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Pro-Iranian protesters angered by the death of Iran supreme leader Ali Khamenei tried to storm the US consulate in Pakistan’s Karachi on Sunday, leaving eight dead, and the fortified Green Zone hosting Washington’s embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.Iranian state media confirmed the death of Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader since 1989 and sworn enemy of the West, on Sunday, after the opening salvo of a massive US and Israeli attack.In the Pakistani megacity of Karachi, hundreds of pro-Iranian protesters tried to enter the US mission, an AFP journalist saw.At least eight people were killed in the protests and at least 20 were injured, Muhammad Amin, a spokesman for the Edhi Foundation rescue service said, adding most had bullet wounds.A crowd of young people climbed over the main gate and gained access to the driveway of the consular building, smashing some windows.Police fired tear gas at the protesters who dispersed.Videos on social media showed youngsters smashing the windows of the main building of the consulate as the American flag could be seen flying over the compound, whose perimeter is topped with barbed wire.Thousands of people were also taking to the streets in the eastern city of Lahore and in northern Skardu, with a demonstration expected in the afternoon near the diplomatic enclave housing the US embassy in the capital Islamabad.- Khamenei death ‘hurt us’ -In Baghdad, hundreds of Iraqis, many dressed in black, attempted to storm the compound housing the American embassy on Sunday despite a heavy security deployment.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,” he said, referring to US-led coalition troops who have recently reduced their presence and are now mostly stationed in northern Iraq.Protesters, who had gathered in the Iraqi capital since early Sunday, hurled stones at security forces, who responded with tear gas.A security source told AFP earlier that “their attempts have been thwarted so far, but they keep trying”.In Indian-administered Kashmir, several thousand Shia Muslims joined street demonstrations in the main city Srinagar.Protesters holding red, black, and yellow flags converged on the main square.Many of them chanted anti-Israel and anti-US slogans during the emotionally charged but largely peaceful gathering.”This day we are all very heavy-hearted. We are mourning our beloved leader who was martyred,” Syed Towfeeq, 40, told AFP.”We all have a message for the (US President Donald) Trump… We will always stand against your oppression.”Similar protests were held in other places across Kashmir and other parts of India with a sizeable Shia Muslim presence.burs/jfx/mjw

It’s 3:30 am and lights are slowly coming on in the homes lining a narrow Istanbul street as people are woken up by the rhythmic thump of a drum. Emerging onto a balcony, Sibel Savas and her grandson look down as the drummer — or davulcu in Turkish — wanders through the Ayvansaray neighbourhood, his drumbeat waking the faithful for a last meal before the daily Ramadan fast begins at sunrise. For the past 55 years, Hakan Ozbingol has got up at 3:00 am every day during Ramadan to play his davul, a large double-headed drum carried with a strap and played while walking through the streets. He inherited the role from his father, with whom he started venturing out when he was 10. Although their nightly sortie is purely voluntary, local residents traditionally give a tip at the end of the month, says Ozbingol, who is now 65. If once this amounted to enough to buy the children a nice gift, these days it’s barely enough “to buy them clothes or to cover the bills”, he sighs, as people struggle to cope with Turkey’s bitter economic crisis. But for him, it’s not a job but more of a sacred duty.”As long as it’s to do with Allah, this drum will never fall silent. We’re doing Allah’s work, it’s our duty,” he said hoarsely, trudging with bent back through the winding streets. – Ottoman roots -According to Harun Korkmaz, a music historian at Istanbul University, the Ramadan drum rite “dates back to the end of the 19th century” when the Ottoman military bands, or mehters, performed several times a day, setting the pace of daily life. “The davulcu are continuing this tradition,” he told AFP of a tradition that began in Istanbul and spread to the rest of the country. As well as drumming, “real” davulcu will also chant “mani”, or short rhythmic poems, under people’s windows to flatter a sleepy audience, Ozbingol explained.”In Turkey, there are few davulcus who know how to sing mani. It’s not enough to pick up the drum and bang on it while walking around,” he said, proudly tapping his temple to show where he keeps this knowledge. The tradition began in the Fatih district near Istanbul’s historic peninsula, and most of today’s Ramadan drummers come from Turkey’s Roma community, who today number around 2.7 million, research figures show.As the davulcu walks the street where washing lines vie for space with Turkish flags draped from the high facades of the buildings, he is warmly greeted by a pensioner called Zafer, who is also a musician.”If the Roma weren’t here there would be nothing. They are the musicians and Istanbul’s Ramadan drummers,” the 71-year-old told AFP. – ‘A tradition that must not die’ -Still holding her grandson, Sibal Savas says she has no alarm clock and relies on the early-morning drum rite to wake her up. “This tradition is important to us this. It comes from our ancestors,” she told AFP. In a nearby street, another drummer, 58-year-old Yurdaer, is trying to play a little more quietly as he passes the home of an elderly neighbour who has heart problems. Across Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, there are a total of 3,000 davulcu who go out nightly to wake the faithful in 961 neighbourhoods, explains Selami Aykut, who heads an organisation representing the megacity’s local mayors. Since the pandemic, when the nightly rite was briefly halted, the authorities doubled the number of accredited drummers. “We have increased the number we work with in order to better pass on our Ottoman traditions to young people, so that they can feel the excitement of Ramadan,” Aykut told AFP.With street vendors hawking traditional foods increasingly scarce across the city’s streets, their services replaced by supermarkets, the davulcu is one rare tradition not at risk of disappearing due to his unique role at Ramadan. “There are no more people selling boza (a fermented cereal-based drink), no more yoghurt sellers, nor other street vendors — they’ve almost all disappeared,” said Ozbingol. “Only the davulcu are left,” he murmurs, wandering off up the street. 

