Iranian state TV introduced Sunday that Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the nation’s late supreme chief, has been named his successor.
The youthful Khamenei had lengthy been thought-about a contender, even earlier than an Israeli strike killed his father firstly of the warfare, and regardless of by no means being elected or appointed to a authorities place.
Iran’s highly effective paramilitary Revolutionary Guard solutions to the supreme chief, and now Khamenei could have the central say in warfare technique. The announcement got here on the ninth day of the warfare and after indicators of a rift amongst Iranian officers because the nation awaited a call by the 88-seat Meeting of Specialists, a gaggle of clerics that selects Iran’s supreme chief.
RELATED STORY | US service member dies from accidents sustained in Iranian assault in Saudi Arabia, US army says
U.S. President Donald Trump advised ABC Information earlier Sunday he needs a say in who involves energy as soon as the warfare is over; a brand new chief “will not be going to final lengthy” with out his approval, Trump added. The U.S. and Israel killed Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei within the warfare’s opening airstrikes.
Regional anger grows over strikes
The warfare toll on civilian targets grew as Bahrain accused Iran of putting a desalination plant important to consuming water provides, and oil depots in Tehran smoldered following in a single day Israeli strikes.
In an indication of rising regional anger, the Arab League chief lashed out at Iran for its “reckless coverage” of attacking neighbors, together with ones that host U.S. forces. Gulf international locations have been struck by a whole lot of missiles and drones for the reason that warfare began on Feb. 28, and Iran’s president has vowed to broaden assaults.
Saudi Arabia reported its first deaths, saying a army projectile fell onto a residential space and killed two folks of Indian and Bangladeshi nationality. Overseas residents and employees have made up many of the warfare’s deaths in Gulf nations.
Israel reported its first soldier deaths, saying two had been killed in southern Lebanon, the place its army is preventing the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. The U.S. army mentioned a service member died of accidents from an Iranian assault on troops in Saudi Arabia on March 1. Seven U.S. troopers have now been killed.
The warfare has killed at the very least 1,230 folks in Iran, at the very least 397 in Lebanon and at the very least 11 in Israel, in response to officers.
Iran’s president toughens tone
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian backtracked from conciliatory feedback a day earlier wherein he apologized for assaults on neighbors’ soil. Iranian hard-liners had swiftly contradicted him, saying warfare technique wouldn’t change.
“The extra stress they impose on us, the stronger our response will naturally be,” Pezeshkian mentioned Sunday.
Pezeshkian has urged neighboring states not to participate in U.S. and Israeli assaults. The U.S. strikes haven’t come from the Gulf Arab governments however from U.S. bases and vessels within the area.
“The geography of some international locations within the area — each overtly and covertly — is within the palms of the enemy, and people factors are used in opposition to our nation in acts of aggression. Intense assaults on these targets will proceed,” judiciary chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei wrote on X on Saturday.
RELATED STORY | Trump warns Iran of ‘full destruction’
Mohseni-Ejei and Pezeshkian are a part of the three-member management council overseeing Iran since Khamenei was killed.
Desalination and oil services attacked
Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia reported extra Iranian missiles launched towards them.
Bahrain accused Iran of indiscriminately attacking civilian targets and damaging one in every of its desalination crops, although its electrical energy and water authority mentioned provides remained on-line.
Desalination crops provide water to tens of millions of residents within the area and 1000’s of stranded vacationers, elevating new fears of catastrophic dangers in parched desert nations.
The desalination plant strike got here after Iran mentioned a U.S. airstrike broken a desalination plant there. Overseas Minister Abbas Araghchi mentioned the strike on Qeshm Island within the Strait of Hormuz had minimize into the water provide to 30 villages.
He warned that in doing so “the U.S. set this precedent, not Iran.”
In response, CENTCOM spokesperson U.S. Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins mentioned that “U.S. forces don’t goal civilians – interval.”
Iranian authorities additionally mentioned Israel’s in a single day strikes on 4 oil storage tankers and a petroleum switch terminal killed 4 folks. Witnesses in Tehran mentioned the smoke was so thick that it regarded as if the solar had not risen.
Israel’s army mentioned the oil depots had been being utilized by Iran’s army for gas to launch missiles.
The Iranian Purple Crescent Society warned Tehran residents to take precautions in opposition to poisonous air air pollution and the danger of acid rain.
It additionally mentioned about 10,000 civilian constructions throughout the nation had been broken, together with houses, colleges and nearly three dozen well being services. It additionally
Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf warned it quickly might grow to be tougher to provide and promote oil. Some regional producers, together with in Iraq, have curbed output amid risks within the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran maintains ample gas, Veys Karami, managing director of the Nationwide Iranian Oil Merchandise Distribution Firm, advised the state-run information company.
Lebanon says a half-million folks displaced
Lebanon mentioned over a half-million folks have been displaced within the week of preventing between Israel and Hezbollah.
The precise quantity is probably going larger. Lebanon’s rely of 517,000 refers to those that registered on the federal government’s on-line portal. Israel over the previous week has known as on residents in dozens of villages throughout southern Lebanon and the whole lot of Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate as preventing intensifies.
Well being Minister Rakan Nassereddine mentioned 83 youngsters and 82 girls have been amongst these killed.
In Beirut, sheltering households crammed into colleges, slept in automobiles or in open areas close to the Mediterranean Sea, the place some burned firewood to maintain heat. The federal government mentioned it might open a sports activities stadium to shelter 1000’s extra.
Israel’s renewed offensive started final week after Hezbollah launched rockets towards northern Israel throughout the warfare’s opening days. The strikes have been essentially the most intense since a November 2024 ceasefire. Israel has continued near-daily strikes, primarily in southern Lebanon, saying Hezbollah had been attempting to rebuild its positions there.
