “Poor Things” scooped four statuettes, including best actress for Stone.Tracy said he was thrilled that the Greek director took up the project, which he wrote about 18 months before Lanthimos was attached.”When he came on board… he didn’t really monkey with the script too much,” Tracy said.”I think what I discovered is that I sort of inadvertently wrote a very Lanthimosian screenplay, because I think our sensibilities were just really aligned.”That includes the need to maintain the ambiguities and the nuance of the film as Tracy wrote it.”He, I think, wanted to preserve the mystery and also make the kind of film that when you leave the theater, you can go to dinner with the people you saw the movie with, and people could have wildly different opinions about what the ending means,” Tracy explained.Jerskin Fendrix, who is nominated for best original score for the film, said Lanthimos produces extraordinary work because of the trust he places in his collaborators.”He gives you all the information he thinks you need. It might be very little information — in my case, it was three words — and then he lets you run with it,” he told AFP.The Oscars will be handed out in Hollywood on March 15.

A cargo ship teems with workers in hard hats at the Port of Houston, the latest US vessel headed to Venezuela after President Donald Trump lifted restrictions to boost oil production in the crisis-hit country.US sanctions have crippled Venezuela for years, but Trump’s administration has been working with interim president Delcy Rodriguez after toppling autocratic leader Nicolas Maduro.Washington has used a carrot-and-stick approach with Rodriguez, praising her for welcoming US oil companies but at the same time threatening Venezuela with punishment if she does not cooperate.At the Port of Houston this past week, a crane loaded trucks, generators and machinery onto the Roibeira as it prepared to set sail to Venezuela, the second vessel from the shipping company International Frontier Forwarders to head to the South American nation.Greg Diaz, the company’s Venezuelan-American owner, said there were more than 8,500 cubic meters of goods onboard, equivalent to around 120 containers.”Before, it took us six to eight months to accumulate enough cargo to go to Venezuela,” he told AFP.”And now, in 20 days, we’re able to complete the orders to fill our ship to max capacity and go to Venezuela and complete the orders right away.”That demand, he said, comes from private companies in Venezuela that are investing massively — something that was impossible under Maduro.- ‘Venezuelan dream’ -Venezuela was once a major crude supplier to the United States, and has the world’s largest proven reserves with more than 303 billion barrels, according to global oil cartel OPEC.This amounts to about a fifth of the world’s oil reserves.But in 2024, Venezuela produced only about one percent of global crude, its industry left haggard by years of underinvestment, mismanagement and US sanctions.That all changed when US forces captured Venezuela’s socialist leader Maduro in a deadly raid on the capital Caracas on January 3.Rodriguez, who was vice president under Maduro, was accepted by Trump as Maduro’s replacement on condition she submit to Washington demands for access to Venezuelan oil.The US Treasury has since eased a seven-year-old oil embargo on Venezuela and issued licenses allowing a handful of multinationals to operate in the country under certain conditions.In his recent State of the Union address, Trump said the United States had received more than 80 million barrels of oil from Venezuela, describing the nation as “our new friend and partner.”But despite American enthusiasm, major companies remain cautious.”I think the politics of it is moving a little bit too fast,” Jorge Pinon, a researcher at the Energy Institute at the University of Texas, told AFP.”Everybody was willing to sign” at the White House meeting with oil company executives in January, “except for Exxon, which was the only one that had the courage to say ‘we need assurances.'”Pinon said there was no sense of urgency from the Americans to revive Venezuela’s oil industry, though, as the United States is the world’s largest producer of crude oil with secure supplies.For now, the industry is more interested in Guyana, Brazil, and even the Gulf of Mexico.Oil companies first “have to see what’s the state of the infrastructure” in Venezuela, Pinon added.Political instability is another concern.”What about if in two years, three years from now, Venezuela has free elections and a new government suddenly changes the rules?” he said.Back at Houston’s port, Greg Diaz remained optimistic.”It’s amazing because we’re not only helping the American drilling companies, but also the Venezuelan private companies in the oil and gas sector to buy quality US-made drill rigs,” he said.”But also, we help the mid-size to small companies and entrepreneurs that now can buy, whether it’s one piece of machinery or a large order, and make possible the Venezuelan dream.”

