US, Israel pound Iran as Trump signals willingness to talk to new leadership after Khamenei's death

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. and Israel pounded targets crossed Iran connected Sunday, dropping monolithic bombs connected the country's ballistic rocket sites and wiping retired warships arsenic portion of an intensifying subject run pursuing the sidesplitting of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Blasts rattled windows crossed the state and sent plumes of fume precocious into the entity supra Tehran. More than 200 radical person been killed since the commencement of the strikes that killed Khamenei and different elder leaders, Iranian leaders person said.

Iran vowed revenge, firing missiles astatine Israel and Gulf Arab states successful a counteroffensive that the U.S. subject said resulted successful the deaths of 3 work members — the archetypal known American casualties from the conflict. Israeli rescue services said strikes had deed respective locations, including Jerusalem and a synagogue successful the cardinal municipality of Beit Shemesh, wherever 9 radical were killed and 28 wounded, bringing the wide decease toll successful the state to 11. Eleven radical were inactive missing aft the strike, constabulary said.

But the attacks connected Iran showed nary signs of relenting arsenic the U.S. and Israel took purpose astatine cardinal military, governmental and quality targets successful what appeared to beryllium a widening warfare that carried the imaginable for a prolonged struggle that could envelop the Middle East and destabilize it. The strikes represented a startling amusement of subject mightiness for an American president who swept into bureau connected an “America First” level and pledged to support retired of “forever wars.”

Trump vows vengeance for US deaths

U.S. President Donald Trump said successful a video posted to societal media that the U.S. would “avenge” the deaths of the work members and that “there volition apt beryllium more” killed earlier the struggle ends.

Israel, which had pledged “nonstop” strikes, said it was expanding its attacks, with 100 combatant jets simultaneously striking targets successful Tehran, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin told reporters astatine a briefing. The targets included buildings belonging to Iran’s aerial force, its rocket bid and its interior information force, which violently quashed anti-government protests successful January.

The U.S. military, meanwhile, said B-2 stealth bombers struck Iran’s ballistic rocket facilities with 2,000-pound bombs. Trump said connected societal media that 9 Iranian warships had been sunk and that the Iranian navy’s office had been “largely destroyed.”

Europe has mostly stayed retired of the warfare and pressed for diplomacy, but successful an denotation that the struggle could gully successful different nations, Britain, France and Germany said Sunday they were acceptable to enactment with the U.S. to assistance halt Iran’s attacks.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain would let the United States to usage its bases to onslaught Iranian rocket sites. The U.K. maintains adjacent bases connected Cyprus and Chagos Islands, a British archipelago successful the Indian Ocean.

The play attacks were the 2nd clip successful 8 months that the U.S. and Israel had combined against Iran. In the 12-day warfare past June, Israeli and American strikes greatly weakened Iran’s aerial defenses, subject enactment and atomic program. But the sidesplitting of Khamenei, who ruled Iran for much than 3 decades, creates a enactment vacuum, expanding the hazard of determination instability.

Trump, who a time earlier had encouraged Iranians to “take over” their government, signaled Sunday that helium was unfastened to dialog with Iran's caller leadership.

“They privation to talk, and I person agreed to talk, truthful I volition beryllium talking to them,” helium told The Atlantic.

Iranian strikes widen beyond US and Israel

In the Gulf, Iran’s retaliatory strikes went beyond U.S. and Israeli targets, pushing the struggle into cities that person agelong marketed themselves arsenic determination harmless havens.

The overseas ministers of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain said Sunday that their countries clasp “the ineligible close to respond and the close to self-defense” aft Iranian strikes deed hotels, airports and different sites successful aggregate cities passim the Gulf.

In the United Arab Emirates, authorities said astir Iranian missiles and drones were intercepted. But immoderate either got done oregon fell arsenic debris, sidesplitting 3 people, injuring others and causing important damage.

Bahrain and Kuwait said Iranian strikes successful some countries deed civilian targets.

Streets of Tehran are mostly deserted

In Tehran, determination was small motion that Iranians had heeded Trump's telephone for an uprising against the government.

The streets were mostly deserted arsenic radical sheltered during airstrikes, witnesses told The Associated Press, speaking anonymously for fearfulness of retribution. The paramilitary Basij, which has played a cardinal relation successful crushing protests, acceptable up checkpoints crossed the city, they said.

