WASHINGTON — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed after joint U.S. and Israeli strikes hit Tehran and other targets, triggering a fast-moving regional escalation that has sent missiles and drones toward Israel and multiple Gulf states hosting U.S. forces, March 1, 2026.
The strikes — described by U.S. and Israeli officials as aimed at degrading Iran’s military capabilities — opened a new phase of direct conflict with Tehran, which responded by widening its retaliation beyond Israel and toward major commercial hubs across the Gulf.
Khamenei killing triggers a widening Gulf retaliation
Gulf governments reported repeated air-defense activity as Iran launched waves of drones and missiles over several days. Kuwait said it intercepted hostile drones near residential neighborhoods, while Reuters witnesses reported blasts and sirens in parts of the region as air defenses engaged incoming threats. See Reuters’ reporting on Kuwait’s interceptions and regional impacts.
Beyond the battlefield, the retaliation has strained the region’s aviation and trade arteries. Some disruptions were reported around key logistics and travel corridors, underscoring how quickly a military exchange can spill into civilian life when strikes and intercepts occur near densely populated areas.
What the U.S. and Israel struck — and what Iran hit back
Details of the initial offensive are still emerging, but reporting indicates the U.S. and Israel used a mix of standoff weapons and aircraft against multiple Iranian targets. Reuters published a mapping and explainer of the strike footprint and Iran’s responses across the region, including Gulf states where U.S. bases operate. Read Reuters’ map of U.S.-Israeli strikes and Iranian retaliation.
Independent analysts say the scale and geographic spread of the exchange raises the risk of miscalculation — especially as Iran-linked forces and U.S.-aligned militaries operate in close proximity across multiple theaters. For a deeper assessment of second-order effects, see CSIS’ analysis of the regional reverberations.
International reaction and a Russia-Iran pivot point
Global responses have ranged from calls for de-escalation to sharp condemnations. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin denounced Khamenei’s killing and offered condolences, while also signaling the episode could reshape Moscow’s regional calculus and energy interests. See Reuters’ report on Russia’s reaction and what it may mean.
How earlier flashpoints set the stage
The latest crisis did not begin in a vacuum. Iran and its allied groups have repeatedly framed retaliation as a matter of deterrence — a posture sharpened after the U.S. killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in a 2020 drone strike. In the years after, Iranian leaders and aligned factions publicly renewed vows of revenge tied to that episode. For one example, see Reuters’ 2022 coverage of Iranian vows tied to Soleimani’s killing.
More recently, the 2024 escalation cycle around Syria and Israel marked a turning point in how openly Iran and Israel traded blows. Iran blamed Israel for a strike on its diplomatic compound in Damascus that killed senior Iranian military figures, a flashpoint documented in Reuters’ April 2024 reporting on the Damascus embassy strike.
Days later, Iran launched a large retaliatory barrage toward Israel — the first such direct strike on that scale in the modern phase of their rivalry — as detailed in Reuters’ April 2024 report on Iran’s retaliatory attack. Those events helped normalize a pattern of direct action and counteraction that many regional officials feared would eventually widen into a broader war.
What happens next for Iran after Khamenei
Khamenei’s death opens an unusually uncertain period in Iran’s leadership structure at a time of active conflict. While Iran’s institutions have long planned for succession contingencies, the timing — amid strikes and retaliation — complicates internal decision-making and raises questions about who can authorize de-escalation or escalation with broad legitimacy.
For readers tracking where attacks have been reported and how the exchange has spread geographically, Al Jazeera compiled an interactive overview of reported strike locations and retaliatory launches: Mapping U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes.
Diplomats and security officials across the region have warned that the next several days will be pivotal: whether Iran narrows its targeting, whether Israel and the U.S. press their campaign, and whether Gulf states can avoid being pulled deeper into a conflict that is already testing defenses — and nerves — across the world’s most energy-sensitive neighborhood.
