Residents and rescue forces dig through following an Israeli strike on a girls’ school, killing at least 148 people, in Minab, Iran, February 28, 2026

Netanyahu and Trump’s War for Regime Change in Iran

EA on International Media: The US-Israel War for Regime Change in Iran

UPDATES: Israel and US Launch Airstrikes on Iran — Supreme Leader Killed

UPDATE 2026 GMT:

US Central Command says it has destroyed the headquarters of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

UPDATE 1732 GMT:

US Central Command says Iran targeted the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, but the “missiles launched didn’t even come close”.

The Revolutionary Guards said they fired four ballistic missiles at the carrier.

UPDATE 1726 GMT:

At least 22 people have been killed during pro-Iran protests in Pakistan.

Ten died in Gilgit in northern Pakistan and two in Islamabad. Nine perished during the demonstration in front of the US Consulate in Karachi.

UPDATE 1712 GMT:

Iranian outlets are reporting that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s President from 2005 to 2013, has been killed by Israel-US strikes.

Reports circulated on Saturday that Ahmadinejad’s home in the Narmak district of Tehran was destroyed.

The Supreme Leader’s intervened in 2009 to ensure Ahmadinejad’s re-election, setting off nationwide protests by millions of Iranians. The regime finally suppressed the demonstrations after several months, and put leaders of the Green Movement — including Mir Hossein Mousavi, the likely frontrunner in the Presidential vote — under strict house arrest in February 2011.

UPDATE 1707 GMT:

Three US troops have been killed in action in the first American fatalities of the war with Iran.

Another five are seriously wounded.

UPDATE 1700 GMT:

Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has insisted to the US outlet ABC, “Nothing has changed in our…military capability.”

He hailed Iranian retaliation against Israeli targets and American bases: “Our military is in place. They are capable enough to defend our country.”

Nobody can tell us that you don’t have any right to defend yourselves. We are defending ourselves whatever it takes, and we see no limit for ourselves to defend our people, to protect our people.

What the United States is doing is an act of aggression. What we are doing is the act of self-defense. There are huge differences between these two.

Asked if a diplomatic resolution is still possible, he responded:

We negotiated with the United States twice in the past 12 months. And in both cases, they attacked us in the middle of negotiation. And that has become a very bitter experience for us.

A deal was at our reach, and we left Geneva [on Thursday] happily with the understanding that we can reach a deal next time we meet.

UPDATE 1649 GMT:

Donald Trump says he has agreed to speak with the Iranian regime:

They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them. They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long.

He proclaimed that “48 leaders are gone in one shot”: “Most of those people are gone. Some of the people we were dealing with are gone, because that was a big — that was a big hit.”

UPDATE 1426 GMT:

An Iranian ballistic missile strike has killed nine people in Beit Shemesh, west of Jerusalem.

Four people were seriously or moderately wounded.

UPDATE 1421 GMT:

A ship near the Strait of Hormuz, off Iran’s coast and northwest of Mina Saqr in the UAE, has been attacked by an “unknown projectile”.

“The fire has been extinguished and the vessel intends to continue its voyage,” said the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency.

The attack is the third reported today. One was north of the Omani capital Muscat and another near Kumzar in Oman.

UPDATE 1416 GMT:

UAE authorities say three people have been killed and 58 injured by Iran’s retaliatory strikes.

The UAE has detected 165 ballistic missiles, destroying 152, and intercepted two cruise missiles, said the Defense Ministry. Of 541 drones detected, 506 were intercepted and destroyed.

The victims were Pakistani, Nepalese, and Bangladeshi nationals.

UPDATE 1038 GMT:

Iran has appointed a Temporary Leadership Council, legally required in the event of the death of the Supreme Leader.

The three members are President Masoud Pezeshkian, judiciary head Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, and Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, a member of the Guardian Council.

UPDATE 1018 GMT:

Iran’s retaliatory missile strikes on Gulf States appear to be causing limited damage this morning.

An industrial area in Qatar’s capital Doha has reportedly been hit, and a port area and tanker were struck in Oman.

Bahrain says it intercepted all incoming missiles.

UPDATE 0853 GMT:

Iran’s State agency IRNA reports “terrible explosions” from missile and aerial attacks on Tehran.

The Israeli army announced a large aerial assault on the “heart of the capital”.

Journalists report “almost non-stop sirens and alerts” in northern and central Israel, punctuated by explosions from air defense striking incoming Iranian missiles, since early this morning.

Israeli paramedic services say about 120 people have been injured across the country, but few are seriously wounded.

UPDATE 0815 GMT:

At least eight people have been killed as hundreds of protesters attempted to storm the US Consulate in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi.

Police and paramilitary forces used batons and fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: The first wave of US-Israel strikes against Iran on Saturday morning killed the Supreme Leader and senior officials.

Around 5 a.m. on Sunday, Iranian State media finally confirmed the demise of Ayatollah Khamenei, saying he was slain as he worked in his office.

The Islamic Republic News Agency also reported the killings of:

  • Ali Shamkhani, Khamenei’s security advisor and the former Secretary of the State National Security Council;
  • Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh;
  • Revolutionary Guards commander-in-chief Mohammad Pakpour;
  • Army Chief of Staff Abdul Rahim Mousavi

The men appeared to have perished as they met in Khamenei’s compound in Tehran. Satellite images showed the burnt-out, destroyed complex.

Also slain were the Supreme Leader’s daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, and grandchild.

The fate of the Supreme Leader’s sons — including Mojtaba, touted by some analysts as a possible successor — is unknown.

Videos showed thousands of people joining the start of the mourning period for the Supreme Leader in areas such as the city of Yasuj and Isfahan in central Iran and Lorestan Province in the west.

Iraq also announced three days of mourning. Government spokesman Bassem al-Awadi said in a statement, “With deep sorrow, we extend our condolences to the noble people of Iran and the entire Muslim world.” Khamenei had been killed in “a blatant act of aggression”.

As the Israeli Air Force boasted of dropping more than 1,200 munitions on Saturday, Iranian State TV reported hundreds of people killed. Among the victims were at least 148 from a strike on a girls’ elementary school in Homorzgan Province in southern Iran — another 95 were wounded.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi posted:

Small Numbers of Casualties, Limited Damage From Iran’s Retaliation

Israeli authorities said Iran launched more missiles and drones early Sunday.

The Iranian Army announced, “A few minutes ago, pilots of the air forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran successfully bombed US bases in the countries of the Persian Gulf and in the Kurdistan region of Iraq over several phases of operations.”

Tehran’s retaliation had limited effects on Saturday. The killing of two people in the region were confirmed: a woman in Tel Aviv and a Pakistani national in Abu Dhabi in the UAE.

At least 21 people were injured, three of them moderately to seriously, in the Tel Aviv strike.

The five-star Fairmont hotel in Dubai was set afire. UAE authorities said 12 people were injured across the country.