A plume of smoke rose after explosions were reported in Tehran on Sunday.
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Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images
Amman, Jordan and Washington – President Trump said more US service members are likely to be killed in the US and Israeli war against Iran, after the Pentagon confirmed on Sunday that three US service members had died and at least five were seriously injured.
In a speech posted online Sunday afternoon, Trump said the U.S. mourns the slain service members, calling them “true American patriots who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, and we will continue the just mission they gave their lives for.”
“And sadly, there will be more before it’s over, that’s how it is,” Trump said in a speech posted on Truth Social. Speaking behind a stage with the presidential seal, he said the US would avenge his death, accusing Iran of waging a war “against civilization”.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed the US casualties on Sunday, the first American casualties since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Saturday.
A U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, told NPR that the soldiers killed were ground-based forces stationed in Kuwait. The US military said several other service members were returning to duty after suffering what they called “minor shrapnel wounds and concussions”.
In what the US military described as the scope of its operation, “epic fury”, Central Command said on Sunday it had hit an Iranian Zamaran-class corvette, a small warship, and the ship was sinking at a pier in an Iranian port in the Gulf of Oman.
In a separate post, military US B-2 stealth bombers, armed with 2,000-lb bombs, struck Iran’s ballistic missile facilities on Saturday night. According to CENTCOM, more than 1,000 targets were hit.
Trump had previously said US forces had sunk nine Iranian naval vessels and “mostly destroyed” Iran’s naval headquarters. US Central Command would not confirm this claim.
Still, Trump has warned that more attacks are coming. “We’re going after the rest – they’ll soon be floating at the bottom of the sea!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The latest military upgrades came as the scope of the war widened across the region. Israel launched a new wave of attacks in Iran on Sunday, with explosions heard in the Iranian capital. Israel’s military said it was striking targets belonging to the Iranian terror regime “in the heart of Tehran”. The Israeli Air Force said it carried out large-scale strikes to establish air superiority and “pave the way to Tehran”.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, was killed in an airstrike targeting his office in Tehran, Iranian state media confirmed on Saturday. Iran’s state broadcaster broke the news in tears. Khamenei assumed the position of spiritual leader after the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, in 1989.
On Sunday, Israel’s military said it had carried out a “precision, large-scale operation” targeting what it described as Khamenei’s central leadership compound in the heart of Tehran.
Iran appoints interim leadership council
Iran says it has set up a three-man interim leadership council to rule the country under Islamic law before a committee of Shiite clerics elects a new supreme leader.
A potential new leadership in Iran has indicated they want to talk, and he plans to talk with them eventually, a senior White House official told NPR, without specifying a timeline.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghai told NPR All things considered 158 students died on Sunday at a primary school in Minab, southern Iran. “Some of them are still under the rubble. Today they hit hospitals in the center of Tehran,” Baghai told NPR.
Iran blamed Israel for the attack. The Israeli military told reporters it was not aware of its forces operating in the area of Saturday’s school strike. Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins told NPR late Saturday that the US is aware of the reports of civilian damage and that it is “looking into them.”
“The protection of civilians is paramount, and we will continue to take all available precautions to minimize the risk of unintended harm. We have never — and will never — target civilians as Iran has,” Hawkins said.
On Sunday, mourners packed Tehran’s Engelab Square and public spaces in other cities to commemorate Khamenei’s martyrdom. In the southwestern city of Yasuj, videos posted to social media showed large crowds chanting “the lion of God has been killed.” NPR could not independently verify the footage.
A Tehran resident, who asked to be identified only as Roxana for fear of regime reprisals, said some who had participated in earlier protests had celebrated Khamenei’s death — but security forces later shot a friend in the back and his leg as youths danced in the street.
She said her friend could not go to the hospital for fear of arrest.
High alert in the Middle East region
Across the region, security was tightened and air defenses were alerted.
In Iraq, where Iranian-backed paramilitaries are part of official government security forces, the government has restricted access to Baghdad’s Green Zone to protect the US and other embassies based there. They deployed riot police against a group of militia members trying to break through the barricades.
In Jordan, home to major US military bases, residents reported hearing air raid sirens and the thud of missiles.
The oil-rich Gulf, a safe haven for migrants and an economic engine for the countries that provide most of its skilled and unskilled labor, faced perhaps the biggest shocks.
Iran on Saturday and Sunday targeted luxury hotels and high-rise apartments believed to house US personnel. Instead of the usual flood of social influencer posts basking in the winter sun of Dubai and its neighboring emirates, videos of drones hitting high-rise buildings dominate social media feeds. Some images showed smoke filling parts of Dubai’s airport concourse as crews fled the building.
The attacks closed several major airports in the Middle East, including Dubai International Airport, one of the world’s busiest. The airport and the emirate’s famous Burj Al Arab hotel were damaged in the Iranian attack. Other missiles also hit airports in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait.
Iran has vowed to fight “foreign aggression, foreign domination”.
Iran on Sunday threatened Israel and US military bases with its biggest ever wave of attacks. It reiterated threats to attack the ship and announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
“There will be no mercy or forgiveness in taking revenge on a leader,” Iran’s defense ministry said in a statement.
Esmail Baghai, a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, told NPR on Sunday that Iran will continue to fight “foreign aggression, foreign hegemony.”
“This is an unjust war imposed on our nation. And we have no choice but to fight against this injustice,” Baghai said.
Asked about the deaths of US military personnel, Baghai said: “We have no problem with the American people. And we believe that this is not their war. This is a war of choice by the US administration.”
In Israel on Sunday, an Iranian missile attack near Jerusalem killed at least nine people and wounded others, Israeli officials said.
The OPEC group of oil-producing nations met on Sunday to decide whether to raise output, hoping to avoid a sharp rise in oil prices if the conflict cuts off supplies from the Gulf.
Trump warned Iran against further retaliation, writing that if Iran escalated, the US would respond with “unprecedented force”. CNBC Sunday’s military operations in Iran are “ahead of schedule,” Trump said.
“We’re doing our job not just for ourselves, but for the world. And everything is ahead of schedule,” Trump said.
Daniel Estrin contributed to this report from Tel Aviv. Carrie Kahn contributed to this report from Istanbul.
