Overview
- Tehran confirms the supreme leader’s death, declares seven days of public holiday and 40 days of mourning, and installs a temporary leadership council that includes cleric Alireza Arafi.
- The IRGC announces new attacks on Israel and U.S. bases and claims a strike on Iraq’s Al‑Harir, while the UAE reports intercepting hundreds of Iranian missiles and drones with limited damage in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
- U.S. defense leaders say the campaign could run four to six weeks and report achieving “local air superiority,” as President Trump claims nine Iranian naval vessels were destroyed and vows to avenge American casualties.
- Six GCC states condemn Iranian strikes and assert a right to respond, with regional disruptions ranging from halted tankers near the Strait of Hormuz to drone blasts injuring a worker at Oman’s Duqm port.
- Protests tied to the escalation turn deadly in Pakistan, where a Karachi hospital chief reports at least nine people killed near the U.S. consulate.