Iran-Israel conflict: Fresh blasts echo in Doha, Riyadh and Gulf cities as Tehran's missile campaign persists

Gulf Engulfed After Khamenei Killing

Iran launched sweeping retaliatory strikes across the Gulf on Sunday, vowing to avenge slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and defying a warning from US President Donald Trump that any escalation would be met with “force that has never been seen before”.

Explosions were reported across the region, including in Riyadh, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Manama, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, as the conflict between Iran, the United States and Israel spiralled into a broader regional confrontation.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced a fresh “large-scale” attack on Sunday. Blasts were heard in northern Tehran as Israeli forces said they were once again striking targets in the heart of the Iranian capital.

Israeli rescue services reported four people killed in the latest missile attack. Iran’s retaliatory strikes across the Middle East had already killed at least two people in Abu Dhabi and another in Tel Aviv on Saturday.

In the United Arab Emirates, authorities said three people have been killed and 58 others injured since Iran began its retaliatory campaign in response to US and Israeli attacks.

The UAE’s defence ministry said it had detected 165 ballistic missiles, destroying 152 of them, and intercepted two cruise missiles. A total of 541 Iranian drones were detected, of which 506 were intercepted and destroyed.

The attacks resulted in the deaths of three foreign nationals — a Pakistani, a Nepalese and a Bangladeshi — the ministry said.

Oman, which had sought to mediate US-Iran talks, had initially avoided the first wave of strikes, but on Sunday its commercial port of Duqm was hit by two drones, injuring a foreign worker, according to the Oman News Agency.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian described Khamenei’s killing as a “declaration of war against Muslims”, warning: “Iran considers it its legitimate duty and right to avenge the perpetrators and masterminds of this historic crime.”

Israel described the death of Khamenei as a “first step”. Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said the joint US-Israeli operation “eliminated 40 senior commanders, including Khamenei, in one minute in two different locations over a thousand miles from Israel in broad daylight”.

Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, echoed Trump’s combative tone in a social media post, declaring: “Today we will hit them with a force that they have never experienced before.”

Trump, meanwhile, urged Iranians to rise up and seize power, while warning Tehran that any further escalation would trigger unprecedented retaliation.

In Tehran, crowds gathered with mixed reactions. Some were seen celebrating reports of Khamenei’s death before state media confirmed the news, while pro-government demonstrators later chanted “Death to America!” and demanded revenge.

Iran’s army announced strikes targeting US bases in the Gulf and Iraqi Kurdistan.

Outrage over the US and Israeli strikes spilled into neighbouring countries. In Iraq and Pakistan, protesters attempted to storm US diplomatic missions. In Karachi, at least nine people were killed by gunshot wounds during pro-Iran demonstrations at the US consulate, according to a hospital record seen by AFP.

Britain urged its citizens in the Gulf to “shelter in place”. The US mission in Jordan advised Americans to stay away from the embassy, while in Bahrain US citizens were told to avoid hotels after one was damaged in a strike.

In Iran, the Red Crescent said the attacks had left 201 people dead and hundreds more injured. The judiciary confirmed that Ali Shamkhani, a senior adviser to Khamenei, and General Mohammad Pakpour, head of the Revolutionary Guards, were among those killed.

Even before Khamenei’s death, speculation had intensified over who would succeed the 86-year-old leader. Many observers expect Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, deeply entrenched in the country’s political and economic structures, to wield greater power in the aftermath.

On Sunday, Iran named Ayatollah Alireza Arafi to join President Pezeshkian on an interim leadership council to govern while a permanent successor is chosen.

Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late shah deposed in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, dismissed any successor from within the current system as illegitimate.

“With his death, the Islamic Republic has effectively come to an end and will soon be consigned to the dustbin of history,” Pahlavi said. Living in exile near Washington, he has positioned himself as a transitional figure for a secular democracy, though he does not command universal support within the opposition.

As missile sirens and explosions echo across the region, the Middle East now stands at the edge of a wider war, with global powers issuing sharply divided reactions and the prospect of further escalation looming large.

(With AFP inputs)