JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
WAR WITH IRAN - DAY 02 - KHEMENIS BURNING IN HELL FIRE FOREVER.FROM DAY 1 WHEN KILLED BY ISRAEL.
THE
NEXT US-ISRAEL HIT ON IRAN SHOULD BE VERSE 37. ALL OFFENSIVE NUKE SITES
MISSLES,DRONES,AND OF COURSE KHEMENI AND THE IRGC GUARDS.THEN AFTER
IRANS REGIME CHANGE. MUSLIMS COME TO JESUS BY THE MILLIONS.(BIBLE
PROPHECY FULFILLED FROM FEB 28,26 AND ON)
JEREMEIAH 49:32-39 (IN IRAN AT THE BUSHEHR OR ARAK NUKE SITES AND ALL OFENSIVE WEAPONS DESTROYED IN IRAN)
Jeremiah 49:32-39
32
Their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a
spoil: and I will scatter to all winds those who have the corners [of
their hair] cut off; and I will bring their calamity from every side of
them, says Yahweh.
33 Hazor shall be a dwelling-place of jackals, a
desolation forever: no man shall dwell there, neither shall any son of
man sojourn therein.(Location & Size: It was strategically located
along the Via Maris (Way of the Sea), a major trade route connecting
Egypt with Syria and Mesopotamia.)
34 The word of Yahweh that came to
Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam,(IRAN) in the beginning of the
reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
35 Thus says Yahweh of
Hosts: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam,(IRANS OFFENSIVE WEAPONS)
the chief of their might.(MISSLES AND NUKE SITES)
36 On Elam (IRAN)
will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of the sky, and will
scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation where
the outcasts of Elam shall not come.(SINCE 1979 IRANIANS HAVE GOTTIN OUT
OF IRAN BECAUSE OF KHEMENI AND HIS APOCOPOLIPTIC DEATH CULT
BELIEF-BLACK HATER 12ERS)
37 I will cause Elam (IRAN) to be dismayed
before their enemies, and before those who seek their life;(ISRAEL THE
LITTLE SATAN AND THE U.S THE BIG SATAN) and I will bring evil on them,
(MISSLES) even my fierce anger,(FIRE) says Yahweh; and I will send the
sword after them,(IRANS OFFENSIVE WEAPONS) until I have consumed them;
(DESTROYED THEM ALL NUKE SITES,MISSLES ETC)
38 and I will set my
throne in Elam,(IRAN WILL BECOME A CHRISTIAN NATION) and will destroy
from there king (KHEMENI, ISLAM) and princes, says Yahweh.(IRANIAN ARMY
GUARDS)
39 But it shall happen in the latter days, that I will bring
back the captivity of Elam,(IRAN) says Yahweh.(WERE IN THE LATTER DAYS
NOW)
JEREMEIAH 49:23-27
23 Concerning Damascus.(SYRIA) Hamath
is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are
fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea;(WAR SHIPS WITH NUKES COMING ON
SYRIA) it cannot be quiet.
24 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth
herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have
taken her, as a woman in travail.
25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
26
Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of
war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.
27 And I
will kindle a fire (NUKES OR BOMBS) in the wall of Damascus, and it
shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.(ASSADS PALACES POSSIBLY IN
DAMASCUS)
AMERICA AND ISRAEL TOGETHER IN JER(USA)LEM
ABOSOLUTELY
AMAZING-IST STRIKE YESTERDAY BY ISRAEL.AND DEATH CULT LOSES 41 HIGHEST
LEVEL IRANIAN MAUDI WORSHIPPING OCCULTISTS, INCLUDING BLACK HAT KHEMENI
HIMSELF.THE MIGRATING BIRDS ARE BACK IN ISRAEL AGAIN.NOW THEY CAN FLY TO
IRAN AND HAVE THEIR FIRST 41 DEATH CULTISTS OF THE 300 MILLION MUSLIMS
TO BE EATIN BY THE MIGRATING BIRDS.AND 41 OF SATANS IRANIAN PUPPETS ARE
FROM YESTERDAY BURNING IN HELL FIRE AND TORMENTS FOREVER WITH THEIR
NEVER DYING SPIRIT BODY. BYE BYE CULTISTS.
THIS WILL NOT BE THE END OF IRAN DEATH CULTISTS.THE NEXT REGIME LED BY WHOEVER WILL STILL BE COMING AGAINST ISRAEL ONE LAST TIME. BEFORE GOD AND ISRAEL, MOSTLY GOD FINALLY KILLS OFF THE DELUTED SHIITE MAUDI CULT ONCE AND FOR ALL. IN EZEK 38 & 39. BUT UNTILL THEN IRAN WILL STILL HAVE A DEMONIC SEX FOR MURDER DEATH CULT HIGHER UPS. I AM SORRY TO BE THE BARRIER OF BAD NEWS AFTER KHEMENIS HELL FIRE FOREVER. BUT UNTILL EZEKIEL 38 & 39 UNDER GOD MUST BE FULFILLED YET. WHEN RUSSIA, IRAN, IRAQ, ETHIOPIA, LIBYA, GERMANY, TURKEY AND SUDAN,AND MORE AFRICAN MUSLIMS (300 MILLION OR 1/4 OF ISLAM) IS DESTROYED AND SENT TO HELL FIRE FOREVER.WHILE THE MIGRATING BIRDS EAT ON THEIR FLESH FOR 7 MONTHS. THEN BURIED IN THE JORDAN VALLEY.
Who Will Be Iran's Next Leader? A Look At Khamenei's Possible Successors-Khamenei never publicly disclosed who would be his successor, but his second-eldest son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has long been seen as the rational successor to the Islamic regime, Reuters reported, citing sources with knowledge.Edited by:Sanstuti Nath-World News-Mar 01, 2026 10:07 am IST
Iran stares at an uncertain future after Tehran confirmed the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a US-Israel joint strike on Tehran. While the US and Israel are calling for regime change in Tehran, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has launched attacks in hopes of a power grab. Meanwhile, Iran's two rival opposition figures are also jockeying for position in a new Iran. After US strikes, opposition leader Maryam Rajavi and exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi released dual messages urging Iranians to unite — while also making clear their different visions for the Islamic Republic's future.Until the time Iran decides on its new leader, Iran's news agency IRNA reported that a leadership council made up of the president, the judiciary chief, and a jurist from the Guardian Council will temporarily assume the duties of Iran's supreme leader.What Trump Said About Iran's New Leader-After announcing on Truth Social that Iran's Supreme Leader was assassinated, US President Donald Trump said there are “some good candidates” to lead Tehran.In a phone interview with CBS News, he said, “I know exactly who, but I can't tell you.”When pressed on whether there is someone in Iran he would prefer to see assume leadership, Trump said, “Yes, I think so. There are some good candidates.” He did not elaborate further on whom he was referencing.Iran's Two Oppositionists Figures-Rajavi is the president-elect of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). In a message to Iranians, she called on Iranians to overthrow the country's ruling clerical regime and to create a democratic republic.“Our homeland continues to endure greater pain and destruction under the rule of religious fascism,” Rajavi said, according to a report by The New York Post, as conflict intensifies over Tehran's nuclear and missile programme.She urged Iranians — particularly the nation's “courageous youth” — to protect civilians amid mounting instability.Founded after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the NCRI presents itself as a government-in-exile. According to the party, it has a ready blueprint for a six-month transitional administration that would organise free elections and transfer sovereignty to the people.“Now is the time for solidarity,” Rajavi said. “[Iranians] reject both the Shah and the mullahs,” she added, dismissing any return to monarchy.Meanwhile, Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran's last monarch, also said in a post on X that he has plans for a democratic transition if the Islamic Republic collapses.In a post on X, Pahlavi called US action a “humanitarian intervention” aimed at the regime, and not the Iranian people.