The China Mail - First US service members killed in operation against Iran

Iran launched a new round of retaliatory attacks across the Gulf on Sunday after vowing to avenge the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, defying a threat from President Donald Trump to strike with unprecedented force.

As crowds gathered in Tehran, with some grieving and others celebrating, explosions rang out and the Israeli military announced it was again striking targets in the heart of the capital.

"Three US service members have been killed in action and five are seriously wounded as part of Operation Epic Fury," the Pentagon said, adding several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions. "Major combat operations continue and our response effort is ongoing."

Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced a "large-scale" attack on Sunday, and blasts were heard in Riyadh, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Manama, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, with Israeli rescue services reporting at least nine people killed in the city of Beit Shemesh.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian declared Khamenei's killing a "declaration of war against Muslims" and warned: "Iran considers it its legitimate duty and right to avenge the perpetrators and masterminds of this historic crime."

Israel described Khamenei's death as a "first step", and military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani boasted that the joint operation "eliminated 40 senior commanders, including Khamenei, in one minute in two different locations over a thousand miles from Israel in broad daylight".

In a social media post that adopted Trump's style and rhetoric, Ali Larijani, the powerful head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, declared: "Today we will hit them with a force that they have never experienced before."

International reactions have been mixed, with Pope Leo XIV urging both sides to end "the spiral of violence", while China condemned Khamenei's killing as a "serious violation of Iran's sovereignty".

France expressed satisfaction at the death of "a bloodthirsty dictator who oppressed his people, degraded women, young people and minorities".

- Unprecedented force threat -

Blasts were heard in northern Tehran and smoke was seen emanating from a building, an AFP journalist reported. It was not immediately clear what the target was.

Iranian media also reported that an attack on the headquarters of a border regiment in the western city of Mehran, near Iraq, killed 43 members of the security forces.

"According to initial reports, this hostile act was carried out by agents of the United States and the Zionist regime," the Mehr news agency said.

Earlier, cheers had been heard as some Iranians celebrated reports of the death of their longtime leader, but after state media confirmed his killing, pro-government demonstrations also formed, chanting "Death to America!"

As crowds demanded revenge -- and Iran's army announced strikes targeting US bases in the Gulf and Iraqi Kurdistan -- Trump threatened to unleash "force that has never been seen before" and urged Iran's people to rise up and seize power.

Iran's first retaliatory strikes on Saturday had hit all the Gulf states apart from Oman, which had sought to mediate US-Iran talks.

But on Sunday the country's commercial port of Duqm was hit by two drones, injuring a foreign worker, the Oman News Agency said.

Two ships were also attacked in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, maritime security agencies said, after Iran had previously declared the strategic waterway was closed.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had struck the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which was deployed to the region ahead of the campaign, but the Pentagon insisted it was not hit, saying the "missiles launched didn't even come close".

Internet monitor Netblocks said connectivity had been down for 24 hours in Iran.

Britain urged UK citizens in the Gulf region to "shelter in place", and the US mission in Jordan urged citizens to stay away from the embassy, and in Bahrain told them to avoid hotels after one was damaged in a strike.

In Iran, the Red Crescent said Saturday evening that strikes had left 201 people dead and injured hundreds more.

Iran's judiciary confirmed that Ali Shamkhani, a top adviser to Khamenei, and General Mohammad Pakpour, the head of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards, were among those killed.

Iran's retaliatory strikes across the Middle East killed at least two people in Abu Dhabi and another in Tel Aviv Saturday.

- Question on succession -

Iran had already seen intense speculation on a successor to Khamenei, given his age of 86.

Upon his death, many observers expected greater power for the Revolutionary Guards, which are deeply entrenched in the Iranian economy.

On Sunday, Iran named Ayatollah Alireza Arafi to join Pezeshkian on an interim leadership council to lead the country while a permanent successor is found for the supreme leader.

Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late pro-Western shah deposed in the 1979 Islamic revolution, said any successor within the system would be illegitimate.

Hailing the demise of Khamenei, Pahlavi said: "With his death, the Islamic Republic has effectively come to an end and will soon be consigned to the dustbin of history."

Pahlavi, who has spent most of his life in exile near Washington, has presented himself as a transitional figure to a secular democracy, but he does not enjoy support from across the opposition.

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K.Leung--ThChM