Two almighty explosions were heard successful Tehran’s Niavaran vicinity precocious Sunday.

An eyewitness successful the metropolis told AP that the windows of their flat shook violently, and residents came retired onto the streets fearing it was excessively unsafe to enactment inside. The witnesser spoke connected information of anonymity for fearfulness of reprisals. Video footage from Tehran showed plumes of fume filling the skyline, and the authoritative IRNA quality bureau reported that parts of the gathering of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) were struck Sunday.

In confederate Iran, astatine slightest 165 radical were killed Saturday erstwhile a girls’ schoolhouse was struck, and dozens much were wounded, IRNA reported. The Israeli subject said it was not alert of strikes successful the area. The U.S. subject said it was looking into the reports.

New Iranian enactment is successful place

As ultimate leader, Khamenei had last accidental connected each large policies since 1989. He led Iran’s clerical constitution and the Revolutionary Guard, the 2 main centers of powerfulness successful the governing theocracy.

The CIA had been tracking the movements of elder Iranian leaders, including Khamenei, for months, according to a idiosyncratic acquainted with the cognition who was not authorized to remark publically and spoke connected information of anonymity. The quality was shared with Israeli officials, and the timing of the strikes was adjusted successful portion due to the fact that of that information, the idiosyncratic said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said successful a prerecorded connection that a caller enactment assembly had begun its work. The country's overseas minister, Abbas Araghchi, said a caller ultimate person would beryllium chosen successful “one oregon 2 days.”

Araghchi wrote Sunday successful a missive to the United Nations that the attacks connected Iran by the U.S. and Israel — including the onslaught connected Khamenei — “recklessly unfastened a unsafe Pandora’s box, eroding the bedrock of sovereign equality and the stableness of the planetary system.”

Iran promises revenge for Khamenei killing

As connection dispersed of Khamenei’s death, immoderate successful Tehran could beryllium seen cheering from rooftops, witnesses said. Others mourned arsenic a achromatic emblem was raised implicit the Imam Reza shrine successful Mashhad.

An Iranian aesculapian nonrecreational successful bluish Iran said helium and colleagues spent the aboriginal hours of Sunday celebrating Khamenei’s decease indoors due to the fact that equipped information forces are inactive heavy deployed successful his city.

There were forces stopping and interrogating radical celebrating successful their cars, but determination was nary gunfire, said the doctor, who spoke connected information of anonymity for fearfulness of reprisal.

“It was 1 of the champion nights, if not the champion nighttime of our lives,” the doc said successful a dependable connection from the metropolis of Rasht. In fact, “it was really my archetypal clip ever smoking a cigarette. It was a very, precise bully time. We didn’t slumber astatine all. And we don’t adjacent consciousness tired.”

Araghchi, Iran’s overseas minister, blamed the U.S. and Israel for starting the war. He said helium had spoken to his counterparts successful the Gulf countries and urged them to unit the U.S. and Israel to extremity it.

“You person crossed our reddish enactment and indispensable wage the price,” Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said successful a televised address. “We volition present specified devastating blows that you yourselves volition beryllium driven to beg.”

In a societal media post, Trump warned against immoderate retaliation, saying “IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!"

Chance to termination elder leaders was a ‘golden opportunity’

An Israeli subject authoritative described Saturday’s ngo against the Iranian enactment arsenic the effect of months of “extremely precocious coordination” with the U.S. The official, speaking connected information of anonymity to sermon a covert operation, said a assortment of factors created a “golden opportunity." Those factors included weeks of grooming and monitoring the movements of elder figures, on with “real clip intelligence” that the targets were gathered together.

The results, the authoritative said, were near-simultaneous strikes, wrong 60 seconds of 1 another, successful 3 locations 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) from Israel that killed Khamenei and immoderate 40 elder figures, including the caput of the Revolutionary Guard and the country’s defence minister.

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Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel; Boak from West Palm Beach, Florida; and Tucker from Washington. Associated Press writers Joe Federman successful Jerusalem, Sarah El Deeb successful Beirut, Amir Radjy successful Cairo, Aamer Madhani, Konstantin Toropin, David Klepper and Matthew Lee successful Washington, Sam Metz successful Ramallah, West Bank, and AP journalists astir the world, contributed to this report.

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