“The final victory will still be achieved by us,” he wrote. “It is we, the people of Iran, who will finish this task in this final battle. The time to return to the streets is approaching.”Both leaders also appealed directly to Iran's military and security forces to make way for a democratic transition of power.Rajavi asked members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other security bodies to lay down their weapons and side with the people. Pahlavi, meanwhile, warned security personnel that they would “sink with Khamenei's ship” if they continued defending the regime.The Power Grab Threat-Experts have also warned that in the absence of Khamenei, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps could also make a power grab. Khamenei never publicly disclosed who would be his successor, but his second-eldest son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has long been seen as the rational successor to the Islamic regime, Reuters reported, citing sources with knowledge.The 56-year-old is in line with his father's hardline policies, insiders told the outlet.Another regime holdover is Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the father of the Islamic Revolution, Ruhollah Khomeini.Hassan Khomeini, 53, has emerged within the last month as a serious candidate and represents a more conciliatory choice internationally and domestically than Khamenei, according to the New York Post report.How Succession Works In Iran-The contours of a complex succession process began to take shape the morning after Khamenei's assassination. As outlined in its constitution, Iran on Sunday formed a council to assume leadership duties and govern the country.The council is made up of Iran's sitting president, the head of the country's judiciary and a member of the Guardian Council chosen by Iran's Expediency Council, which advises the supreme leader and settles disputes with parliament.Iran's reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian and hard-line judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei are its members who will step in and “temporarily assume all the duties of leadership.”Though the leadership council will govern in the interim, an 88-member panel called the Assembly of Experts “must, as soon as possible” pick a new supreme leader under Iranian law.The panel consists entirely of Shiite clerics who are popularly elected every eight years and whose candidacies are approved by the Guardian Council, Iran's constitutional watchdog. That body is known for disqualifying candidates in various elections in Iran, and the Assembly of Experts is no different. The Guardian Council barred former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate whose administration struck the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, from election for the Assembly of Experts in March 2024.Clerical deliberations about succession and machinations over it take place far from the public eye, making it hard to gauge who may be a top contender.There has been only one other transfer of power in the office of the supreme leader of Iran, the paramount decision-maker since the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. In 1989, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini died at age 86 after being the figurehead of the revolution and leading Iran through its bloody eight-year war with Iraq. This transition now comes after Israel launched a 12-day war against Iran in June 2025 as well.The supreme leader is at the heart of Iran's complex power-sharing Shiite theocracy and has the final say over all matters of state. He also serves as the commander-in-chief of the country's military and the powerful Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary force that the United States designated a terrorist organization in 2019 and which Khamenei empowered during his rule. The Guard, which has led the self-described “Axis of Resistance,” a series of militant groups and allies across the Middle East meant to counter the U.S. and Israel, also has extensive wealth and holdings in Iran.
Explainer-After
Khamenei killed, Iran set for largely opaque supreme succession-Iran’s
constitution lays out clear guidelines for choosing a new top cleric,
but with senior aides also killed in the strikes, the path forward is
anything but certain-By Jon Gambrell Today, 11:21 am-MAR 1,26
AP —
The death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after almost
37 years in power raises paramount questions about the country’s
future.Khamenei, 86, was killed Saturday in a joint US-Israeli strike on
his Tehran compound at the outset of a sweeping military operation
against the Islamic Republic.Israel and the US timed the strike to
coincide with a meeting the supreme leader was holding with top aides,
several of whom were also killed.Iranian state media confirmed his death
early Sunday and declared 40 days of mourning.The contours of a complex
succession process began to take shape the morning after Khamenei’s
assassination. Here is what to know:A temporary leadership council
assumes duties-As outlined in its constitution, Iran on Sunday formed a
council to assume leadership duties and govern the country.The council
is made up of Iran’s sitting president, the head of the country’s
judiciary, and a member of the Guardian Council chosen by Iran’s
Expediency Council, which advises the supreme leader and settles
disputes with parliament.Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian
and hardline judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei are its members
who will step in and “temporarily assume all the duties of leadership.”A
panel of clerics selects a new supreme leaderThough the leadership
council will govern in the interim, an 88-member panel called the
Assembly of Experts “must, as soon as possible,” pick a new supreme
leader under Iranian law.The panel consists entirely of Shiite clerics
who are popularly elected every eight years and whose candidacies are
approved by the Guardian Council, Iran’s constitutional watchdog.That
body is known for disqualifying candidates in various Iranian elections,
and the Assembly of Experts is no different. The Guardian Council
barred former Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate
whose administration struck the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers,
from election for the Assembly of Experts in March 2024.Khamenei’s son
could be a possible contender-Clerical deliberations about succession
and machinations over it take place far from the public eye, making it
hard to gauge who may be a top contender.Previously, it was thought that
Khamenei’s protégé, hardline president Ebrahim Raisi, might try to take
the mantle. However, he was killed in a May 2024 helicopter crash.That
has left one of Khamenei’s sons, Mojtaba, a 56-year-old Shiite cleric,
as a potential candidate, though he has never held government office.
But a father-to-son transfer in the case of a supreme leader could spark
anger, not only among Iranians already critical of clerical rule, but
also among supporters of the system.Some may see it as un-Islamic and in
line with creating a new, religious dynasty after the 1979 collapse of
the US-backed shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s government.A transition like
this has happened only once before-There has been only one other
transfer of power in the office of the supreme leader of Iran, the
paramount decision-maker since the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.In
1989, grand ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini died at age 86 after being the
figurehead of the revolution and leading Iran through its bloody
eight-year war with Iraq. This transition now comes after Israel
launched a 12-day war against Iran in June 2025 as well.The vast powers
of a supreme leader-The supreme leader is at the heart of Iran’s complex
power-sharing Shiite theocracy and has final say over all matters of
state.He also serves as the commander-in-chief of the country’s military
and the powerful Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary force that the
United States designated a terrorist organization in 2019 and that
Khamenei empowered during his rule.The Guard, which has led the
self-described “Axis of Resistance,” a series of terror groups and
allies across the Middle East meant to counter the US and Israel, also
has extensive wealth and holdings in Iran.Times of Israel staff
contributed to this report.