The United States and Israel launched waves of strikes Saturday against targets in Iran, sparking swift retaliation by the Islamic republic.US President Donald Trump said that Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was dead, though there was no confirmation from Tehran.Here are the latest developments.- Iran leader killed -“Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.”Heavy and pinpoint bombing… will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST”, Trump said.Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said the campaign sent a message to those who would do harm to Americans: “We will hunt you down and we will kill you.”Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s late shah, hailed the reported killing of Khamenei, saying the Islamic republic was entering the “dustbin of history.”The joint US-Israeli operation began earlier on Saturday with smoke rising over Tehran after strikes that Israel said were pre-emptive.Shortly after, Trump announced US combat operations against Iran, with the goal of “eliminating imminent threats”.Israel’s military said it targeted multiple sites where senior Iranian officials had gathered in Tehran, and launched strikes against Iranian missile launchers.It said 200 fighter jets had taken part in the “extensive attack”, hitting more than 500 targets.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacks killed senior Iranian officials and warned that thousands more targets would be struck in the coming days.The Iranian judiciary said 108 people died in a strike on a girls school in Minab, citing a provincial official who blamed Israel.AFP was unable to access the location to verify the toll or the circumstances surrounding the incident.- Missile, drone wave -In response, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they targeted the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and other American bases in the Gulf, after launching a first wave of missile and drone attacks at Israel.Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said a woman was killed and at least 21 injured in the Tel Aviv area.The Israeli military said it deployed search and rescue teams to multiple locations across the country following reports of fallen projectiles.- Gulf explosions, strait closed -Explosions were reported across the Gulf region.The United Arab Emirates said that two people were killed in Abu Dhabi, including a Pakistani civilian.The country’s defence ministry said that 137 missiles and 209 drones were fired at its territory.Witnesses in Dubai said they heard an explosion and saw missiles streak across the sky, and witnesses told AFP they heard an explosion and saw smoke rising from the man-made island The Palm. Four people were injured.AFP correspondents in the Saudi capital Riyadh heard loud explosions, as well as in the Bahraini capital Manama and across Qatar’s Doha.Qatar’s defence ministry said it had intercepted several missile attacks targeting the Gulf state.Two people were killed in air strikes on an Iraqi military base housing the powerful pro-Iran group Kataeb Hezbollah, which threatened the US with a response.Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also moved to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway through which much of the world’s oil and gas passes.- Allied support, warnings -The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting over the fighting, with Iran’s envoy accusing the US and Israel of committing a possible “war crime” by attacking civilians.UN chief Antonio Guterres said military action in the Middle East “carries the risk of igniting a chain of events that no one can control”.Oman’s foreign minister, who has been mediating talks between Tehran and Washington, said he was “dismayed” by the violence.The European Union said developments in Iran were “perilous”.Gulf states condemned Iran’s “cowardly” attacks in a joint statement read by Bahrain’s ambassador during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.Russia slammed the US-Israeli strikes as a “dangerous adventure” that could spark regional “catastrophe”.Another Iranian ally, Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, called on countries and people in the region to stand against Israel and the US.- Airspace closures, flights nixed -Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, the UAE and Israel all closed their airspaces to civilian traffic, at least in part, and multiple airlines cancelled flights to the Middle East. Russia cancelled commercial flights to both Iran and Israel “until further notice”.

