US and Israeli attacks on Iran: List of key events on day 2 | Explanatory news

EXPLAINER

Iran carries out retaliatory attacks as the supreme leader is killed in US and Israeli strikes that push the region to the brink.

Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the US and Israeli strikes, along with his top security officials, as Tehran vows “revenge” for the killing of the supreme leader.

Khamenei’s assassination is a serious setback for Iran, where more than 200 people have been killed in attacks in 24 of 31 provinces since Saturday. Iran’s retaliatory attacks have targeted Israel and neighboring Gulf countries that host US military assets.

Khamenei, 86, died in the attack at his office in Tehran. The supreme leader’s daughter, son-in-law and grandson were also killed in the attack.

Here’s everything that happened so far on day 2.

Inside Iran

• The Israeli military said on Sunday it had begun attacking targets deep inside Tehran, a day after a joint US-Israel strike killed Khamenei.
• Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced the sixth wave of “extensive missile and drone strikes” against Israeli military assets and 27 US bases in the Middle East in retaliation.
• Iran’s state media confirmed the killing of Khamenei, as well as security adviser Ali Shamkhani and IRGC commander-in-chief Mohammad Pakpour. According to the Hamshahri newspaper, Ahmad Vahidi has been named the new commander-in-chief of the IRGC. Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the news.
• The chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, Abdul Rahim Mousavi, and Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh were also killed in the attacks.
• A three-person council – consisting of Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, head of the judiciary, and one of the Guardian Council’s jurists – will temporarily assume all leadership functions in the country, Iran’s state television reported.
• Iran’s top security official, Ali Larijani, said there are plans to form a temporary governing body to carry out Khamenei’s duties.
• The death toll in the attack on a girls’ primary school in the southern Iranian city of Minab rose to 148 people and 95 others were injured.
• Khamenei’s supporters have taken to the streets of major Iranian cities, including Tehran and Isfahan, to mourn the killing of the supreme leader.
• Iran’s highest-ranking official to appear on camera since Khamenei’s assassination, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of parliament, called the American and Israeli leaders “filthy criminals” who will face “devastating blows that you yourselves will be forced to beg for.”

The latest from Trump

• “Iran just declared that they are going to hit very hard today, harder than ever before,” US President Donald Trump wrote in a late-night Truth Social post. “However, you better not do it, because if you do, we will hit you with a force never seen before!” he added.
• In an interview with CBS News, Trump said he believes the United States is best positioned to reach a diplomatic solution with Iran. “It’s a lot easier now than it was a day ago, obviously,” Trump said, adding, “because they’re getting brutally beaten.”

Israeli attacks and Iranian reprisals

• The Israeli ambulance service says one Israeli woman was killed and 121 others were injured, mostly with minor injuries, in waves of Iranian missile attacks.
• Air raid sirens continue to sound in the city of Tel Aviv and its surroundings.
• The Israeli military said most of these missiles and drones were intercepted or shot down, but some managed to pass through Tel Aviv and Beit Shemesh, a city west of Jerusalem.
• Israel’s military said it had struck more than 30 targets in strikes against western and central Iran in another wave of attacks “against the ballistic missiles and air defense systems of the Iranian terrorist regime.”
• The strikes will continue against air defense facilities, missile sites, military barracks and other “regime targets” in Iran, the Israeli military statement added.

Iran continues targeting the Gulf region

• At least 11 explosions were heard over Qatar on Sunday morning. Qatar’s Interior Ministry says a total of 16 people have been injured following the Iranian attacks.
• The commercial port of Duqm in Oman was hit by two drones, injuring one person, the state news agency said on Sunday. Oman was mediating between the United States and Iran.
• Oman’s Maritime Security Center said Sunday that the Palauan-flagged oil tanker Skylight was attacked about 5 nautical miles (9 kilometers) off Musandam. “A crew of twenty people were evacuated, initial information shows that four people were injured,” he said.
• Jordanian defense systems intercepted missiles that penetrated the airspace of the capital, Amman, as well as northern areas.
• The U.S. Embassy in Jordan issued a security alert early Sunday morning, urging people to shelter in place.
• Sirens have also been reported in Kuwait as Iran continues its retaliatory attacks against US allies in the Gulf.
• More explosions were also heard in Dubai, a day after a fire broke out at the city’s Palm ⁠Islands tourist attraction. The remains of a drone intercepted by the Dubai military caused a fire in the port of Jebel Ali, a frequent stop for US Navy ships in the Gulf.
• Iraq’s Muqtada al-Sadr expressed “sadness and regret” over Khamenei’s killing as protesters in Baghdad clashed with security forces in areas housing the country’s government, parliament and foreign embassies.
• Protests have broken out in neighboring Iraq, as well as in Kashmir administered by India and Pakistan. At least six people were killed and several injured in riots that broke out near the US consulate in the Pakistani port city of Karachi.
• Iraq has announced three days of public mourning across the country following the assassination of Khamenei.

In the United Nations Security Council

• US Ambassador Mike Waltz said the strikes against Iran were aimed at dismantling its ballistic missile capabilities, degrading naval assets and ensuring that “the Iranian regime can never, ever threaten the world with a nuclear weapon.”
• Russia’s UN envoy strongly condemned the latest military strikes against Iran, calling them “another unprovoked act of armed aggression.” Vassily Nebenzia said: “The American and Israeli military operation has been a betrayal of diplomacy.”
• China’s Ambassador Fu Cong called the attacks between the United States and Israel “brazen,” condemned the threat of force and called for respect for Iran’s “sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.” He said it was “shocking” that the US and Israeli attacks came amid diplomatic negotiations between the US and Iran.
• The U.N. chief said military action risks “triggering a chain of events that no one can control in the world’s most volatile region,” adding that “everything must be done” to prevent a broader escalation of war across the Middle East.

What is the latest situation in the Strait of Hormuz?

• Iran moved to close the Strait of Hormuz, while ships in the Gulf reported receiving warnings from the IRGC that ships would not be allowed to pass through the strategic waterway.
• The Reuters news agency reported that the IRGC ordered that “no ship can pass the Strait of Hormuz.”
• Nearly 20 percent of global oil consumption passes through the strait, making it one of the world’s most important oil export routes.