Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader since 1989 and a staunch adversary of the West, was confirmed killed in the initial phase of a large-scale US and Israeli attack. The 86-year-old cleric’s death was announced by President Donald Trump, who described him as “one of the most evil people in History,” with Iranian state television confirming the demise early on Sunday. This act immediately triggered a new wave of retaliatory missile strikes from Tehran.

In the aftermath, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards pledged to launch the “most ferocious” operation ever against Israel and US military installations in Gulf countries. Fresh explosions were reported in Doha, Dubai, and Manama, while warning sirens blared in central Israel as it responded to Iranian missile fire. Iran’s state broadcaster specified that 27 US bases in the region, along with Israel’s military headquarters and a defense industries complex in Tel Aviv, were among the targets. Trump warned of an unprecedented response to any Iranian retaliation and urged Iranian security forces to stand down, calling it “the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu similarly encouraged Iranians to “join forces, to overthrow the regime and to secure your future.”

The strikes had devastating consequences. In Iran, the Red Crescent reported 201 people dead and hundreds injured nationwide. Tragically, a strike on a school in the southern city of Minab killed at least 115 schoolchildren. Key Iranian officials also perished, including Ali Shamkhani, a top advisor to Khamenei, and General Mohammad Pakpour, Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. In Israel, a woman was killed in the Tel Aviv area, and about 20 others were wounded. In the UAE, two people were killed in Abu Dhabi, and four were injured in Dubai. Streets in Israeli cities were deserted as residents sought shelter, while plumes of black smoke hovered over Tehran districts. Thousands of mourners in Tehran’s Enghlab square chanted “death to America,” while earlier, cheers were reportedly heard on Tehran’s streets upon news of Khamenei’s death.

The legality of the US and Israeli strikes has become a focal point of international debate, questioning whether they constitute a lawful exercise of anticipatory self-defense or a departure from the United Nations Charter’s limits on the use of force. Article 2(4) of the Charter prohibits the use of force against another state's territorial integrity or political independence, with self-defense in response to an armed attack as the only recognized exception. International law experts, including Chris Gevers and Mahmoud Patel, emphasized that anticipatory self-defense traditionally requires an *imminent* armed attack, not merely the possession of dangerous capabilities or long-term threats. Diana Buttu dismissed the operation as an “illegal attack” due to the lack of public evidence for an imminent Iranian armed assault. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s stated objective of regime change further complicates the legal assessment, as self-defense must be directed at stopping or repelling an armed attack, not at political transformation. The significant civilian harm, including the deaths of schoolchildren, intensified scrutiny under international humanitarian law, which mandates distinguishing between military and civilian objectives.

The operation, described by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as a “historic strike,” reportedly killed 40 senior commanders, including Iranian Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Abdoorahim Mousavi. Other prominent Iranian security officials reportedly killed include Mohammad Shirazi, head of the Military Bureau of the Supreme Leader; General Aziz Nasirzadeh, the Defence Minister, linked to overseeing long-range missile production facilities; Ali Shamkhani, a senior security figure and close advisor to Khamenei; Mohammad Pakpour, Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who previously commanded IRGC Ground Forces; Hossein Jabal Amelian, head of the Organisation of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), associated with advanced defense technologies; Reza Mozaffari-Nia, a former head of SPND linked to strategic weapons and nuclear research; and Saleh Asadi, a senior intelligence figure influencing strategic and foreign policy decisions. The IDF also claimed to have dismantled Iran’s aerial defense systems in western and central Iran, establishing air superiority over Tehran.

With Khamenei’s death, the focus turned to succession. Iran’s constitution stipulates a provisional leadership council—comprising President Masoud Pezeshkian, the head of the judiciary Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i, and a senior cleric from the Guardian Council, Ayatollah Alireza Arafi—to assume responsibilities until a new leader is elected by the 88-member Assembly of Experts. This body of religious figures, loyal to the regime, is expected to choose someone who will continue Khamenei’s path. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC), a powerful and ideological military force, is anticipated to play a decisive role in shaping the succession to protect its interests. Mojtaba Khamenei, the late leader's son, has been cited as a significant behind-the-scenes power, controlling IRGC appointments, overseeing intelligence, and managing his father’s inner circle. Reza Pahlavi, son of the deposed pro-Western shah, stated that any successor within the current system would be illegitimate, declaring that with Khamenei's death,