Iran on Sunday attempted to exact a heavy price on the United States, Israel, and Washington’s Arab allies over the killing of Iran’s supreme leader.
Hundreds of Iranian missiles and drones rained down on U.S. bases, embassies, Western businesses, airports, hotels, and residential buildings in Gulf countries, Jordan, and Israel. Air-defense systems prevented widespread casualties, but the attacks that succeeded exacted significant damage, including the conflict’s first American casualties.
The Iranian government defended the strikes as legitimate self-defense, claiming the Islamic Republic is targeting U.S. military bases. But the reality on the ground indicates a different strategy, threatening global travel and international trade. The Iranian barrages and subsequent escalation of U.S. and Israeli strikes have also heightened concerns of a broader and more prolonged regional war.
Why We Wrote This
Iran showered the region with missiles and drones this weekend, raising the stakes for the U.S. and Israel, which responded with intensified strikes. The escalation risks destabilizing the Middle East and threatening the global economy.
The retaliatory strikes were seen as revenge for the killing of Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – a spiritual guide for many Iranians as well as Shiite Muslims around the world – and a bid to pressure the Trump administration to stop its punishing campaign.
Instead, the U.S. and Israel intensified their bombing of Iran on Sunday, designed to wipe out the regime’s remaining leadership. President Donald Trump told Fox News that the operation had killed 48 senior Iranian leaders and was “moving along rapidly.”
Yet, Iranian missile strikes were increasingly able to break through regional missile defenses, killing at least 11 civilians in Israel and three people in the United Arab Emirates.
U.S. Central Command on Sunday reported that three American service members were killed in action and five others had been seriously wounded as of Sunday afternoon. CENTCOM did not indicate where or how the service members were hit.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the strikes “an act of self-defense and retaliation to the American aggression.” Ali Larijani, the head of Iran’s National Security Council, claimed Iranian forces “do not intend to attack the countries of the region.”
But in addition to lobbing missiles at several U.S. military bases, Iran concentrated its missile and drone strikes on international airports, ports, residential neighborhoods, and luxury hotels where American diplomats and military service members are believed to be staying.
Multiple U.S. embassies across the region either were evacuated or ordered their personnel to take shelter, amid the risk of Iran attacking U.S. diplomatic sites with missiles and drones.
In one such warning, the U.S. Embassy in Jordan “instructed all mission personnel to continue to shelter-in-place and avoid the U.S. Embassy Amman compound, as it may be targeted.”
Hundreds of pro-Iran factions and Shiite mourners in Iraq attempted to storm the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and embassy housing complexes over Mr. Khamenei’s killing. As of late Saturday, Iraqi security services continued to beat back the attempts with tear gas and by firing live rounds.
Mourning and celebration in Tehran
While videos emerged of many Iranians celebrating late Saturday, singing and launching fireworks to mark the death of Mr. Khamenei – whose January crackdown on anti-regime protesters reportedly killed 7,000 Iranian civilians – on Sunday, the ayatollah’s legions of staunch supporters tearfully flooded streets in marches, voicing their disbelief and vowing revenge.
On state television, one anchor, shaking in grief, praised Mr. Khamenei as an “exalted soul [and] indefatigable mountain of leadership,” who had given a “lifetime of unwavering jihad.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that an interim leadership council was already at work. Mr. Araghchi, the foreign minister, told the Al Jazeera news outlet that the new supreme leader would be selected in a “day or two.”
As Israel continued its largest air war in history, Iran hit Israeli urban centers with hundreds of rockets and drones, the vast majority knocked down by Israeli interceptors. Yet the estimated 10%-15% that broke through caused heavy damage.
Iran’s Presidential website/WANA/Reuters
An Iranian missile barrage into Israel on Sunday afternoon included a direct hit on a synagogue between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, killing nine people. The missile was carrying a 500-kilogram payload, according to Israeli officials, and demolished the synagogue and destroyed nearby homes.
Schools and workspaces remained closed in Israel on Sunday, a regular working day. Large gatherings were prohibited, and the country’s airspace was closed, which meant an estimated 100,000 Israelis were stranded abroad and unable to return home.
On the defense
A mixture of national and U.S. missile defense systems proved highly effective at intercepting hundreds of drones and missiles lobbed at the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Jordan on Sunday.
Yet several drones and missiles broke through, and falling debris of intercepted missiles created damage, puncturing the aura of stability and security in the luxury Gulf states and sturdy Jordan, and threatened American lives and major economic hubs.
Multiple Iranian Shahed drones struck five-star hotels in Manama, Bahrain, and in Dubai in the UAE, in what security officials believe were efforts to target U.S. officials, military members, and diplomats who may be staying at the hotels.
In the wake of a drone strike on the Crown Plaza Hotel in Bahrain’s capital early on Saturday, the U.S. Embassy in Manama issued a public warning for U.S. citizens to “avoid hotels in Manama.”
As part of its widening strikes, Iran conducted what appeared to be a systematic targeting of Gulf airports, disrupting travel.
A drone targeting Abu Dhabi International Airport in the UAE on Sunday was intercepted. According to Emirati authorities, the resulting falling debris killed one person and injured seven others. Iranian drones also struck other international airports in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.
Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest, was struck twice by Iranian drones late Saturday and on Sunday morning, injuring staff members, according to Dubai authorities, and triggering a mass evacuation of the airport.
The attacks left the air hubs shuttered and the airspace of the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Syria, and Israel closed until Monday or until further notice.
Institute for the Study of War and AEI’s Critical Threats Project
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Jacob Turcotte
The war also highlighted risks to global energy supplies.
As the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps sent warnings to U.S. ships not to enter its waters, the violence led to a de facto closing of the Strait of Hormuz – a chokepoint in the Persian Gulf through which one-fifth of the world’s gas and oil supplies flow each day.
The world’s three largest container shipping lines – MSC, Maersk and CMA CGM said in separate statements they had suspended cargo services through the Gulf and other parts of the Middle East.
Scott Peterson contributed to this report from London.
