Key events
Earlier, Iran’s ambassador to the UN accused Donald Trump of lying about the justification of military strikes to “manufacture consent for unlawful war”.
Amir-Saeid Iravani told the emergency UN Security Council meeting that Iran has the right to self-defense, and that hundreds of civilians have been killed and injured in the US-Israeli operation, calling the strikes a war crime.
Israel and US have attacked Iran. They have violated international law and the charter of the United Nations. They must be held accountable.
The council of the Iranian president, head of the judiciary and one of the jurists of the Guardian council, a 12-member body that vets laws, will temporarily assume leadership duties in Iran, the Islamic Republic News Agency has reported.
There has been only one other transfer of power since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution – back in 1989, when Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini died.
The supreme leader is appointed by an 88-member clerical panel, called the Assembly of Experts. Under Iranian law, the Assembly of Experts must pick a successor “as soon as possible”. In the meantime, a leadership council can “temporarily assume all the duties of leadership.”
Hundreds of thousands of travellers have been stranded or diverted to other airports after Israel, Qatar, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain closed their airspace following the US-Israel war on Iran.
There also was no flight activity over the United Arab Emirates, flight tracking website FlightRadar24 said, after the government there announced a “temporary and partial closure” of its airspace.
That led to the closure of key hub airports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha, and the cancellation of more than 1,000 flights by major Middle Eastern airlines. The three major airlines that operate at those airports – Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad – typically have about 90,000 passengers per day passing through those hubs and even more travellers headed to destinations in the Middle East, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
China’s ministry of foreign affairs has expressed concern over the US-Israeli strikes against Iran and called for an immediate ceasefire, urging all sides to avoid escalation and to resume dialogue and negotiation.
In a statement on Saturday, the ministry said Iran’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity should be respected.
Iran Guards vow ‘most ferocious offensive operation in history’ against US bases, Israel
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday they would launch the “most ferocious” operation in history against Israeli and US bases.
“The most ferocious offensive operation in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s armed forces will begin any moment now,” the Guards said in a post on Telegram.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the war on Iran. Here is where things stand:
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Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei has been killed, state media has confirmed, after the US and Israel launched a war on the country to trigger regime change. The US president had earlier announced the death of the ayatollah, who ruled Iran since 1989, in a post on Truth Social. “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in history, is dead,” Trump wrote. His death was later confirmed by Iranian state media.
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It came after waves of air attacks across the country. Iran’s Red Crescent reported more than 200 deaths and 747 injuries in daylong attacks across 24 provinces.
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Witnesses in Tehran told the Guardian that people were celebrating in the streets after news of the possible death of the supreme leader.
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At least 100 people were reportedly killed in a strike that hit a primary school in Minab, in the south-east.
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Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, had earlier said there were “many signs” Khamenei was “no longer alive”, and Israeli officials briefed media that his body had been recovered.
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Tehran fired retaliatory strikes against Israeli and US bases across the Middle East. Iran’s attacks targeted more than six countries, pulling in places that had been previously untouched by the escalating crisis.
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In Israel, one person died and 22 others are injured, media reports said, after an Iranian missile strike hit a building in Tel Aviv. An official said the building was aflame and had partially collapsed.
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In Dubai, a number of people were injured after an incident occurred at Dubai international airport, the Dubai media office has said. The Burj Al Arab and Fairmont hotels caught fire amid Iranian attacks.
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The United Arab Emirates said in a statement that it had intercepted the vast majority of the 137 missiles and 209 drones fired at its territory by Iran in the hours after the US and Israel launched a regime change war on the Islamic Republic.
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At least one person was killed and seven wounded during an “incident” at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed international airport, officials said after Iranian strikes targeting the United Arab Emirates and Gulf states.
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World leaders urged all sides to de-escalate and return to the negotiating table. The UK, France and Germany issued a joint statement condemning Iran’s retaliatory strikes on neighbouring countries, but the statement stopped short of complete support for the US-Israeli attacks.
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The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, said British planes were “in the sky today” in the Middle East “as part of coordinated regional defensive operations to protect our people, our interests and our allies”.
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The UN security council held an emergency meeting on Saturday. The session was requested by the permanent missions of France, Bahrain, China, Russia and Colombia, according to a statement by the permanent mission of Russia to the UN. The secretary general António Guterres said he “deeply regrets” that the opportunity for diplomacy had been “squandered”.
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In the US, Republicans largely welcomed the attack, but prominent Democrats condemned what they called an illegal aggression.
