Attacks on Iran continue after US-Israel assassinate Ayatollah Khamenei
By Frank Prenesti
Date: Monday 02 Mar 2026
(Sharecast News) - The US and Israel continued their bombing of Iran after their assassination of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday in a war targeting regime change in the Persian Gulf state.
Israel's military said its air force had started an additional wave of strikes in the heart of the Iranian capital Tehran. Airstrikes over the weekend had also killed other members of the 86-year-old Khamenei's regime.
Fears of a regional escalation of the conflict grew on Monday after Lebanon's Hezbollah claimed responsibility for missiles and drones launched from Lebanon to Israel in retaliation for Khamenei's killing. Israel's military said it had begun striking Hezbollah targets across Lebanon in response.
European financial markets were bracing for severe volatility when they opened later on Monday. Oil prices jumped 10% to $80 a barrel for Brent crude in Asian trade on Monday after attacks on two ships stopped tanker traffic through the strait of Hormuz out of the Gulf - a key gateway for 20% of the world's oil supplies.
Airline stocks were also expected to plunge as more than 1600 flights through the region were cancelled, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded amid official travel warnings.
In response to the attack, Iran launched missile and drone strikes against US bases, including the headquarters of the US navy's fifth fleet in Bahrain, Israeli residential areas, and targets in other Gulf countries including Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.
Iranian state media reported that 165 people had been confirmed dead in a bomb attack on a girls' primary school in the southern city of Minab on Saturday. In Kuwait three US troops were killed, while there were also fatalities in Israel.
US President Donald Trump said he was open to talks with Iran's surviving and newly appointed leaders.
"They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them," he told the Atlantic magazine, although there was no confirmation of this from Tehran.
"They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long."
Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, the judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, and another top official will lead Iran in the transitional period following Khamenei's death, state media reported.
The surprise war came after officials from Tehran and Washington met on Thursday to discuss Iran's nuclear programme but failed to achieve a breakthrough.
"Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead," Trump wrote in a social media post as he claimed the Iranian leader's death, adding: "This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country," Trump.
Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com
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