US and Israel Assassinate Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei

A coordinated campaign of U.S. and Israeli strikes killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei alongside other senior figures and targeted Iranian missile and military infrastructure.

“Explosions continue to be heard for a fourth day in Iran, Israel, and across several Middle Eastern states after the United States and Israel began attacking Iran on Saturday”

Al Jazeera

Those strikes provoked a major Iranian missile-and-drone retaliation and sharply raised the risk of a wider regional war.

Al Jazeera

The U.S. responded by building up its largest regional military presence in decades as the fighting intensified.

These developments are described as the first wave of attacks that killed Khamenei and dozens of IRGC leaders, and as triggering large-scale Iranian counterstrikes.

The confrontation produced substantial casualties, infrastructure disruptions and direct effects on civilian life.

Iran reported hundreds of deaths and civil-rights groups put the civilian toll at similar levels.

Arab Center Washington DC

Gulf and allied air defenses intercepted many Iranian missiles and drones.

The conflict included the first reported U.S. military fatalities.

Civilian sites and hospitals were reported struck.

Iran closed its airspace and national internet access was largely cut.

Strikes continued on Tehran and Iran’s naval capabilities.

The geographic spread and economic fallout have been broad.

“Why did US and Israel attack Iran and how long could the war last”

BBC

Strikes and reprisals extended beyond Iran to Gulf states, Cyprus and Lebanon, disrupted airspace and airports, and unsettled energy markets.

Oil prices spiked and OPEC+ producers pledged to boost output to stabilize supplies.

The fighting has also spilled into exchanges with Iranian-aligned militias and raised alarm about attacks on shipping and other regional targets.

Political leaders in Washington and Jerusalem framed and reacted to the campaign in markedly different ways: President Trump said "heavy and pinpoint bombing" would continue while U.S. officials signalled some willingness to negotiate with Iran’s new leadership, and some members of Congress protested that the strikes lacked proper authorization.

In Israel, commentators and analysts portrayed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as using the Iranian threat and the prospect of military action as part of a longer election-era campaign to justify strikes and consolidate domestic support.

New York Times

These political moves have shaped, and been shaped by, the military escalation.

Analysts warn that the strikes and the assassination of a sitting supreme leader carry profound strategic risks.

“Cara Anna, Associated PressCara Anna, Associated Press Leave your feedback The United States and Israel targeted Iran in coordinated attacks over the weekend that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens of other senior figures and kicked off a furious Iranian response that was expanding into a wider regional war”

PBS

Commentators say assassinating Khamenei is likely to create a dangerous power vacuum that could produce military rule or intensified violence against civilians.

PBS

They argue a full-scale U.S. ground invasion to topple Iran would be politically unrealistic and militarily daunting, likely provoking a brutal, long insurgency.

How regional actors such as Hezbollah choose to position themselves — even subordination of arms to the Lebanese state was suggested as a survival strategy — will affect whether the war widens or whether states can limit escalation.

International bodies including the IAEA and other actors are monitoring Iran's nuclear program and diplomatic efforts amid the crisis.

The fighting "shows no sign of abating."