In a dramatic escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, the United States and Israel Defense Forces launched a coordinated military assault on Iran Saturday evening. The operation resulted in the death of long-time supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, triggering a wave of retaliatory strikes across the region.
Iranian state media confirmed Sunday that Khamenei was killed in an airstrike targeting his compound in Tehran. Several close advisors and family members were also killed, including Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, who mobilized the military against protestors in December, and General Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
The strikes were part of joint Operation Epic Fury, described by military officials as an effort to dismantle Iran’s leadership and cripple nuclear capabilities. Before his death, Khamenei had delegated authority to Senior Security Official Ali Larijani, who has since vowed retaliation against both nations “with a force they have never experienced before.”
Iran’s counterstrikes have killed six U.S. service members and at least nine Israelis, according to Al Jazeera, leaving at least a dozen wounded. President Donald Trump warned that “there will likely be more” American casualties in the coming weeks.
Although U.S. and Israeli forces have been primarily targeting military operations, hundreds of civilian casualties have also been reported. Over 150 deaths were reported after an unintentional strike on a girls’ elementary school on Saturday. The building was adjacent to an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps barracks.
The conflict has expanded to multiple fronts, drawing in allied militias, regional governments and international powers. In southern Lebanon, the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah has launched rocket and drone attacks into northern Israel in what it described as retaliation for strikes on Tehran. Israel responded with counterstrikes near Tyre and Nabatieh, displacing thousands of civilians.
The strikes followed a series of failed nuclear peace negotiations last week, after Iran refused to comply with the United States’ demands for a transparent nuclear program. Trump, who warned of military action following Iran’s violent suppression of protests in December, justified the operation under the War Powers Resolution, which allows the president 60 days of military intervention in foreign nations without congressional approval in cases of “national emergency created by an attack upon the United States.”
Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, told The New York Times that he had seen no evidence suggesting “Iran was on the verge of launching any kind of pre-emptive strike against the United States of America,” casting doubt on the legality of the operation.
Just one-fourth of Americans, polled by Reuters, approve of the strikes. The conflict is already rattling global markets and intensifying political tensions at home. Oil prices jumped roughly 13 percent as instability around the Strait of Hormuz — through which nearly one-fifth of the world’s supply of oil passes — raised fears of supply disruptions and higher gasoline prices for American consumers.
Trump said on Sunday that operations could continue for four to five weeks “if necessary.” Meanwhile, lawmakers in Washington are preparing for a debate over executive war powers, as concerns grow over the duration, cost and human toll of a widening conflict that is already affecting energy markets, military families and diplomatic stability worldwide.