IDF: Over 1,200 munitions dropped on
Iran in 24 hours-Trump threatens Iran with force ‘never seen before’ as
missiles bombard Israel for second day-Iran says Jerusalem and
Washington ‘will suffer the consequences’ after killing of Khamenei,
though morning salvos cause little damage; US bases in region, Gulf
allies also attacked-By Emanuel Fabian,Jacob Magid-and Agencies Today,
11:14 am-MAR 1,26
US President Donald Trump threatened early
Sunday morning to hit Iran with unprecedented force after Tehran warned
it would step up attacks in retaliation for the killing of its supreme
leader and fired successive volleys of rockets at Israel for a second
consecutive day Sunday.In Iran, the Israel Defense Forces continued to
carry out strikes on military sites, including a massive blast in
Tehran. The army announced that it had dropped over 1,000 pieces of
munition in just over 24 hours of attacks that kicked off Saturday
morning with a strike that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
and other top officials.“Iran just stated that they are going to hit
very hard today, harder than they have ever hit before,” Trump wrote on
his Truth Social social network. “THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER,
BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN
SEEN BEFORE!”His comments came just a few hours after the Iranian regime
confirmed that its longtime leader Khamenei had been killed in a strike
on his office early Saturday morning.Iran’s parliament speaker,
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Sunday morning in a video carried on
state TV that Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have “crossed
our red lines” and “will suffer the consequences.”The elite Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps vowed in a statement Sunday that Iran’s armed
forces would soon retaliate again with the “most ferocious offensive
operation in history” against US bases and Israel.“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
IRGC said in a statement.Waves of sirens rang out repeatedly across
much of central, southern and northern Israel on Saturday night and
Sunday morning as Iran fired ballistic missiles at the country, sending
millions of Israelis to shelter. Iran’s state broadcaster said 27 US
bases in the region, as well as Israel’s military headquarters and a
defense industries complex in Tel Aviv, were among the targets in the
new wave of strikes.There were no reports of impacts in residential
areas or direct injuries following the salvos, medics said. Magen David
Adom said it treated people lightly hurt by falling while running to
bomb shelters.Police said they received reports of missile and
interceptor fragments that landed in the Jerusalem area, and the Fire
and Rescue Service said it was responding to a gas leak caused by
falling shrapnel in the West Bank.In contrast to the large barrages
fired at Israel during the 12-day war with Iran in June, most salvos
Saturday and Sunday have consisted of small number of missiles, usually
three at a time, with breaks of a few minutes between each launch,
according to the IDF.The attacks have caused only a small number of
injuries, aside from a particularly large barrage of some 20 missiles
toward the Tel Aviv area Saturday night in which one projectile managed
to evade air defenses, hitting near a residential building and killing a
woman.The slain woman, a foreign caregiver for an elderly woman, did
not manage to reach a shelter in time, the military said Sunday after an
initial investigation. The woman she was caring for was extracted by
rescue workers from the rubble alive.The Home Front Command has
determined that a complete Iranian ballistic missile — not fragments —
struck next to the apartment building, causing extensive damage and a
large crater. Dozens more were injured in the strike.Meanwhile, the IDF
said it targeted Iran’s ballistic missile and air defense systems in
western and central Iran with strikes on around 30 targets Sunday
morning.An enormous explosion rocked Iran’s capital Sunday as the
Israeli military said it was targeting the heart of the city.The blast
in Tehran sent a huge plume of smoke into the sky and shook the
ground.The military later said it had carried out an airstrike against a
“headquarters of the Iranian terror regime” in Tehran, releasing video
showing two buildings being destroyed in blasts.The IDF said Sunday that
Israeli Air Force fighter jets had dropped more than 1,200 pieces of
munition during strikes in Iran over the past day.The Israeli military
earlier said some 200 Israeli fighter jets were taking part in the
campaign aimed at harming Iran’s ballistic missile and aerial defense
systems.Targets in the Israeli campaign also include Iran’s symbols of
government and intelligence targets, according to an official briefed on
the operation, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic
information on the attack.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. US 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.The IDF also
confirmed that it killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in an
airstrike in Tehran Saturday morning.“Ali Khamenei was targeted in a
precise, large-scale operation carried out by the Israeli Air Force,
guided by accurate IDF intelligence, while he was in his central
leadership compound in the heart of Tehran, where he was together with
additional senior officials,” the military said in a statement, after
Iran confirmed that Khamenei had been killed.Defense Minister Israel
Katz said Sunday morning that “justice has been served” after the
killing of Khamenei.“He who worked to destroy Israel was destroyed.
Justice has been done, and the axis of evil sustained a crushing blow,”
he said.US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strikes that killed
Iran’s supreme leader show that those who harm Americans must pay a
price.“If you kill or threaten Americans anywhere in the world — as Iran
has — then we will hunt you down, and we will kill you,” Hegseth wrote
on X.Iran also continued to launch attacks on Arab countries in the Gulf
region that are considered US allies. Repeated explosions were heard in
Dubai as well as in Doha and the Bahraini capital Manama Sunday
morning.Loud explosions were also heard near Erbil airport, which hosts
US-led coalition troops in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region. An AFP
journalist reported seeing thick black smoke rising from the airport
area.The US military did not report any casualties in the strikes on
American bases or targets.The United Arab Emirates said that at least
one person was killed in Abu Dhabi. Two people were also killed in
airstrikes on an Iraqi military base housing the powerful pro-Iran group
Kataeb Hezbollah, while Qatar said falling missile fragments injured at
least eight people.Smoke poured overnight from US bases in the United
Arab Emirates and Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.In Iran,
the Red Crescent said on Saturday strikes had left 201 people dead and
injured hundreds more. 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 joint US-Israeli operation began Saturday morning with
smoke rising over Tehran after strikes that Israel said were
preemptive.Shortly after, Trump announced US combat operations, with the
goal of “eliminating imminent threats.” At an emergency UN Security
Council meeting, US Ambassador Mike Waltz said the operation was aimed
at eliminating Iran’s nuclear capabilities and degrading its
military.Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, the UAE and Israel all closed their
airspaces to civilian traffic, at least in part, and multiple airlines
canceled flights to the Middle East, sparking chaos for travelers.
Iran
attacks on Gulf damage Dubai airport, ignite fire at iconic Burj Al
Arab hotel-Blasts heard in UAE, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar day after
Pakistani national killed, luxury properties struck; Qatar reports at
least 65 missiles, 16 injuries By AFP and ToI Staff Today, 10:02
amUpdated at 12:27 pm-MAR 1,26
Fresh blasts were heard across the
Gulf cities of Dubai, Doha and Manama on Sunday morning after a day of
Iranian strikes in retaliation for US and Israeli attacks.AFP reporters
heard blasts in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates; in Bahrain’s capital
Manama; in Oman; and in Qatar, where AFP correspondents saw thick black
smoke rising on the clear morning horizon in the south of the city.The
new explosions came after a day of deadly Iranian strikes in the Emirati
capital Abu Dhabi, as well as hits on military bases and civilian
infrastructure across the Gulf.They also came as Iran continued to fire
volleys of missiles at Israel Sunday morning. A barrage the previous day
toward the Tel Aviv area leveled an apartment building, killing a woman
and injuring dozens of people.Qatar said Sunday morning it was
responding to a limited fire in an industrial zone after debris fell
from an intercepted missile. No injuries were reported in the
incident.Israeli and American attacks on the Islamic Republic have
prompted the theocratic regime to retaliate with waves of strikes
against Arab countries that are aligned with the US, many of them host
to American military bases.Since the US and Israel began striking Iran
on Saturday morning, one person has been killed and dozens wounded
across the various Gulf states.At Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International
Airport, one person was killed Saturday and seven were injured, by what
the airport said was shrapnel from an intercepted drone that had
targeted the site. Additionally, four staff were wounded at Dubai
International Airport, the world’s busiest for international traffic.One
of the terminals in Dubai’s airport appeared badly damaged, and footage
from the scene showed passengers hurriedly evacuating the premises as
dust filled the air. The Government of Dubai’s Media Office claimed that
the airport only incurred “minor damage” in the incident, which has
been contained.On Sunday morning, Oman’s state news agency reported that
the Duqm commercial port was hit by two drones, injuring one expatriate
worker. Debris from another drone fell in an area near fuel tanks at
Duqm, but there were no casualties or material losses recorded from that
incident, the agency added.Later in the day, a Palau-flagged oil tanker
was hit off Oman’s Musandam peninsula, injuring four people, the
country’s maritime security center said. The 20-person crew of the
Skylight tanker was evacuated after the attack, the Oman Maritime
Security Centere said in a post on X.Initial information indicated
injuries of varying severity to four of the crew, composed of 15 Indian
and five Iranian citizens, it added.The incidents on Sunday marked the
first time targets in or near Oman have been hit amid the wave of
retaliatory strikes by Tehran on Gulf states.Iran launched an attack on
the Palau-flagged oil tanker "Skylight" as it sailed off the coast of
Oman. Four sailors were injured in the attack, and the crew was
evacuated. pic.twitter.com/qES7bEyd2W — China pulse ????????
