Ayatollah killed in US-Israeli Attack As Iran declares 40 Days Mourning

Ayatollah killed in US-Israeli Attack As Iran declares 40 Days Mourning

…US warns Iran of Danger of Retaliation

…Protests in Karachi as Demonstrators pelter Stones at US Consulate in Pakistan

…Iran appoints New Leader…

Iran has embarked on 40 days of mourning after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei got killed in ongoing twin-attacks by the United States and Israel. Iranian state media has stated.

Top security officials were among those killed in Saturday’s air strikes, along with Khamenei’s daughter, son-in-law and grandson. It was one of the most significant blows to Iran’s leadership since the 1979 Islamic revolution in the country.

One of the earliest reactions to the catastrophe rocking Iran is that of President Masoud of Pezeshkian, who condemned the killing as “a great crime”, according to a statement from his office. He also declared seven days of public holidays in addition to the 40-day mourning period.

Al Jazeera’s report said people were trooping into the streets of the capital following the news ofAyatollah’s killing.

The news organization said protests denouncing Khamenei’s killing were also reported elsewhere, including Shiraz, Yasuj and Lorestan.

According to Al Jazeera footage aired by Iranian state media showed supporters mourning at the shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad, with several people seen crying and collapsing in grief.

Protests over the killing spread to neighbouring Iraq, which declared three days of public mourning. In Baghdad, protesters confronted security forces in the heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses Iraqi government buildings and foreign embassies.

Videos verified by Al Jazeera showed demonstrators waving flags and shouting slogans, with witnesses saying some were attempting to mobilise towards the US Embassy. Footage also showed protesters blocking vehicles at a roundabout near one of the entrances to the area.

There was also a protest in the Pakistani city of Karachi, where footage, verified by Al Jazeera, showed people setting fire to and smashing the windows of the US consulate.

However, there have also been reports of celebrations in Iran, with the Reuters news agency quoting witnesses as saying some people had taken to the streets in Tehran, the nearby city of Karaj and the central city of Isfahan.

Meanwhile, the official IRNA news agency reported that a three-person council, consisting of the country’s president, the chief of the judiciary, and one of the jurists of the Guardian Council, will temporarily assume all leadership duties in the country. The body will temporarily oversee the country until a new supreme leader is elected.

Ali Larijani, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, accused the US and Israel of trying to plunder Iran, in an interview aired on state TV.

He also called on Iranians to unite. “Groups seeking to divide Iran should know that we will not tolerate it,” he added.

Khamenei assumed leadership of Iran in 1989 following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who had led the Islamic revolution a decade earlier.

While Khomeini was regarded as the ideological force behind the revolution that ended the Pahlavi monarchy, Khamenei went on to shape Iran’s military and paramilitary apparatus, strengthening both its domestic control and its regional influence.

Attacks across the region

Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) pledged revenge and said it had launched strikes on 27 bases hosting US troops in the region, as well as Israeli military facilities in Tel Aviv.

Explosions have continued to be reported in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, while security alerts are in place in several countries across the region.

US President Donald Trump, in a social media post on Sunday, warned Iran that it would be hit “with a force that has ⁠never been seen before” if it retaliated.

Iran’s retaliatory attacks since Saturday have targeted Israel and US assets across multiple Middle East countries, including Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Harlan Ullman, chairman of the strategic advisory firm Killowen Group and an adviser to the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, said the US may have made a “big mistake” by killing Khamenei.

“Decapitation only works when you get all the leaders, and I don’t think that we got all the leaders,” Ullman said, adding that the US should not expect Iran’s leadership to enter negotiations in the immediate aftermath.

Iranian state media reported on Saturday at least 201 people have been killed in the joint US-Israeli attacks across 24 provinces, citing the Red Crescent. In southern Iran, at least 148 people were killed and 95 wounded in a strike on an elementary girls’ school in Minab on Saturday, with the toll continuing to rise, according to state media.

Iran appoints New Leader…

Meanwhile, Iran has appointed Alireza Arafi to its interim leadership council following the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, state officials confirmed on Sunday.

The announcement was made by a spokesperson for Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council, who said Arafi was elected to help lead the country during the transition period. The interim council will govern Iran until the Assembly of Experts selects a permanent supreme leader.

The council also includes Iran’s president and the head of the judiciary, as authorities move to ensure continuity of power amid heightened regional tensions.

Culled: Aljazeera