The White House on Saturday released a photo of US President Donald Trump and a handful of his top advisors monitoring the progress of joint US-Israeli air strikes on Iran.Trump has announced that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the attacks, but there is no confirmation from Tehran.The picture shows Trump, in a suit jacket, white shirt and a white “USA” baseball cap, seated with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles at a table, with a partially obscured map marked “Operation Epic Fury” behind them.All of their faces are solemn. They are in a building with wooden ceiling beams, in an area that appears to be partitioned off with black curtains, with at least one security agent on the perimeter.It was not immediately clear where the area was located, and the post on the White House’s X account only says: “President Donald J. Trump Monitors U.S. Military Operations in Iran: Operation Epic Fury, February 28, 2026.”Trump is currently in Florida. Earlier, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was monitoring events from his Mar-a-Lago estate.In another photo, General Dan Caine, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, appears to be speaking to those in attendance.A separate image shows Vice President JD Vance in the White House Situation Room in Washington, with Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other “Cabinet secretaries” at his side.Energy Secretary Chris Wright appears to have his back to the camera.The vice presidential seal adorns the wall behind the meeting table. Vance is wearing a suit and white shirt, without a tie.It has become customary for presidents to release pictures of themselves in the Situation Room at momentous times during their White House terms. Former president Barack Obama released a Situation Room view when Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in a US special forces raid in Pakistan in 2011.But Trump prefers to spend time at Mar-a-Lago, meaning he was not in the Situation Room on this occasion, or when US special forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in Caracas in January this year.

US President Donald Trump said Saturday that Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was dead, after Israel and the United States launched an attack of unprecedented scale aimed at bringing down the Islamic republic.Cheers could be heard on Tehran’s streets after reports of the death of Khamenei, Iran’s paramount leader since 1989, as plumes of black smoke hovered over the Pasteur district where he usually resides, witnesses told AFP.”Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” Trump said on his Truth Social network.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier said there were “many signs that this tyrant is no longer alive”.Addressing the people of Iran, the arch-enemy of Israel and the United States since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Netanyahu said, “This is your time to join forces, to overthrow the regime and to secure your future.”The strikes prompted Tehran to fire off a missile barrage across the Middle East, with injuries and at least one death reported in explosions that rocked showcase cities in Gulf Arab monarchies.Iranian authorities urged residents to evacuate the capital, a city of 10 million, while the country’s Red Crescent society said that at least 201 people had been killed in the strikes and more than 700 wounded.The Iranian judiciary said one strike that hit a school in the south killed 108 people, although AFP was unable to access the site to verify the toll or the circumstances surrounding the incident.The UAE reported one civilian dead and damage from missiles in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, as blasts from Tehran’s retaliatory salvo and air defences intercepting it also echoed over Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan and Kuwait. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had earlier told NBC News that Khamenei was alive “as far as I know”, adding that “all high-ranking officials are alive”. Also asked about Khamenei’s health, foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei told the BBC he was “not in a situation to confirm anything”, but “the whole system, the whole nation is focused on defending (our) national integrity”.In a sign that the fighting was far from over, Netanyahu said “thousands” of targets would be hit over the coming days, while Iran’s top security official vowed a fierce reprisal.The Israeli army said that Ali Shamkhani, an advisor to Khamenei, and the head of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Pakpour, were both killed.Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said: “The brave soldiers and the great nation of Iran will teach an unforgettable lesson to the international oppressors.”- ‘Barbaric’ -Tehran residents had been going about their usual business when the strikes began. Security forces quickly flooded the streets, shops pulled down their shutters and few pedestrians risked venturing out, an AFP journalist saw. “I saw with my own eyes two Tomahawk missiles flying horizontally toward targets,” a Tehran office worker told AFP before communications and internet access were cut. The Red Crescent said 24 of Iran’s 31 provinces were affected by the strikes. Across Israel, city streets stood deserted as residents took cover in shelters while the blasts of intercepted Iranian missiles reverberated overhead. Emergency services reported two people injured.Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, meanwhile, radioed ships to say the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway, was shut, according to the EU’s naval mission and Iranian media.