Iranian state television confirmed the death of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday, after US President Donald Trump said he had been killed.The announcement came after the United States and Israel started launching waves of strikes Saturday against targets in Iran, sparking swift retaliation by the Islamic republic.Here are the latest developments.- Iran leader killed -Iranian state television reported Khamenei’s death in the early hours of Sunday, broadcasting archive images with a black banner.Iranian media also reported the deaths of his daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter.”Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” Trump had said hours earlier on his Truth Social platform.”Heavy and pinpoint bombing… will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST”, Trump wrote.He later warned Iran of force “never been seen before” after he said they country indicated it was going to strike back “harder than they have ever hit.””THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform early Sunday.Iranian state television announced a 40-day mourning period and seven public holidays following the ayatollah’s death.The country’s judiciary confirmed Sunday that the chief of the Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Pakpour, and another top security adviser, Ali Shamkhani were also “martyred” in the strikes.Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said the campaign sent a message to those who would do harm to Americans: “We will hunt you down and we will kill you.”Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s late shah, hailed the killing of Khamenei, saying the Islamic republic was entering the “dustbin of history”.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and two top other officials will lead the country in a transitional period following the death of Khamenei, state television reported.The joint US-Israeli operation began earlier on Saturday with smoke rising over Tehran after strikes that Israel said were pre-emptive.Shortly after, Trump announced US combat operations, with the goal of “eliminating imminent threats”.Israel’s military said it targeted multiple sites where senior Iranian officials had gathered in Tehran, and launched strikes against Iranian missile launchers.It said 200 fighter jets had taken part in the “extensive attack”, hitting more than 500 targets.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacks killed senior Iranian officials and warned that thousands more targets would be struck in the coming days.The Iranian judiciary said 108 people died in a strike on a girls’ school in Minab, citing a provincial official who blamed Israel.AFP was unable to access the location to verify the toll or the circumstances surrounding the incident.A new series of powerful blasts were heard Sunday in Tehran, AFP journalists in the Iranian capital reported. The source of the blasts was not immediately clear. – Missile, drone wave -In response to the US and Israeli attacks, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they targeted the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and other American bases in the Gulf on Saturday, after launching a first wave of missile and drone attacks at Israel.Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said a woman was killed and at least 21 were injured in the Tel Aviv area.The Israeli military said it deployed search and rescue teams to multiple locations across the country following reports of fallen projectiles.After Khamenei’s death, the Guards said Sunday they would launch the “most ferocious” operation in history against Israel and US military bases.AFP reporters heard blasts across the Gulf cities of Dubai, Doha and Manama on Sunday morning after a day of Iranian retaliatory strikes.Thick black smoke could be seen rising on the clear morning horizon in the south of Doha.- Gulf explosions, strait closed -Explosions had been reported across the Gulf region a day earlier following the strikes.The United Arab Emirates said that two people were killed in Abu Dhabi, including a Pakistani civilian.The country’s defence ministry said that 137 missiles and 209 drones were fired at its territory.Witnesses in Dubai said they heard an explosion and saw missiles streak across the sky. Others told AFP they heard an explosion and saw smoke rising from man-made island The Palm. Four people were injured.AFP correspondents heard loud explosions in the Saudi capital Riyadh.Qatar’s defence ministry said it had intercepted several missile attacks targeting the Gulf state.Two people were killed in air strikes on an Iraqi military base housing the powerful pro-Iran group Kataeb Hezbollah, which threatened the US with a response.Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also moved to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway through which much of the world’s oil and gas passes.- Allied support, warnings -The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting over the fighting, with Iran’s envoy accusing the US and Israel of committing a possible “war crime” by attacking civilians.UN chief Antonio Guterres said military action in the Middle East “carries the risk of igniting a chain of events that no one can control”.Oman’s foreign minister, who has been mediating talks between Tehran and Washington, said he was “dismayed” by the violence.The European Union said developments in Iran were “perilous”.Gulf states condemned Iran’s “cowardly” attacks in a joint statement read by Bahrain’s ambassador during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.Russia slammed the US-Israeli strikes as a “dangerous adventure” that could spark regional “catastrophe”.Another Iranian ally, Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, called on countries and people in the region to stand against Israel and the US.- Airspace closures, flights nixed -Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, the UAE and Israel all closed their airspaces to civilian traffic, at least in part, and multiple airlines cancelled flights to the Middle East. Russia cancelled commercial flights to both Iran and Israel “until further notice”.