Iran turns to Ayatollah Arafi as interim leader after Khamenei assassination

Dubai: Iran was thrust into its gravest political and security crisis in decades after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a joint United States and Israeli airstrike on Tehran, triggering an emergency transfer of power at home and a widening regional conflict that has already claimed hundreds of lives across the Middle East.

Iranian state media confirmed early Sunday that the 86-year-old leader died when his central leadership compound in downtown Tehran was hit during what Israel described as a “precise, large-scale operation.” Satellite imagery reviewed by international observers showed extensive damage to the compound. The strike formed part of a coordinated campaign that Israeli and US officials said had been planned for months and was aimed at senior leadership, military command centres, air defence systems, missile launch sites and nuclear-linked infrastructure.

The death of Khamenei, who had ruled Iran since 1989 and held final authority over all major policies, immediately activated Article 111 of Iran’s constitution. Under that provision, a three-member interim council assumed the powers of the supreme leader pending the selection of a permanent successor. Iranian media said senior cleric Ayatollah Alireza Arafi was appointed as the jurist member of the council, joining President Masoud Pezeshkian and Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i. Arafi, 67, is the head of Iran’s network of Islamic seminaries, a clerical member of the Guardian Council and a member of the Assembly of Experts, making him the only cleric within the interim leadership arrangement.

President Pezeshkian said the council had “begun its work”, while Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state television that a new supreme leader could be chosen within “one or two days”. The government declared 40 days of public mourning and a seven-day nationwide public holiday. Black flags were raised over the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, while eyewitnesses in Tehran reported a mix of mourning and celebration, with some residents cheering from rooftops and others gathering for prayers.

The strike that killed Khamenei also decapitated key elements of Iran’s security leadership. State media reported that senior figures, including top commanders and advisers, were killed in separate attacks. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed that its commander-in-chief, Gen Mohammad Pakpour, was killed, prompting the appointment of Ahmad Vahidi as his successor. The IRGC, which operates independently of Iran’s regular armed forces and wields vast military, political and economic influence, vowed retaliation.

Iran’s Cabinet said the killing of the supreme leader was a “great crime” that “will never go unanswered.” Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf warned in a televised address that those responsible had crossed a “red line” and would “pay the price.” Within hours, Iran launched waves of missiles and drones toward Israel and US military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.

Israel said dozens of projectiles were fired toward its territory, with many intercepted by air defence systems. Still, casualties mounted. In the central Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, a direct missile strike on a residential area killed at least eight people and wounded more than two dozen, according to emergency services, bringing the death toll in Israel since the escalation began to at least nine, and later reports put the figure at 10. Among the injured were children, including a four-year-old boy. Firefighters continued searching damaged homes for possible survivors.

Missile impacts and interceptions were also heard over Tel Aviv, while Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military would maintain “non-stop” strikes against Iranian military and leadership targets. Israeli military chief of staff Lt Gen Eyal Zamir said air force pilots had struck “hundreds of targets across Iran.”

The conflict quickly spread beyond Israel and Iran. In the Gulf, Saudi Arabia said it intercepted missiles targeting Riyadh and the kingdom’s eastern region. Bahrain reported an attack near the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, with several buildings damaged in Manama and Muharraq. Kuwait said a drone targeted its main international airport, injuring several employees, while shrapnel wounded three soldiers at Ali Al-Salem air base. Jordan said it intercepted 49 drones and ballistic missiles, and explosions were reported in Qatar and Oman.

The United Arab Emirates said shrapnel from an intercepted Iranian missile killed at least one person in Abu Dhabi, while debris caused fires at the capital’s main port and damaged the facade of the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai. Flights across much of the Middle East were disrupted as airspace closures spread.

Inside Iran, authorities said more than 200 people had been killed since the US-Israeli bombardment began. In southern Iran, local officials reported that at least 115 people were killed when a girls’ school was struck, with dozens more wounded. US Central Command said it was aware of the reports and was investigating. Iran’s state news agency IRNA separately reported at least 15 deaths in the southwest after strikes hit a sports hall, residential areas and a building near a school.

An Iranian diplomat told the United Nations Security Council that hundreds of civilians had been killed and wounded in the attacks. The semiofficial Fars news agency, citing unidentified sources, reported that several of Khamenei’s relatives, including a daughter and a grandchild, were also killed.

The United States acknowledged its own losses. US Central Command said three American service members had been killed and five seriously wounded since operations began, the first confirmed US casualties of the campaign. Despite this, US officials said damage to American bases was limited, even after what they described as “hundreds” of Iranian missile and drone launches.

US President Donald Trump, who announced Khamenei’s death hours before Iran confirmed it, called the operation a decisive moment. In social media posts, Trump warned Tehran against further retaliation, saying any escalation would be met with overwhelming force. He said the strikes were necessary to prevent Iran from rebuilding nuclear capabilities, citing intelligence that Tehran had developed the ability to produce high-quality centrifuges. Democrats in Congress criticised the action, arguing it lacked authorisation, while the White House said key lawmakers from both parties had been briefed in advance.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation marked the end of what Israeli officials called a “decades-long chapter”, accusing Khamenei of directing attacks against Israel and backing armed groups across the region.

Analysts warned the confrontation could have global economic consequences, particularly if Iran seeks to disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a route that carried about one-third of the world’s seaborne oil exports in 2025. Oil prices were already expected to swing sharply as the fighting continued.

As missiles flew and governments scrambled to protect civilians, the killing of Iran’s longest-serving supreme leader left the country facing an uncertain political transition amid an expanding war, with no clear sign of how quickly the violence might subside.