(@Eng_china5) March 1, 2026-All the oil- and gas-rich Gulf countries
were targeted by the Islamic Republic within the first 24 hours of the
fresh conflict. Saturday’s sudden attacks caused widespread shock among
the region’s diverse, expat-heavy populations.Missiles hit upscale
development, luxury hotel-Explosions also rocked Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah
man-made island, as drone debris caused a fire at the Burj Al Arab
ultra-luxury hotel.Two witnesses on the Palm — an upscale, palm
tree-shaped residential and leisure development — heard an explosion and
saw smoke rising from a five-star hotel. The Dubai media office
confirmed an “incident” in a building on the Palm Jumeirah caused a fire
and injured four people.Hours later, a second blast exploded close to
the same building, after what looked like a drone plunged from above,
another witness saw.Debris from an intercepted drone sparked a fire at
the base of the Burj Al Arab, a sail-shaped building sometimes touted as
the world’s first seven-star hotel. The Dubai Media Office said the
incident caused a “minor fire” on the hotel’s outer facade, with no
injuries reported.BREAKING: Iranian drone hit the five-star Burj Al Arab
hotel in Dubai, UAE. The 321-meter, 60-story tower stands on an
artificial island. pic.twitter.com/SZaJrAUq3n — Clash Report
(@clashreport) February 28, 2026-Falling debris from an interception
also set off a blaze at Dubai’s Jebel Ali port, which hosts US warships
and is capable of handling aircraft carriers.A Pakistani-national
civilian had already been killed earlier in Abu Dhabi by Iranian missile
debris. He was one of the many foreigners living in the UAE, who
comprise roughly 90 percent of the country’s population.The UAE’s
Defense Ministry said the vast majority of the 137 missiles and 209
drones fired at its territory by Iran had been destroyed or
intercepted.Scared for the future-In Qatar, officials said early Sunday
that 16 people have been injured since the fighting began.Doha had said
late Saturday that Iran launched 65 missiles and 12 drones at the Gulf
state, most of which were intercepted; at that point, eight people had
been injured in the salvos, with one of them in critical condition.
Authorities had, at that point, responded to some 114 reports of falling
debris.Qatar’s Al Udeid base, the region’s biggest US military base,
was among the targets on Saturday.“We are scared of what the future is
for us now, and we can’t say how the next few days are going to be,”
Maha Manbaz, a nursing student in Doha, told AFP.A drone struck Kuwait’s
international airport and a base housing US personnel was targeted.
Three Kuwaiti soldiers and 12 other people were wounded, authorities
said.After Iran’s Revolutionary Guards reported missile strikes, US
Central Command (CENTCOM) said on X that no American naval vessels were
hit, damage to US facilities was minimal, and no US casualties had been
reported.Residential buildings were also targeted in Manama, Bahrain’s
capital, with officials saying firefighters and civil defense teams had
been dispatched to the scene.“The sound of the first explosion terrified
me,” said a 50-year-old retiree living near the US base in Manama’s
Juffair area, where residents were quickly evacuated.The UAE, Saudi
Arabia and Qatar warned they reserved the right to respond to the
attacks. Conflict is unusual in the Gulf, which has traded on its
reputation for stability to become the Middle East’s commercial and
diplomatic hub.“The Gulf states are sandwiched between Iran and Israel,
and have to bear the worst inclinations of both,” said Bader al-Saif, an
assistant professor at Kuwait University. “Iran’s attacks on the Gulf
are misplaced. They’ll only alienate its neighbors and invite further
distancing from Iran.”The US military carried out nearly 900 strikes
across Iran within the first 12 hours of the operation, according to an
unnamed US official cited by Fox News. The strikes managed to eliminate
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, which was confirmed by Iran overnight.Both
US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
indicated that the current offensive aims to spark an overthrow of the
Islamic Republic, with the latter giving a televised statement vowing to
create the conditions for the Iranian people to “free itself from the
chains of dictatorship.”Iran has fired about 300 missiles in the same
12-hour period, the official added. Many of the missiles were aimed at
Israel, but explosions also shook the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain,
Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.Earlier that day, sirens blared
intermittently across Israel as the Home Front Command urged civilians
to stay close to bomb shelters and avoid non-essential travel. It also
said that all educational activities, gatherings and work, except for
essential sectors, would be prohibited.It marked Israel’s second
flare-up with Iran within a year after the countries fought a 12-day war
in June 2025, which saw daily exchanges of missile barrages that left
32 Israelis dead and over 3,000 hospitalized. The war came to a close
after the US launched a devastating bombing campaign on three Iranian
nuclear sites.
US, Israel defend strikes on Iran as lawful at
heated UN Security Council meeting-Islamic Republic’s ambassador calls
death of civilians amid joint attack a crime against humanity; US
counterpart trades barbs over regime’s mass killing of protesters last
month By AP and Jacob Magid-Today, 8:34 am-MAR 1,26
The United
States and Israel clashed with Iran at an emergency meeting of the UN
Security Council on Saturday as the United Nations chief led calls for a
halt to attacks by either side and a return to negotiations to prevent
the conflict from spreading further.UN Secretary-General António
Guterres told the council that everything must be done to prevent an
escalation. “The alternative,” he warned, “is a potential wider conflict
with grave consequences for civilians and regional stability.”Guterres
said the US and Israeli airstrikes violated international law, including
the UN Charter. He also condemned Iran’s retaliatory attacks for
violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bahrain, Iraq,
Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.Bot the
US and Israel have described the attacks as preemptive, aimed at
stopping a regime that poses an existential threat to Israel.“We are
stopping extremism before it becomes unstoppable,” Israel’s UN
Ambassador Danny Danon said. “We will ensure that no radical regime
armed with nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles can threaten our
people or the entire world.”US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike
Waltz told the council that Operation Epic Fury, authorized by US
President Donald Trump against Iran, was aimed at dismantling the
Islamic Republic’s missile capabilities, degrading its naval assets,
disrupting the machinery that arms proxy militias, and ensuring that the
regime can never obtain a nuclear weapon.“Iran cannot have a nuclear
weapon,” he said. “That principle is not a matter of politics. It’s a
matter of global security. And to that end, the United States is taking
lawful actions.”Notably, Waltz’s list did not include regime change,
even though Trump earlier said that Iranians should take over their
government once the strikes subside.“No responsible nation can ignore
persistent aggression and violence,” Waltz said of Iran.“Peace is not
preserved by appeasing those who threaten it. Peace is preserved through
strength in the face of terror,” he continued. “History has taught us
that the cost of inaction is far greater than the burden of decisive
action.”Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the UN, told the
council that the airstrikes have killed and injured hundreds of Iranian
civilians, which he called a war crime and a crime against humanity.He
blasted the UN and the Security Council, its most powerful body, for not
heeding Tehran’s warnings about the “warmongering statements” by the US
in recent weeks and urged the council to act now.“The issue before the
council is straightforward: whether any member state may, including a
permanent member of this council, through the use of force, coercion or
aggression, determine the political future or system of another state or
impose control over its affairs,” Iravani said.During his speech, the
Iranian diplomat did not mention or comment on US President Donald
Trump’s statement that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed
in the strikes, although Iranian state media later confirmed his
death.Iran responded to his killing by vowing unprecedented retaliatory
attacks, drawing fresh threats from Trump that he too would deploy
“force that has never been seen before.”American, Iranian envoys have
rare direct exchange-In a rare exchange, the US and Iranian ambassadors
traded warnings and direct rebuffs toward the end of the emergency
session as military aggression between their countries risked spilling
into a regional war.After Waltz responded to Iranian claims that the US
had violated international law, Iravani asked to speak again to issue a
warning: “I advise to the representative of the United States to be
polite. It will be better for yourself and the country you
represent.”Waltz responded immediately, saying, “This representative
sits here, in this body, representing a regime that has killed tens of
thousands of its own people, and imprisoned many more, simply for
wanting freedom from your entire tyranny.”Russia’s ambassador condemned
the US-Israeli airstrikes, while China’s ambassador was more measured in
his criticism.“We demand that the United States and Israel immediately
cease their aggressive actions,” Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia
said. “We insist on the immediate resumption of political and diplomatic
settlement efforts… based on international law, mutual respect and a
balance of interests.”China’s UN Ambassador Fu Cong said China was very
concerned by “the sudden escalation of regional tensions” and supported
Russia’s call for a return to diplomatic negotiations.The permanent
observer of the 22-nation Arab League, Maged Abdelaziz, suggested Israel
was being hypocritical in justifying its military attack by saying it
was intended to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Abdelaziz, a
former Egyptian ambassador to the UN, noted that Israel has refused to
subject its own nuclear facilities to inspection by the UN nuclear
watchdog.The emergency meeting was called by five council members:
Bahrain, which is the Arab representative on the council, France,
Russia, China and Colombia.In a joint statement, the leaders of Britain
and France — both veto-wielding members of the council — along with
Germany’s chancellor called for a resumption of US-Iranian talks on
Tehran’s nuclear program. The three countries, part of the 2015 nuclear
deal with Iran, have led efforts to reach a negotiated solution. Trump
pulled the US out of the deal in 2018.The three European leaders
strongly condemned Iranian airstrikes in the region — not the US and
Israeli airstrikes — and urged Iran’s leaders to seek a negotiated
solution, saying: “Ultimately, the Iranian people must be allowed to
determine their future.”The Security Council meeting took place on the
last day of the United Kingdom’s presidency and a day before the United
States takes over the rotating presidency for the month of March.
