US and Israel pound Iran as Trump signals willingness to talk to new leadership
Plumes of smoke rise following reported explosions in Tehran. Picture: ATTA KENARE / AFP via Getty Images
The US and Israel pounded targets across Iran on Sunday, dropping massive bombs on the country’s ballistic missile sites and wiping out warships as part of an intensifying military campaign that followed the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
More than 200 people have been killed since the start of the US and Israeli strikes that killed Mr Khamenei and other senior leaders, Iranian leaders have said, as blasts across the country rattled windows and sent plumes of smoke high into the sky above the capital city of Tehran.
Iran vowed revenge, firing missiles at Israel and Gulf Arab states in a counteroffensive that the US military said resulted in the deaths of three service members — the first known American casualties from the conflict.
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Israel’s rescue services said nine people were killed and 28 wounded in a strike that hit a synagogue in the central town of Beit Shemesh, bringing the overall death toll in the country to 11. Eleven people were still missing after the strike, police said.
But the attacks on Iran showed no signs of relenting as the US and Israel took aim at key military, political and intelligence targets in what appeared to be a widening war that carried the potential for a prolonged conflict that could envelop the Middle East and destabilise it.
The strikes, the second time in eight months that the US and Israel had combined against Iran, represented a startling show of military might for an American president who swept into office on an “America First” platform and vowed to keep out of “forever wars”.
Speaking in a video message, US President Donald Trump said America would “avenge” the deaths of the service members and that “there will likely be more” killed before the conflict ends.
The president made the comments in a roughly six-minute video he posted on social media on Sunday afternoon.
He called the three service members “true American patriots who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, even as we continue the righteous mission for which they gave their lives”.
He added: “Sadly, there will likely be more, before it ends. That’s the way it is. Likely be more.”
Israel, which had pledged “non-stop” strikes, said it was increasing its attacks, with 100 fighter jets simultaneously striking targets in Tehran, Brigadier General Effie Defrin told reporters at a briefing.
The targets included buildings belonging to Iran’s air force, its missile command and its internal security force, which violently quashed anti-government protests in January.
Meanwhile, the US military said B-2 stealth bombers struck Iran’s ballistic missile facilities with 2,000-pound bombs.
Mr Trump said on social media that nine Iranian warships had been sunk and that the Iranian navy’s headquarters had been “largely destroyed”.
In an indication that the conflict could draw in other nations, Britain, France and Germany said on Sunday that they were ready to work with the US to help stop Iran’s attacks.
Leaders of the countries said in a joint statement that they were “appalled” by Iran’s “reckless” strikes on their allies.
In the 12-day war last June, Israeli and American strikes greatly weakened Iran’s air defences, military leadership and nuclear programme.
But the killing of Mr Khamenei, who had ruled Iran for more than three decades, creates a leadership vacuum, increasing the risk of regional instability.
Mr Trump, who a day earlier had encouraged Iranians to “take over” their government, signalled on Sunday that he was open to dialogue with Iran’s new leadership.
“They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them,” he told The Atlantic.
In Tehran, there was little sign that Iranians had heeded Mr Trump’s call for an uprising against the government.
The streets were largely deserted as people sheltered during heavy airstrikes, witnesses told , speaking anonymously for fear of retribution.
The paramilitary Basij, which has played a central role in crushing protests, had set up checkpoints across the city, they said.
Two powerful explosions were heard in Tehran’s Niavaran neighbourhood late on Sunday.
A witness in the city told that the windows of their apartment shook violently, and residents came out onto the streets fearing it was too dangerous to stay inside.
Video footage from Tehran showed plumes of smoke filling the skyline, and the official IRNA news agency reported that parts of the building of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) were struck on Sunday.
In southern Iran, at least 165 people were killed on Saturday when a girls’ school was struck, and dozens more were wounded, the IRNA reported.
The Israeli military said it was not aware of strikes in the area.
The US military said it was looking into the reports.
The US military also said on Sunday that three service members were killed and five others seriously wounded, without providing further details.
It said several others suffered minor injuries and concussions.
As supreme leader, Mr Khamenei had final say on all major policies since 1989.
He led Iran’s clerical establishment and the Revolutionary Guard, the two main centres of power in the governing theocracy.
The CIA had been tracking the movements of senior Iranian leaders, including Mr Khamenei, for months, according to a person familiar with the operation.
The intelligence was shared with Israeli officials, and the timing of the strikes was adjusted in part because of that information, the person said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a pre-recorded message that a new leadership council had begun its work.
The country’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said a new supreme leader would be chosen in “one or two days”.
A senior White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mr Trump was eventually willing to talk but that the operation would continue unabated for now.
Mr Trump also said, in a video shared on his Truth Social platform, that us combat operations "continue at this time in full force, and they will continue until all of our objectives are achieved".
"We have very strong objectives,” Mr Trump said.
He confirmed that three US service members had been killed and said there would likely be more casualties, vowing to avenge the deaths of Americans.
As word spread of Mr Khamenei’s death, some in Tehran could be seen cheering from rooftops, witnesses said.
Others mourned as a black flag was raised over the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad.
An Iranian medical professional in northern Iran said he and colleagues spent the early hours of Sunday celebrating Mr Khamenei’s death indoors because armed security forces were still heavily deployed in his city.
There were forces stopping and interrogating people celebrating in their cars, but there was no gunfire, the doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said.
“It was one of the best nights, if not the best night of our lives,” the doctor said in a voice message from the city of Rasht.
Mr Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, blamed the US and Israel for starting the war.
He said he had spoken to his counterparts in the Gulf countries and urged them to pressure the US and Israel to end it.
“You have crossed our red line and must pay the price,” Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said in a televised address.
“We will deliver such devastating blows that you yourselves will be driven to beg.”
Tensions have escalated in recent weeks as the Trump administration built up the largest force of American warships and aircraft in the Middle East in decades.
The US president insisted he wanted a deal to constrain Iran’s nuclear programme while the country struggled with growing dissent following nationwide protests.
An Israeli military official described Saturday’s mission as the result of months of “extremely high co-ordination” with the US.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a variety of factors created a “golden opportunity” to take out much of Iran’s leadership.
These factors included weeks of training and monitoring the movements of senior figures, along with “real-time intelligence” that the targets were gathered together.
The results, the official said, were near-simultaneous strikes, within 60 seconds of one another, in three locations 1,609km from Israel that killed Mr Khamenei and some 40 senior figures, including the head of the Revolutionary Guard and the country’s defence minister.
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