Iran begins 40 days of mourning after Khamenei’s death in US-Israeli strike | Israel-Iran conflict news

According to Iranian state media, Iran has begun 40 days of mourning following the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an ongoing attack by the United States and Israel.

Khamenei’s daughter, son-in-law and grandson were also killed in Saturday’s attack, along with top security officials. The assassinations were one of the most significant blows to Iran’s leadership since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

According to a statement from President Masoud Pezheshkian’s office, the killing was condemned as a “grave crime”. He declared a 40-day mourning period as well as seven days of public holidays.

Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said people were pouring into the capital’s streets after news of Khamenei’s assassination.

“There will be expected ceremonies,” he said, adding that they are likely to take place amid continued bombardment across the country.

Protests condemning Khamenei’s assassination were reported elsewhere, including in Shiraz, Yasuz and Lorestan.

“There will be expected ceremonies,” he said, adding that they are likely to take place amid continued bombardment across the country.

Footage broadcast by Iranian state media showed mourners at Imam Reza’s shrine in Mashhad, with several people seen crying and collapsing in grief.

The killing sparked protests in neighboring Iraq, which declared three days of public mourning. In Baghdad, protesters clashed with security forces in the heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses Iraqi government buildings and foreign embassies.

Videos reviewed by Al Jazeera showed protesters waving flags and shouting slogans, with some trying to march towards the US embassy, ​​witnesses said. Footage showed protesters blocking vehicles at a roundabout near one of the area’s entrances.

There were also protests in the Pakistani city of Karachi, where footage reviewed by Al Jazeera showed people setting fire to and smashing the windows of the US consulate.

However, there were reports of celebrations in Iran, with Reuters news agency citing witnesses as saying some took to the streets in Tehran, the nearby city of Karaj and the central city of Isfahan.

Meanwhile, the official IRNA news agency reported that a three-person council comprising the country’s president, the head of the judiciary and one of the jurists of the Guardian Council will temporarily assume all leadership duties in the country. The organization oversees the country temporarily until a new supreme leader is elected.

Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, accused the US and Israel of trying to loot Iran in an interview broadcast on state TV.

He called on Iranians to unite. “The groups that want to divide Iran must know that we will not tolerate that,” he said.

Khamenei assumed leadership of Iran in 1989 after the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who had led the Islamic Revolution a decade earlier.

While considered the ideological force behind the revolution that ended the Pahlavi monarchy, Khamenei went on to shape Iran’s military and paramilitary apparatus, strengthening both its domestic control and its regional influence.

Attacks across the region

Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) vowed revenge and said it had launched attacks on 27 bases hosting US troops in the region and Israeli military facilities in Tel Aviv.

Explosions continue to be reported in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, while security alerts remain in place in several countries across the region.

US President Donald Trump, in a social media post on Sunday, warned that Iran would be hit with “unprecedented force” if it retaliates.

Iran’s retaliatory strikes since Saturday have targeted Israeli and US assets in several Middle Eastern countries, including Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Harlan Ullman, president of the strategic consulting firm Kilowen Group and an adviser to the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, said the US may have made a “huge mistake” by killing Khamenei.

“A coup only works when you’ve got all the leaders, and I don’t think we’ve got all the leaders,” Ullmann said, adding that the US should not expect Iran’s leadership to enter negotiations immediately.

At least 201 people were killed in joint US-Israeli strikes in 24 provinces, Iranian state media reported Saturday, citing the Red Crescent. In southern Iran, a strike on a primary girls’ school in Minab on Saturday killed at least 148 people and injured 95 others, according to state media, with the toll continuing to rise.