Iran began 40 days of mourning on Sunday for its slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei and declared a new wave of strikes on US bases in the Gulf, despite US President Donald Trump threatening an unprecedented escalation in force.
Trump warned Iran on Sunday not to escalate its attacks, writing online that America will strike back “WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!”
Trump’s comments on Truth Social follow Iranian threats on Sunday morning after acknowledging the killing of Khamenei.
“Iran just stated that they are going to hit very hard today, harder than they have ever hit before,” Trump wrote. “THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!”
Iran’s parliament speaker on Sunday called the leaders of the United States and Israel “filthy criminals” who will face “devastating blows” for their ongoing attacks on the country.
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf made the comment in a televised address.
Qalibaf is the highest-ranking official to appear on camera since the attacks began Saturday.
“You have crossed our red line and must pay the price,” he said. “We will deliver such devastating blows that you yourselves will be driven to beg.”
- New Israeli attacks -
Even as crowds gathered in Tehran, explosions rang out and the Israeli military announced that it was again striking targets in the heart of the city.
The blasts were heard in northern Tehran and smoke was seen emanating from a building, an AFP journalist reported. It was not immediately clear what the target was.
Earlier, cheers had been heard as some Iranians celebrated early reports of the death of their longtime leader, but -- after state media confirmed his killing -- pro-government demonstrations also formed, chanting "Death to America!".
As crowds demanded revenge -- and Iran's army announced strikes targeting US bases in the Gulf and Iraqi Kurdistan -- Trump threatened to unleash "force that has never been seen before" and urged Iran's people to rise up and seize power.
Despite the US leader's stark warning, more explosions were heard in Jerusalem, Dubai, Doha and Manama as Israeli and Gulf air defense systems battled a renewed wave of Iranian missiles and drones.
Iran's first retaliatory strikes on Saturday had hit all the Gulf states apart from Oman, which had tried to be a mediator in US-Iran talks, but on Sunday the country's commercial port of Duqm was hit by two drones, injuring a foreign worker, the Oman News Agency said.
Outrage at Saturday's wave of US and Israel strikes against Iran, which killed 86-year-old Khamanei and some other senior figures, also spilled over into neighboring Iraq and Pakistan, where crowds attempted to storm US diplomatic facilities.
- 'Unforgettable lesson' -
In the Pakistani city of Karachi at least eight people were killed during pro-Iran protests at the US consulate, according to Muhammad Amin, a spokesman for the Edhi Foundation rescue service, who added that most had bullet wounds.
In Tehran, cheers could be heard on the streets after reports first emerged from Israel of the death of Khamenei, as plumes of black smoke still hovered over the district where he usually resided, witnesses told AFP.
Later, in Tehran's Enghlab square, thousands of mourners, dressed mostly in black and waving Iran's flag, demanded retaliation against the United States and Israel, according to AFP journalists.
In Iran, the Red Crescent said strikes had left 201 people dead and injured hundreds more.
Iran's judiciary confirmed that Ali Shamkhani, a top adviser to Khamenei, and the head of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Pakpour, were both killed.
One prominent survivor, Ali Larijani, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, vowed defiance.
"The brave soldiers and the great nation of Iran will teach an unforgettable lesson to the international oppressors," he said.
Iran initially responded to the Israel-US attack with a flurry of missile and drone strikes across the Middle East, killing at least two people in Abu Dhabi and another in Tel Aviv, before following up with a new wave after state media confirmed Khamenei's death.
- Question on succession -
Iran had already seen intense speculation on a successor to Khamenei, given his age. Upon his death, many observers expected greater power for the Revolutionary Guards, which are deeply entrenched in the Iranian economy.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and two other top officials would lead Iran in the transitional period following Khamenei's death, state television reported on Sunday.
Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late pro-Western shah deposed in the 1979 revolution, said that any successor within the system would be illegitimate.
Hailing the demise of Khamenei, only the second supreme leader of the cleric-run state after Khomeini, Pahlavi said, "With his death, the republic has effectively come to an end and will soon be consigned to the dustbin of history."
Pahlavi, who has spent most of his life in exile near Washington, has presented himself as a transitional figure to a secular democracy, but he does not enjoy support from across the opposition.
The Iranian judiciary said one strike that hit a school in the south killed 108 people, although AFP was unable to access the site to verify the toll or the circumstances surrounding the incident.
- Unprecedented scale -
Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, the UAE and Israel all closed their airspaces to civilian traffic, at least in part, and multiple airlines cancelled flights to the Middle East.
Trump's envoys had negotiated in Geneva on Thursday with Iran's foreign minister.
Trump said that Iran's leaders had not compromised sufficiently on its disputed nuclear program, although he made clear after the attack that the goal was regime change and not a nuclear deal.