Reporter's
notebook-Sirens, shelters and an empty Old City: Jerusalem rattled on
day 1 of war with Iran-Eerie silence settles over capital on Shabbat
leading up to Purim holiday, as residents hunker down under ballistic
missile fire and speculate about a conflict of biblical proportions-By
Theia Chatelle Today, 7:57 am-MAR 1,26
JTA — Jacob Phillips’s
first trip to Israel from his home in Germany was in 2023, to visit
Holocaust survivors in Tel Aviv as part of a university program. It was
cut short by the bloody October 7 Hamas onslaught, which forced him to
leave the country.He returned with his girlfriend this month to tour the
sites he missed. “Because the last trip, it was a harsh cut,” he said.
“That’s why we came back, to visit the people I met here in Israel.”On
Saturday, Phillips and his girlfriend Michelle were among the very few
people walking the streets in Jerusalem as another war unfolded, this
time with Iran. The war, which began when Israel and the United States
together attacked Iran early Saturday, had already sent them multiple
times to shelters and scrambled their departure plans for next Thursday.
Ben Gurion Airport is closed until further notice.Phillips said he was
in touch with the German consulate and felt safe in Jerusalem despite
the incoming missiles, citing Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system
(while the Iron Dome protects mainly against short-range threats, Israel
has other air defense systems that take on the ballistic missiles Iran
has been firing). He said he remained happy to be in Israel.“I wanted to
come here to learn about the Jewish experience, especially as a German,
and I feel like I have gotten to see so much of it,” Phillips
said.While missile impacts rocked Tel Aviv and elsewhere in Israel, an
eerie calm pervaded the streets of Jerusalem on Saturday, extreme even
for the Jewish day of rest, as residents hunkered down at home between
the sirens that indicated that war with Iran had begun anew. The sirens
sent worshipers scattering from Sabbath prayer services and disrupted
plans for shared meals.The gates of the Old City were closed by Israeli
police to everyone but residents. A crowd of Hasidic Jews argued with
officers, petitioning for entry to pray at the Western Wall, but
ultimately gave up and turned back.One resident who ventured out between
air raid alerts said the assault had provided “pauses just long enough
to walk up the stairs before heading back [down to the basement shelter]
again.”There was a consensus among those brave enough to venture away
from their homes that the war would be significantly worse this time
around, only nine months after a 12-day war in June 2025 that led to the
deaths of 32 Israelis. In that conflict, Iran launched more than 500
ballistic missiles at Israel and other targets throughout the Middle
East in retaliation for strikes that Israel initiated and the United
States joined.This time is indeed different. US President Donald Trump
and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are gunning for regime change and
reported that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had been
killed in an opening salvo. Sensing an existential threat, the Islamic
Republic of Iran has already escalated its response, using its firepower
against not only Israel but US targets throughout the Middle
East.Richard Weiner and Rolly Feld had been in Nahariya, in Israel’s
north, until Saturday morning. When the sirens began, they drove back to
Jerusalem in the hope they would be safer in the city and farther from
significant military targets for the Iranian regime, including the port
of Haifa, which was struck by an Iranian barrage at 10 a.m.Feld
recounted that as they drove down Route 4 toward Jerusalem, it felt as
if they were being chased by missiles. Periodically, another batch of
air raid alerts would sound, forcing them to shelter in tunnels along
the highway.Feld, whose wife was also in the car, said he would have
preferred to continue driving, contrary to the advice of Israeli
authorities, who recommend pulling over and lying flat to avoid exposure
to shrapnel from missile impacts.“My wife wanted all the time to stick
to the guidelines, to stop the car and stay away, and I kept driving
fast, then stopped in the tunnels. It’s a compromise,” Feld said.Weiner,
who grew up in Israel but has lived as an adult in South Africa, was
critical of Netanyahu’s decision to launch the strikes.“What he’s doing
is horrible for the Iranian people, and it’s horrible for the people
over here. The government is pushing for this; the people are not,” he
said.“We have to look for other ways of dealing with the Iranian
government, as irrational as they are. We should be supporting the
people who are protesting and not trying to topple the government by
killing the leadership,” he added, identifying himself as “something of a
pacifist.”Weiner and Feld bantered back and forth on a sidewalk in the
leafy neighborhood of Rehavia, discussing the possibility of further
escalation and whether it was Israel’s place to intervene on behalf of
the Iranian people — if that was indeed part of the calculus.Weiner
concluded, “I have a love-hate relationship with this country. I come
back and this happens again. This is clearly not the answer. Many people
will be killed, and it’s horrible that tens of thousands have been
killed due to their dissent, but how does this help?”The question of
whether the war would succeed in achieving regime change in Iran was on
the minds of many of those who were out and about.“The chance of actual
change is so low,” said Ishay, 44, a Jerusalem resident. “Like in
Israel, there is such a strong contingent of those with radical beliefs
in Iran. Even if the regime is toppled, who will replace
Khamenei?”Information was hard to come by throughout the day, though
over time it became clear that missile impacts had been confirmed in
multiple locations, including Bnei Brak, where Magen David Adom treated
people who were wounded. By Saturday night, one woman had been killed
and another man had been seriously wounded in Tel Aviv, with many
injured more lightly.The war comes as Israel prepares to celebrate
Purim, a Jewish holiday commemorating the overthrow of an oppressive
Persian regime — a powerful parallel for the current moment.In the
lead-up to the holiday, two Israelis stood talking down the street,
seemingly unconcerned by the sirens, both in costume — one wearing a
sombrero, the other dressed as a clown.Yael, who lives in Rehavia, was
walking her dog, Lucky, in central Jerusalem’s Meir Sherman
Garden.“We’ve just come to expect this. I am raising my children here in
Israel, but sometimes I wonder if there is a future here,” she said.For
Phillips, the fact that both of his visits to Israel have been derailed
by conflict did not dampen his support for Israel’s decision to launch
the attacks on Iran.“It’s time to change the regime there because of the
nuclear weapons; it’s important to have this under control,” he said.
“For Israel, it will be a hard time, I think. But nothing is free; you
have to pay with something.”
