A member of the Israeli safety and rescue forces works at the scene where a ballistic missile fired from Iran hit and introduced about danger in Tel Aviv, Israel, early on March 1, 2026. (Gideon Markowicz/JINI via Xinhua)
CAIRO, EGYPT | Xinhua | Iran’s order media confirmed Sunday that its Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei modified into killed in a joint U.S.-Israeli attack on Saturday, prompting Iranian missile strikes on Israel and U.S. targets across the blueprint.
What took station in the previous 24 hours? Why did the United States and Israel bewitch bolt now? How will Iran retaliate? Will this battle escalate?
WHAT HAPPENED?
Israel announced a “preemptive” strike on Saturday morning, sending about 200 fighter jets in simultaneous airstrikes on missile and protection programs in western and central Iran.
Almost at the moment after the Israeli announcement, U.S. President Donald Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that U.S. forces are “challenge a extensive and ongoing operation” concentrated on Iran’s missile industry.
Iran retaliated all immediately, declaring all U.S. militia bases in the blueprint legit targets and placing Israel and U.S. property across the Gulf, with explosions reported in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, among diverse countries.
Iranian media reported that the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps had closed the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, declaring the vital oil and gasoline waterway unsafe resulting from U.S. and Israeli attacks.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society said that the strikes hit no longer lower than 24 of Iran’s 31 provinces, with 201 deaths and 747 injuries reported to this level.
Up to 160 folk may perhaps presumably had been killed as airstrikes struck a school in southern Iran, said Iranian International Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. Iran’s president condemned the incident as “inhumane.”
In Tehran, missiles struck shut to the areas of work of Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Trump said Saturday that Khamenei modified into killed in the strikes — a claim later confirmed on Sunday by Iran’s order media, after which the authorities announced a 40-day mourning duration.
WHY NOW?
Trump said in an eight-minute video that the objective “is to protect the American folk by taking away impending threats” from Iran. Echoing his remarks, the Israeli Defense Ministry said the bolt aims to “bewitch away threats to Israel.”
Analysts imply the rhetoric signifies a broader objective: authorities change in Iran through militia drive.
Unlike the June 2025 strikes concentrated on underground nuclear services a ways from civilian zones, this operation hit plenty of cities and management net sites.
The timing modified into chosen to maximise potentialities of taking away high Iranian leaders whereas they had been at their order posts, Syrian world family members researcher Mohammad Nader al-Omari said, adding that each and every the United States and Israel sought a swift, decisive final end result with minimal losses.
The Pentagon has named the operation “Operation Anecdote Fury,” and U.S. officials suggested news shops that it could perhaps presumably continue for days or weeks. In accordance with Israeli media, planning had been underway for months, with the closing date dwelling weeks ago.
Earlier than launching the strikes, the Trump administration constructed up the U.S. militia presence in the Heart East to its largest degree since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Within the period in-between, Israel operates around 300 evolved fighter jets and maintains a multi-layered air protection device designed to counter instant-vary rockets, medium-vary threats and ballistic missiles.
Liu Chang, an knowledgeable at the China Institute of World Be taught, said that the strikes objective to paralyze Iran’s high-degree order structure and weaken home resistance whereas using militia stress as leverage in doubtless negotiations.
HOW WILL IRAN RETALIATE?
There are no “red strains” for Iran after the U.S.-Israeli strikes, Al Jazeera reported, citing an unnamed Iranian official. One thing is doubtless, the represent said, alongside with scenarios never before truly apt.
“We are no longer shocked by this aggression. Our response will doubtless be full and birth-ended, with out closing dates,” the official said.
Whereas the United States and Israel bewitch a indispensable militia abet, Iran retains potent retaliatory concepts, in particular its ballistic missile arsenal.
In accordance with Al Jazeera, the particular dimension of Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal is unclear. Aloof, it’s widely truly apt one of many indispensable and most evolved in the Heart East, with some missile types able to reaching Israel in roughly 12 minutes.
Diplomatically, Iran called on the United Worldwide locations to behave in opposition to the strikes. International Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi, in letters to the UN secretary general and Security Council, reaffirmed Iran’s lawful to self-protection, vowing to acknowledge “decisively and immediately” except the aggression “entirely and unconditionally stops.”
Experts warned that endured U.S. and Israeli escalation may perhaps presumably urged Iran to coordinate with regional allies — alongside with Yemen’s Houthis, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iraqi Shiite militias — to strike U.S. and Israeli targets across the Heart East.
WILL CONFLICT ESCALATE?
After asserting Khamenei’s demise, Trump said that “the heavy and pinpoint bombing, nonetheless, will continue, uninterrupted all the device during the week or, as prolonged as needed to preserve out our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!”
Analysts cautioned that what begins as a calculated militia bolt may perhaps presumably spiral into an uncontrollable regional conflagration.
Adel al-Ghurairi, an Iraqi political analyst and professor at Baghdad University said, “The diplomatic note had already failed,” adding that the strike “is an admission that they mediate the militia option is the greatest remaining machine to roll help Iran’s nuclear growth.”
Gulf countries may perhaps presumably face stress to bewitch sides, “exacerbating existing rivalries or triggering modern safety dilemmas,” said Palestinian political analyst Hussam al-Dajani.
Syrian researcher in world family members Mohammad Nader al-Omari renowned the timing of the strikes shows home political considerations. A hasty resolution, whether or no longer through systemic collapse in Tehran or its predominant weakening, would abet Trump ahead of the U.S. midterm congressional elections and bolster Benjamin Netanyahu’s top ministerial show, setting up incentives for escalation, he said.
William Jackson, chief rising markets economist at Capital Economics, warned that prolonged battle may perhaps presumably push Brent obscene to 100 U.S. greenbacks per barrel, adding up to 0.7 share parts to world inflation.
Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which handles 20 p.c of world oil, dangers quick present disruptions. Within the period in-between, the Group of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies may perhaps presumably face stress to enhance manufacturing, he added.■
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