Iran strikes back, vowing revenge after the killing of its top leader

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran vowed revenge Sunday after the killing of its supreme leader and traded strikes with Israel as part of a widening war prompted by a surprise U.S. and Israeli bombardment a day earlier.

Blasts in Tehran sent a huge plume of smoke into the sky in an area where there are government buildings. Iranian authorities say more than 200 people have been killed since the start of the U.S. and Israeli strikes that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior leaders.

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Earlier, Iran fired missiles at an ever-widening list of targets in Israel and Gulf Arab states in retaliation while Israel pledged “non-stop” strikes against Iran’s leaders and military.

In Israel, loud explosions caused by missile impacts or interceptions could be heard in Tel Aviv. Israel’s rescue services said eight people were killed and 28 wounded in a strike that hit a synagogue in the central town of Beit Shemesh, bringing the overall death toll in the country to 10.

The U.S. military said three service members have been killed and five others seriously wounded since the operations began. They are the first known American casualties from the fighting.

Meanwhile, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a prerecorded message aired on state television that a new leadership council had begun its work, and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a new supreme leader would be chosen in “one or two days.”

The strikes and counterattacks underscored how the killing of Khamenei, and U.S. President Donald Trump’s calls for the overthrow of the decades-old Islamic Republic, carried the potential for a prolonged conflict that could envelop the Middle East.

It’s the second time in eight months that the U.S. and Israel have teamed up to use military force against Iran, and a startling show of military might for an American president who swept into office on an “America First” platform and vowed to keep out of “forever wars.”

In the 12-day war in June, Israeli and American strikes greatly weakened Iran’s air defences, military leadership and nuclear program. But the killing of Khamenei, who had ruled Iran for more than three decades, creates a leadership vacuum, increasing the risk of regional instability.

Shiite Muslims hold the portraits of Iranian leaders during a rally to condemn the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

Iran vows revenge for Khamenei killing

“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.”

Trump warned that any retaliation would only lead to further escalation.

“THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT,” Trump fired back in a social media post. “IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!”

In a sign of how the attack could stoke regional unrest, hundreds of people stormed the U.S. Consulate in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi on Sunday. Police and paramilitary forces used batons and fired tear gas to disperse the crowd, and at least nine people were killed in the clashes, authorities said.

As U.S. and Israeli strikes have pounded Iran, the Islamic Republic has retaliated with missiles and drone attacks on Israel and nearby Arab Gulf countries hosting U.S. forces.

The air war could rattle global markets, particularly if Iran makes the Strait of Hormuz unsafe for commercial traffic. Around 20 per cent of the world’s traded oil passes through the vital waterway, and oil prices are already set for swings.

In repeated barrages across Israel, at least 10 people were killed and more than 120 injured, according to authorities. Many missiles were intercepted, the military said.

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said Sunday that Israel will have “a non-stop air train” of strikes against military and leadership targets in Iran.

Flights across the Middle East were disrupted, and air defence fire thudded over Dubai. The United Arab Emirates’ commercial capital has long drawn business and expatriates by billing itself as a safe haven in a volatile region.

Shrapnel from Iranian attacks on the Emirates’ capital of Abu Dhabi killed two people, 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.

Attacks also extended into Oman — Iran’s longtime interlocutor with the West that hadn’t been drawn into the fray previously.

Saudi Arabia condemned Iran’s attacks on its capital Riyadh and eastern region, saying it had successfully intercepted them. The kingdom noted that it had not allowed its airspace or territory to be used to target Iran.

Jordan said it “dealt with” 49 drones and ballistic missiles. Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar also said they had intercepted projectiles Sunday morning.

Iran’s foreign minister blamed such strikes on the U.S. and Israel for starting the war. He said Iran’s military units are “somehow isolated” and acting on orders given in advance. He said he had spoken to his counterparts in the Gulf countries and urged them to pressure the U.S. and Israel to end the war.

A plume of smoke rises after a strike in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iran forms council to govern

As supreme leader, Khamenei had final say on all major policies since 1989. He led Iran’s clerical establishment and the Revolutionary Guard, the two main centres of power in the governing theocracy.

Though Trump called on Saturday for the Iranian people to “take over” their government, there was no sign in Tehran or elsewhere of unrest.

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.

Lt Col Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesperson, said he was not aware of any Israeli or American strikes in the area of the school. U.S. Central Command spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins said he was aware of those reports and that officials were looking into them.

Iran’s state news agency IRNA said 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.

As reports trickled out about Khamenei’s death, eyewitnesses in Tehran told The Associated Press that some residents were rejoicing, cheering from rooftops, blowing whistles and letting out ululations.

Mourners raised a black flag over the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad and the Iranian government declared 40 days of public mourning and a seven-day nationwide public holiday to commemorate Khamenei’s death.

Citing unidentified sources, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported that several relatives of Khamenei were also killed, including a daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law and grandchild.

Strikes were planned for months and feared for weeks

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.

Democrats decried that Trump had taken action without congressional authorization. The White House said it had briefed several Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress in advance.

Though Trump had pronounced the Iranian nuclear program obliterated in strikes last year, the country was rebuilding infrastructure that it had lost, according to a senior U.S. official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss Trump’s decision-making process.

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 has said it has not enriched since June — though it has maintained its right to do so while saying its nuclear program is entirely peaceful.

It has also blocked international inspectors from visiting the sites the U.S. bombed. Satellite photos analyzed by AP have shown new activity at two of those sites, suggesting Iran is trying to assess and potentially recover material.

— by Jon Gambrell, Melanie Lidman, Josh Boak and Eric Tucker