Obituary-Iran’s Ali Khamenei, who
based brutal rule on fiery hostility to US and Israel, dead at
86-Surprisingly picked to lead Islamic Republic, supreme leader
championed uranium enrichment during 36-year rule, built an army of
terror proxies, and refused compromise to the bitter end-By Reuters and
ToI Staff Today, 6:02 am-MAR 1,26
WASHINGTON — The 36-year rule
of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei built Iran into a powerful anti-US force,
spreading its military sway across the Middle East with an army of
terror proxies aimed at destroying Israel, while using an iron fist to
crush repeated unrest at home.He was killed on Saturday, aged 86,
Iranian state media announced, in airstrikes by Israel and the US that
pulverised his central Tehran compound, after decades of efforts to
resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program diplomatically failed.At
first dismissed as weak and indecisive, Khamenei seemed an unlikely
choice for supreme leader after the death of the charismatic Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini, who founded the Islamic Republic of Iran. But
Khamenei’s rise to the pinnacle of the country’s power structure
afforded him a tight grip over the nation’s affairs.Khamenei was “an
accident of history” who went from “a weak president to an initially
weak supreme leader to one of the five most powerful Iranians of the
last 100 years,” Karim Sadjadpour at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace told Reuters.The ayatollah criticized Washington
throughout his rule, continuing to deploy barbs after the start of
Donald Trump’s second term as US president in 2025.As a new wave of
protests spread through Iran, with slogans such as “Death to the
dictator,” and as Trump threatened to intervene, Khamenei vowed in
January that the country would not “yield to the enemy.”The comment was
typical of the ferociously anti-Western Khamenei, in office since
1989.By maintaining the hardline stance of Khomeini, the Republic’s
first supreme leader, Khamenei quashed the ambitions of a succession of
independent-minded elected presidents who sought more open policies at
home and abroad.In the process, he ensured Iran’s isolation, critics
say.His word was law-Khamenei long denied that Iran’s nuclear program
was aimed at producing an atomic weapon, as the West contended, even as
top regime officials regularly threatened to flatten Israeli cities
while Iran was enriching uranium to levels that have no peacetime
application.In 2015, he cautiously supported a nuclear deal between
world powers and the government of pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani
that curbed the country’s nuclear program in return for sanctions
relief. The hard-won accord resulted in a partial lifting of Iran’s
economic and political isolation.But Khamenei’s hostility toward the US
was undimmed, intensifying in 2018 when Trump’s first administration
withdrew from the nuclear agreement and reimposed sanctions to choke
Iran’s oil and shipping industries.Following the US withdrawal, Khamenei
sided with hardline supporters who criticized Rouhani’s policy of
appeasement towards the West.As Trump pressed Iran to agree to a new
nuclear deal in 2025, Khamenei condemned “the rude and arrogant leaders
of America.”“Who are you to decide whether Iran should have enrichment?”
he asked.Khamenei often denounced “the Great Satan” in speeches,
reassuring hardliners for whom anti-US sentiment was at the heart of the
1979 revolution, which forced the last shah of Iran into exile.Iran saw
major student-led protests in 1999 and 2002. But Khamenei’s authority
was put to the test more profoundly in 2009, when the contested results
of a presidential election that he had validated ignited violent street
unrest, stoking a crisis of legitimacy that lingered until his death.In
2022, Khamenei cracked down on protesters enraged by the death of
Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, 22, who died in the custody of
morality police in September of that year.Faced with some of the most
intense turmoil since the revolution, Khamenei blamed Western enemies
and then resorted to the hanging of protesters and the display of their
bodies, suspended from cranes, after months of unrest.Iranians got the
message.As supreme leader, Khamenei’s word was law. He inherited
enormous powers, including command of the armed forces and the authority
to appoint many senior figures, among them the heads of the judiciary,
security agencies and state radio and television.He appointed allies as
commanders of the elite Revolutionary Guards.As the final authority in
Iran’s complex system of clerical rule and limited democracy, Khamenei
long sought to ensure that no group, even among his closest allies,
mustered enough power to challenge him and his anti-US stance.Scholars
outside Iran painted a picture of a secretive ideologue fearful of
betrayal — an anxiety fueled by an assassination attempt in 1981 that
paralyzed his right arm.International organizations and activists
repeatedly criticized violations of human rights in Iran. Tehran
contended it has the best human rights record in the Muslim world.An
unlikely rise to power-Ali Khamenei was born in Mashhad, northeast Iran,
in April 1939. His religious commitment was clear when he became a
cleric at the age of 11. He studied in Iraq and in Qom, Iran’s religious
capital.His father, a religious scholar of ethnic Azeri descent, was a
traditionalist cleric opposed to mixing religion and politics. In
contrast, his son embraced the Islamist revolutionary cause.“He
[Khamenei’s father] came across as a modernist or progressive cleric,”
said Mahmoud Moradkhani, a nephew who opposes Khamenei’s rule and lives
in exile. Unlike his son, “he was not a part of the fundamentalists,”
Moradkhani said.In 1963, Khamenei served the first of many terms in
prison when, at 24, he was detained for political activities. Later that
year, he was imprisoned for 10 days in Mashhad, where he underwent
severe torture, according to his official biography.After the shah’s
fall, Khamenei took up several posts in the Islamic Republic. As deputy
defense minister, he became close to the military and was a key figure
in the 1980-88 war with neighboring Iraq, which claimed an estimated
total of one million lives.A skilled orator, he was appointed by
Khomeini as a Friday prayer leader in Tehran.There were questions about
his rapid, unprecedented rise. He won the presidency with Khomeini’s
support — the first cleric in the post — and was a surprise choice as
Khomeini’s successor, given that he lacked both Khomeini’s popular
appeal and superior clerical credentials.Expanding Iran’s influence-His
ties to the powerful Guards paid off in 2009. That year, the force
crushed protests after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won reelection amid
opposition accusations of vote fraud.He also presided over a vast
financial empire through Setad, an organization founded by Khomeini but
expanded hugely under Khamenei, with assets worth tens of billions of
dollars.Khamenei expanded Iranian influence in the region, empowering
Shiite militias and jihadist terror groups in Iraq and Lebanon, and
propping up Syria’s then-president Bashar al-Assad by deploying
thousands of soldiers to the country.He spent billions over four decades
on these allies — the “Axis of Resistance,” which also included Hamas,
the Palestinian terror group, and Yemen’s Houthis — to oppose Israeli
and US power in the Middle East.But in 2024, Khamenei saw these
alliances unravel, and Iran’s regional influence shrivel, with the
ousting of Assad and a series of defeats inflicted by Israel on
Hezbollah in Lebanon and on Hamas in Gaza, including the killing of
their leaders.Under Khamenei’s rule, Iran and Israel fought a shadow war
for years, with Israel assassinating Tehran’s nuclear scientists and
Revolutionary Guard commanders.It exploded into the open during Israel’s
war against Hamas in Gaza, which was sparked by the latter’s onslaught
of October 7, 2023. In April 2024, Iran fired hundreds of missiles and
drones at Israel after it bombed Tehran’s embassy compound in Damascus.
Israel struck Iranian soil in response.But that was only a prelude to
June 2025, when Israel’s military unleashed hundreds of fighter jets to
strike Iranian nuclear and military targets as well as senior personnel.
The surprise attack provoked a barrage of missiles in both directions,
transforming simmering conflict into all-out war. The US joined the air
offensive on Iran, which lasted 12 days.The US and Israel had warned
they would strike again if Iran pressed ahead with its nuclear and
ballistic missile programs and, on Saturday, they launched the most
ambitious attack on Iranian targets in decades.Negotiations between US
and Iranian officials took place as recently as Thursday, but senior US
officials said that Iran had not been willing to give up its ability to
enrich uranium, which the Iranians argued they want for nuclear energy
but US officials said would enable the country to build a nuclear
bomb.On the diplomatic front, Khamenei rejected any normalization of
ties with the United States. He argued that Washington had backed
hardline groups like the Islamic State to inflame a sectarian war in the
region.Like all Iranian officials, Khamenei denied any intent to
develop nuclear weapons and went so far as to issue an Islamic ruling,
or fatwa, in the mid-1990s on “production and usage” of nuclear weapons,
saying: “It is against our Islamic thoughts.”He also supported a fatwa
issued by Khomeini in 1989, which called on Muslims to kill the
Indian-born author Salman Rushdie after the publication of his novel
“The Satanic Verses.”Khamenei’s official website confirmed the ongoing
validity of the death edict as recently as 2017. Five years later,
Rushdie was stabbed while giving a public lecture in New York. The
writer was gravely wounded but survived. The perpetrator, who was
sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2025 for attempted murder, did not
testify at the trial.The slain ayatollah leaves an Islamic Republic
wrestling with uncertainty amid the attacks from Israel and the United
States, as well as growing dissent at home, especially among younger
generations.“I just want to live a peaceful, normal life… Instead, they
[the rulers] insist on a nuclear program, supporting armed groups in the
region, and maintaining hostility toward the United States,” Mina, 25,
told Reuters by phone from Kuhdasht in the western Lorestan province at
the start of 2026.“Those policies may have made sense in 1979, but not
today,” the jobless university graduate added. “The world has changed.”