- ‘Eliminating imminent threats’ -The attacks came after Trump expressed frustration at Iran’s stance in negotiations over its nuclear and missile programmes.In an earlier video address, Trump told Iranians the “hour of your freedom is at hand”, urging them to rise up and “take over your government”.It was the first US military action of this scale apparently aimed at toppling a foreign government since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.Israel’s army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said the operation was “taking place at a completely different scale” than the 12-day war it fought against Iran in June, which the US briefly joined. A military statement called the operation “an extensive attack”, saying it was the largest military air raid in the history of the Israeli Air Force”.Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said their “missiles and drones have struck the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and other American bases in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as well as military and security centres in the heart of the occupied territories (Israel)”.Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, the UAE and Israel all closed their airspaces to civilian traffic, at least in part, and multiple airlines cancelled flights to the Middle East. – Blasts across Gulf -Residents and AFP correspondents in the Emirati, Qatari and Bahraini capitals heard multiple rounds of explosions from Iran’s retaliatory strikes.In Qatar, people fled in panic as a falling missile plunged into a residential neighbourhood, erupting in a fireball as it hit the street.And in Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s capital, golfers were stunned to see dozens of projectiles flying overhead. In Bahrain’s capital Manama, residents were hurriedly evacuated from the Juffair district housing the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet. “When we heard the sounds, we cried out of fear,” said Jana Hassan, a 15-year-old student who was in the area. “I will never forget the sound of those loud blasts.” Two witnesses told AFP they heard an explosion and saw a plume of smoke rising from Dubai’s famed man-made island The Palm, with authorities reporting four injured.The foreign ministry of Oman, a mediator in recent US-Iran talks, called “on all parties to immediately cease military operations” and urged the UN Security Council to impose a ceasefire.burs/sct/sst

Right-wing Americans who once relished President Donald Trump’s promises of ending foreign military adventures are now furious that bombs are raining down on Iran.Trump has solid backing for his war from establishment Republicans.But while those same Republicans had long dreamed of regime change in Tehran, both Trump’s rise to power in 2016 and his return to the White House last year were fueled by isolationist “America First” ideology and rejection of all post-9/11 wars.”GOING INTO THE MIDDLE EAST IS THE WORST DECISION EVER MADE,” Trump blasted on social media in his trademark all-caps back during his first term in 2019.Or, as he said during his 2024 campaign to recapture the White House: “I don’t want to see wars.”That message helped Trump build his Make America Great Again movement, supposedly putting the era of unpopular conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere into the rearview mirror.So the massive US-Israeli attack on Iran and Trump’s call for ousting the country’s Islamist leadership has Planet MAGA in a spin — and that’s a risk ahead of November elections for Congress.”If the administration moves towards… more military tactics, a more aggressive posture into Iran, I think that that could be detrimental for Republicans going into the midterm elections,” former Trump advisor Mercedes Schlapp told CSPAN television.- ‘Lie’ -One of the first to lash out has been hard-right firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene.She resigned her seat in Congress early this year amid a bitter falling out with Trump but remains an influential figure in MAGA circles.Greene called the Iran attack “a lie.”Trump, she said, had been elected on promises of no more foreign wars and “to put America FIRST,” she posted on X.”It’s always a lie and it’s always America Last. But it feels like the worst betrayal this time because it comes from the very man and the admin who we all believed was different and said no more.”Influential right-wing broadcaster Tucker Carlson described the attack on Iran announced by Trump early Saturday as “absolutely disgusting and evil.””This is going to shuffle the deck in a profound way,” he told ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl.Nick Fuentes, another influencer with extreme views, has been railing against the war talk for weeks, predicting Republican electoral wipeouts.”Every day I am more vindicated,” he posted on X as the raid on Iran began.- Clean victory? -Trump however could yet come out on top.The one-day operation in January to oust Venezuela’s longtime strongman leader Nicolas Maduro, without losing a single American service member, demonstrated the US military’s reach.Trump also ordered a spectacular one-off bombing raid on Iran last year that he claimed had destroyed the country’s disputed nuclear program. Again, there were no US losses and Trump revels in the display of raw power.But the current Iran operation is vastly more complex and could drag on for weeks. Critics are already asking what the goals are, particularly given the supposed destruction of Tehran’s nuclear facilities months ago.Trump himself acknowledged “we may have casualties.”If things get messy, Trump will have some explaining to do to his MAGA faithful.After all, it was his top aide Stephen Miller who best summed up the Trumpian message on the eve of the 2024 election against Kamala Harris.”Kamala = WWIII. Trump = Peace,” Miller posted.