BAGHDAD – Iranian top officials yesterday vowed to avenge their slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and declared a new wave of strikes on US bases in the Gulf, defying US President Donald Trump’s threat of an unprecedented escalation in force. 

As crowds gathered in Tehran, explosions rang out and the Israeli military announced that it was again striking targets in the heart of the city, as more blasts were heard in Jerusalem, Riyadh, Dubai, Doha and Manama.

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.” 

Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday slammed the killing of Khamenei in US and Israeli strikes as a “cynical violation” of morality and law.

In a letter to his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian published by the Kremlin, Putin expressed “deepest condolences for the assassination of” Khamenei, saying the killing was “carried out in a cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law”.

Furious Iraqi protesters yesterday tried to storm a fortified zone housing the US embassy in Baghdad, as the threat of military escalation loomed over the country. 

Baghdad, a key ally of Iran, has announced a three-day mourning period for the death of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, and Iraq’s top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani urged Iranians to remain united against the “aggressors”.

In Baghdad, hundreds of protesters, many masked and dressed in black, gathered early Sunday, hoping to storm Baghdad’s Green Zone to get to the US embassy.

They chanted “for you Khamenei”, and hurled stones at security forces, who responded with tear gas, AFP journalists reported.

Khamenei was killed on Saturday as the United States and Israel launched a wave of strikes on the Islamic republic.
Ali, a masked protester, told AFP “the martyrdom of Sayyed Ali Khamenei has hurt us.”

“We are here because we want the withdrawal of the occupying American forces from Iraq,” referring to US-led coalition troops who have recently reduced their presence and are now mostly stationed in northern Iraq.

AFP journalists near the Green Zone reported a heavy security deployment and the closure of the zone’s entrance.

Abou Ali al-Kanani, 56, who was leading a group of protesters, said “we are here to demand the expulsion of the Americans and the closure of the embassy of evil — America that killed Ayatollah Khamenei.”

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, himself born in Iran, mourned Khamenei, saying his “unique role in leading the Islamic Republic of Iran for many years is evident to all.”

“The great Iranian people are expected to maintain their unity, to stand firm and thwart the aggressors’ sinister goals,” he said in a statement.

Explosions

Like the US, Iran wields significant influence in Iraqi politics, while also backing armed groups whose power has grown both politically and financially.

Iraq, which has recently gained a sense of stability but has long been a proxy battleground between the US and Iran, warned that it did not want to be dragged into the war.

But it did not remain unscathed.

Early yesterday, loud explosions were heard near Erbil airport in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, which hosts US-led coalition troops, an AFP journalist said.

He also reported seeing thick black smoke rising from the airport area.

Shortly after, a small pro-Iran group claimed drone attacks on US troops in Erbil.

Several Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups said Saturday they would not remain “neutral” and would defend the Islamic republic.

The powerful group Kataeb Hezbollah said it would attack US bases after two of its fighters were killed in air strikes in southern Iraq.

Also Saturday, US-led coalition forces downed several missiles and explosive-laden drones over Erbil, local authorities said.

Pro-Iran groups later said they launched dozens of drones against “the enemy bases in Iraq and the region”, without providing further details.

The US embassy in Iraq urged its nationals to limit movement and be ready to shelter after “reports of missiles, drones, or rockets in Iraqi airspace.”

Iran yesterday named Ayatollah Alireza Arafi to its interim leadership council, which will be at the helm of the country following the killing of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

“The Expediency Discernment Council has elected Ayatollah Alireza Arafi as a member of the interim leadership council,” said expediency council spokesman Mohsen Dehnavi in a post on X.

The interim council, which will also include the president and the head of the judiciary, will lead the country until the Assembly of Experts “elects a permanent leader as soon as possible”.

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah vowed Sunday to confront the United States and Israel over their strikes on the group’s key backer Iran.

“We will undertake our duty of confronting the aggression” of the US and Israel, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said in a statement, adding that they would not leave the field of honour and resistance”. – Nampa/AFP