Woman
killed, dozens injured as Iranian missile strikes Tel Aviv residential
block-Victim is first person killed in Israel in renewed fighting with
Iran, as first responders take 27 to hospital, including infant, after
heavy damage to two apartment buildings By Charlie Summers and Emanuel
Fabian-Today, 4:28 amUpdated at 12:26 pm-MAR 1,26
A woman was
killed and dozens more were injured by an Iranian missile that struck a
Tel Aviv residential block late Saturday night, in the first deadly
barrage to rock Israel during its renewed fighting with Iran.The victim,
a foreign caregiver in her 40s, was found in critical condition after a
ballistic missile struck next to an apartment building in the coastal
city, causing heavy damage to the structure and its environs.Paramedics
pronounced the woman dead while rushing her to the hospital.Twenty-seven
others were injured, including two in moderate condition and 25 who
sustained light injuries in the attack. They were taken to three
different hospitals in the area by Magen David Adom and United Hatzalah
paramedics.Among those rescued from the building were a two-month-old
infant and his older sister. Their parents were evacuated from the
complex soon after them. According to Channel 12, seven of those injured
in the strike were children.Police chief Daniel Levy arrived at the
scene, accompanied by Tel Aviv District commander Haim Sargaroff, where
the two held a situation assessment with officers operating at the
site.They were working with firefighters to search for any other trapped
individuals in the building, amid extensive rubble and cars that caught
fire upon the missile impact.According to a military investigation of
the strike, the woman did not manage to enter a bomb shelter.The Home
Front Command determined that a complete Iranian ballistic missile — not
fragments — struck next to the apartment building, causing extensive
damage and a large crater. The missile carried a warhead of several
hundred kilograms, the Home Front Command assessed.The building was
relatively old, without its own safe rooms, and most residents had
evacuated to a nearby public bomb shelter, according to the Home Front
Command.The slain woman, who was a foreign caregiver for an elderly
woman, did not manage to evacuate in time and was killed in the strike.
The woman she was caring for was extracted by rescue workers from the
rubble alive.The barrage was one of many absorbed by Israel since
Saturday morning, when the IDF and the US military launched a major
joint strike against Iran, attacking sites across the country and
killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and dozens of top military
officials, after weeks of escalating tensions in the region.The Israeli
strikes on Iran continued into the night, with the Israeli Air Force
saying it had completed several more waves of strikes targeting Iran’s
ballistic missile launchers and air defense systems.Meanwhile, the US
military carried out nearly 900 strikes across Iran within the first 12
hours of the operation, according to an unnamed US official cited by Fox
News.Iran has fired about 300 missiles in the same period, the official
added. Many of the missiles were aimed at Israel, but explosions also
shook the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi
Arabia.Earlier that day, sirens blared intermittently across Israel as
the Home Front Command urged civilians to stay close to bomb shelters
and avoid non-essential travel. It also said that all educational
activities, gatherings and work, except for essential sectors, would be
prohibited.It marked Israel’s second flare-up with Iran within a year
after the countries fought a 12-day war in June 2025, which saw daily
exchanges of missile barrages that left 28 Israelis dead and over 3,000
hospitalized. The war came to a close after the US launched a
devastating bombing campaign on three Iranian nuclear sites.This time
around, both US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu indicated that the current offensive aims to spark an
overthrow of the Islamic Republic, with the latter giving a televised
statement vowing to create the conditions for the Iranian people to
“free itself from the chains of dictatorship.”Times of Israel staff
contributed to this report.
Iran sets 40 days of mourning as US,
Israel pound country-End of an era as Iran confirms Khamenei is dead;
Trump: Justice for Iranians and beyond-Iranians brave the streets to
celebrate; US president urges security personnel to surrender; Netanyahu
calls on Iranians to rise up; state media says leader’s daughter,
grandchild, daughter-in-law, son-in-law also killed-By Jacob Magid,Lazar
Berman,Emanuel Fabian,ToI Staff and Agencies Today, 2:00 amUpdated at
3:41 am-MAR 1,26
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
was killed in American-Israeli strikes on Saturday morning, Iranian
state media confirmed early Sunday morning, hours after US President
Donald Trump declared the 86-year-old’s death in the most ambitious
attack on Iran in decades.“Khamenei, one of the most evil people in
History, is dead,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that US strikes
would continue “uninterrupted” for the coming week or until peace is
secured in Iran.
Israeli and US officials had increasingly
projected confidence in the hours leading up to Trump’s remarks that the
leader of the Islamic Republic had been killed in an airstrike on his
compound.An Israeli official briefing local media said the Iranian
leader had been killed in an Israeli strike on his compound on Saturday
morning, and a senior Israeli official told Reuters that his body had
been found. Israel’s Channel 12 reported that Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu had been shown an image of his body after it was recovered
from the compound in Tehran.Iran’s state media said Khamenei was killed
in his office in the early hours of Saturday, announcing a 40-day period
of mourning. It added that family members of Khamenei were also killed,
including his daughter, grandchild, daughter-in-law and
son-in-law.Earlier, before the confirmation of the leader’s death, a
tweet had been posted from the supreme leader’s X account, purporting to
show that he was still alive, and regime-affiliated media outlets had
denied he was killed.Trump wrote on social media that Khamenei’s death
was “not only justice for the people of Iran, but for all great
Americans, and those people from many countries throughout the world
[who] have been killed or mutilated by [him] and his gang of
bloodthirsty THUGS.”Netanyahu, in a video address to the public on
Saturday night, said there were growing signs that Khamenei “is no
more,” but did not openly declare him dead.“This morning, in a powerful
surprise strike, the compound of the tyrant Ali Khamenei was destroyed
in the heart of Tehran… and there are many signs that this tyrant is no
longer alive,” the premier said.Iranians have poured into the street to
celebrate the news of Ali Khamenei’s death.pic.twitter.com/wLTMqQWVIa —
The Iran Watcher ???????? (@TheIranWatcher) February 28, 2026-Cheers
could be heard on Tehran’s streets after reports of the death, according
to witnesses. Video footage on X also showed Iranians celebrating
elsewhere.This is Karaj tonight. Please join the people of Iran in
celebrating the downfall of the tyrant Khamenei, and the imminent fall
of the rotten islamic regime. Advertisement After 47 long years, Iran
can breathe again. pic.twitter.com/bxdxwuufIr — ????????????????
???????????????? ???????? ✡︎ (@NiohBerg) February 28, 2026-A Fox News
reporter, citing an unnamed US official, said Washington believed
Khamenei and five to 10 other top Iranian officials were killed in the
initial Israeli strike of the operation, dubbed “Operation Roaring Lion”
by Israel and “Operation Epic Fury” by the US.Israel, having
coordinated with the US, dropped some 30 bombs on Khamenei’s compound in
the opening minutes of the assault, according to an unsourced Channel
12 news report. The same report claimed that the Iranian leader was
underground at the location, but not in one of the two deepest bunkers
that only US bombs could have penetrated.Satellite imagery has shown the
compound largely destroyed.Two Iranian sources told Reuters that
Khamenei had met with Shamkhani and Supreme National Security Council
Secretary Ali Larijani at a secure location shortly before the strikes
started.Iran responded to the Israeli and US strikes by firing dozens of
ballistic missile barrages at Israel and the Gulf states, which are
close allies of the US and host its military bases.As of Saturday night,
two people had been confirmed dead in the strikes, including a woman in
her 40s who was fatally wounded in a ballistic missile impact in Tel
Aviv. The other confirmed casualty was a foreign worker in Abu Dhabi,
the Emirati capital.While Israel was reportedly behind the specific
strike that took out Khamenei, Trump indicated that the US played a
major role, while coordinating with Jerusalem.Khamenei “was unable to
avoid our intelligence and highly sophisticated tracking systems and,
working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he, or the other
leaders [who] have been killed along with him, could do,” Trump
bragged.“This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to
take back their country. We are hearing that many of their [Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps], military, and other security and police
forces, no longer want to fight, and are looking for immunity from us,”
the US president added.Such capitulations have not been verified.Trump
has called on Iranian security personnel to surrender in exchange for
immunity or face imminent death.“Hopefully, the IRGC and police will
peacefully merge with the Iranian patriots and work together as a unit
to bring back the country to the greatness it deserves,” Trump posted on
Saturday. “That process should soon be starting in that, not only the
death of Khamenei but the country has been, in only one day, very much
destroyed and, even, obliterated.”“The heavy and pinpoint bombing,
however, will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as
necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST
AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!” the president concluded.‘Years to recover’It
would take Iran “several years” to recover from the pummeling it
received from the US and Israel, Trump said on Saturday evening, in a
phone conversation with reporter Barak Ravid from Israel’s Channel 12
news.The president said he could choose to make the campaign as long as
he likes or finish within a matter of days, but warned that he would
attack again if Iran attempted to rebuild.“I can go long and take over
the whole thing, or end it in two or three days and tell the Iranians:
‘See you again in a few years if you start rebuilding [your nuclear and
missile programs],” Trump said in the five-minute phone interview from
Mar-a-Lago with Ravid, who published the English quotes on
Axios.However, he stressed that “in any case, it will take them several
years to recover from this attack.”Netanyahu urges Iranians to rise
up-Netanyahu, in his televised statement, said that Israel had
eliminated commanders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,
senior regime officials, and senior nuclear officials since Saturday
morning, and that it would “hit thousands of targets of the terror
regime” in the coming days.The operation against Iran “will continue as
long as is necessary,” the premier said, “and stamina is
necessary.”Vowing that the operation would lead to “true peace,”
Netanyahu said Israel would create the conditions for the Iranian people
to “free itself from the chains of dictatorship.”He called on the
Iranian people to unite and rise up against the regime, urging them in
the Hebrew-language video not to forego the “once-in-a-generation”
opportunity.”“Soon your moment will come,” he said, “the moment when you
must take to the streets in your masses, to take to the streets to
complete the work to bring down the regime of horrors that embitters
your lives.”“Help has arrived,” he added in English.The Israeli strikes
on Iran continued into the night, with the Israeli Air Force confirming
shortly after midnight that it had completed another wave of strikes
targeting Iran’s ballistic missile launchers and air defense
systems.According to the IDF, the missile launchers and air defenses
were struck in western and central Iran. The military also said it
“attacked several launch sites in central Iran that had not yet been
targeted.”One of the targeted missile launch sites, in the Qom area, was
utilized by Iran to store “H-1” Ghadr missiles, capable of carrying
warheads with hundreds of kilograms of explosives, the military said.The
IDF said the strikes on the launchers and other infrastructure at the
sites “thwarted dozens of launches toward the territory of the State of
Israel and dealt a severe blow to the regime’s most central offensive
capability.”Top Iranian officials killed-Elaborating on Netanyahu’s
remarks on the deaths of some of the top gatekeepers of the Iranian
regime, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed the identities of several
members of Iran’s security leadership killed since Saturday morning.
Among the names were top defense official Ali Shamkhani and the
commander of the IRGC, Mohammad Pakpour.Iranian media had said
Khamenei’s son-in-law and daughter-in-law were also killed.The IDF said
it could confirm the deaths of the following officials in the
strikes:Ali Shamkhani, a former IRGC Navy chief and Iranian army chief,
and a top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Israel targeted him in last June’s war, and initially believed it had
killed him.Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of the IRGC. The IDF says
Pakpour led Iran’s “plan to destroy Israel,” and he was responsible for
missile and drone attacks on Israel, supporting Iran’s proxy groups, and
” effectively commanded the violent suppression of Iranian protesters
during the internal protests last month.”Salah Asadi, the chief of
intelligence in Iran’s military emergency headquarters, and the senior
intelligence officer of Iran’s armed forces’ general staff. The IDF says
he was also involved in Iran’s “plan to destroy Israel.”Mohammad
Shirazi, the chief of Khamenei’s military bureau since 1989. The IDF
says he was responsible for “the liaison between the senior commanders
of the armed forces and the leader, and was a central figure in the top
ranks of the Iranian terror regime.”Aziz Nasirzadeh, Iran’s minister of
defense, and a former chief of the Iranian air force and deputy chief of
staff. The IDF says he was responsible for “industries producing
long-range missiles and weapons transferred to regime proxies, as well
as for the SPND organization, which advanced projects in the fields of
nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.”Hossein Jabal-Amelian,
chairman of SPND. The IDF says he was responsible for “developing
advanced technologies and weapons for the regime” and advanced “projects
for years in the fields of nuclear, biological, and chemical
weapons.”Reza Mozafari-Nia, a former chairman of SPND. The IDF says he
“advanced efforts to develop nuclear weapons.”‘Hellish international
oppressors’Meanwhile, Khamenei’s top aide Ali Larijani, whom Channel 12
said had been among those targeted in the US and Israeli strikes, took
to social media to vow revenge against Israel and the US for the heavy
losses.“We will make the Zionist criminals and the shameless Americans
regret their actions. The brave soldiers and the great nation of Iran
will deliver an unforgettable lesson to the hellish international
oppressors,” Larijani wrote on X.Khamenei had reportedly put in place
detailed plans for his succession and emergency chains of command should
he, or other top leaders, be killed in potential US or Israeli strikes,
elevating longtime loyalist Larijani to manage the crisis.Iran’s
clerical leaders were already facing furious domestic opposition, marked
by mass anti-government demonstrations in January. The regime cracked
down on the protests, killing thousands, if not tens of thousands of
Iranians, in the worst domestic unrest since the era of the 1979
revolution.Protesters had again taken to the streets in recent days in
remembrance of those killed the previous month.Tehran residents had been
going about their usual business on Saturday 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 and listed the number of dead as
over 200, with more than 700 said injured.Within the first 12 hours of
the operation in Iran, the US military carried out nearly 900 strikes
across Iran, according to an unnamed US official cited by Fox News.The
strikes were launched from the land, air and sea and included drones all
while defending against hundreds of incoming Iranian ballistic missiles
the US official said.The official said that Iran had fired about 300
missiles in the same period. Many of the missiles were aimed at Israel,
but explosions also shook the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar,
Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.The official claimed, however, that Iran struck
“empty warehouses” in strikes that targeted the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet
headquarters in Bahrain, and said that none of the Iranian
counter-strikes impacted US aims in Operation Epic Fury.Iran has around
2,000 long-range missiles in its arsenal and another 2,000 shorter-range
missiles — both were replenished after last summer’s US and Israeli
strikes, the US official told Fox News.The official said that the goal
of the joint Israeli-US operation was to ensure that Iran no longer has
the “capability to attack its neighbors: no drones, no missiles, no
navy.”The US official claimed that Washington knows where Iran is
stockpiling its highly enriched uranium but that it is difficult to
reach.The operation, the official said, was expected to last “a couple
of weeks,” although Trump could decide to wrap it up sooner.The official
added that there were still a number of Iranian air defenses left for
the US and Israel to suppress before they would be able to operate more
freely from the Iranian skies.Israeli military operations over the past
two years had already killed some of Iran’s senior military officials
and severely weakened several of Tehran’s once-feared proxy forces
across the Middle East.After Israel pounded Iran in a 12-day air war
last June joined by the United States, the US and Israel had warned that
they would strike again if Iran pressed ahead with its nuclear and
ballistic missile programs.The threats were backed up by a US military
buildup in the region, even as Iranian and US officials held nuclear
talks.