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader since 1989 and sworn enemy of the West, was killed in the opening salvo of a massive US and Israeli attack, sparking a new wave of retaliatory missile strikes from Tehran on Sunday.Iranian state television confirmed Khamenei’s death early Sunday, hours after President Donald Trump announced the killing of the 86-year-old cleric he described as “one of the most evil people in History”.Iran’s Revolutionary Guards vowed to launch the “most ferocious” operation in history against Israel and US bases, which are located in Gulf countries that were already counting the cost of an unprecedented series of deadly Iranian strikes. Fresh explosions were heard in Doha, Dubai and Manama on Sunday, according to AFP journalists, as warning sirens sounded in central Israel with the military saying it was responding to Iranian missile fire.Iran’s state broadcaster said 27 US bases in the region, as well as Israel’s military headquarters and a defence industries complex in Tel Aviv, were among the targets in a new wave of strikes.Trump threatened that any retaliation from Tehran will lead to Iran being hit with a force that has “never been seen before”.He had earlier vowed no let-up in the strikes until the fall of the Islamic republic and urged security forces to stand down.”This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country,” Trump said in a statement.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also told Iranians that “this is your time to join forces, to overthrow the regime and to secure your future.”In Tehran, cheers could be heard on Tehran’s streets after reports first emerged from Israel of the death of Khamenei, as plumes of black smoke hovered over the district where he usually resides, witnesses told AFP.Later in Tehran’s Enghlab square, thousands of mourners, dressed mostly in black and waving Iran’s flag, chanted “death to America”, according AFP journalists. – ‘Unforgettable lesson’ -In Iran, the Red Crescent said on Saturday strikes had left 201 people dead and injured hundreds more.Iran’s judiciary confirmed that Ali Shamkhani, a top advisor to Khamenei, and the head of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Pakpour, were both killed.One prominent survivor, Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, vowed defiance.”The brave soldiers and the great nation of Iran will teach an unforgettable lesson to the international oppressors,” he said.Iran’s parliament speaker also said that Tehran was prepared and had “considered all scenarios”. Trump and Netanyahu have “crossed our red lines” and “will suffer the consequences,” said Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in a video carried on state TV.Iran intially responded to the Israel-US attack with a flurry of missile and drone strikes across the Middle East, killing at least two people in Abu Dhabi and another in Tel Aviv, before following up with a new wave after state media confirmed Khamenei’s death.- Question on succession -Iran had already seen intense speculation on a successor to Khamenei, given his age. Upon his death, many observers expected greater power for the Revolutionary Guards, which are deeply entrenched in the Iranian economy.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and two top other officials would lead Iran in the transitional period following Khamenei’s death, state television reported on Sunday.Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late pro-Western shah deposed in the 1979 Islamic revolution, said that any successor within the system would be illegitimate.Hailing the reported demise of Khamenei, only the second supreme leader of the cleric-run state after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Pahlavi said, “With his death, the Islamic Republic has effectively come to an end and will soon be consigned to the dustbin of history.”Pahlavi, who has spent most of his life in exile near Washington, has presented himself as a transitional figure to a secular democracy, but he does not enjoy support from all the opposition. – Strikes across Iran -The Iranian judiciary said one strike that hit a school in the south killed 108 people, although AFP was unable to access the site to verify the toll or the circumstances surrounding the incident.Meanwhile in Israel, city streets stood deserted as residents took cover in shelters while the blasts of intercepted Iranian missiles reverberated overhead.No casualties were reported in the latest round of strikes, but Israeli emergency services said that an Iranian missile strike killed a woman in the Tel Aviv area and that some 20 others were wounded in a previous round.Smoke poured overnight from US bases in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.”When we heard the sounds, we cried out of fear,” said Jana Hassan, a 15-year-old student who was near the strike in Bahrain.In Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s capital, two people were killed, while smoke and flames rose from Dubai’s famed man-made island The Palm, with four reported injured.Iran’s Revolutionary Guards contacted ships to announce the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway for oil from the Gulf, although it was not clear if the threat was being enforced.- Unprecedented scale -Tehran residents had been going about their usual business when the Israeli-US operation first began. Security forces quickly flooded the streets, shops pulled down their shutters and few pedestrians risked venturing out, an AFP journalist saw. “I saw with my own eyes two Tomahawk missiles flying horizontally toward targets,” a Tehran office worker told AFP before communications and internet access were cut. It was the first US military action of this scale apparently aimed at toppling a foreign government since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.Israel’s army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said the operation was “taking place at a completely different scale” than the 12-day war it fought against Iran in June, which the US briefly joined. Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, the UAE and Israel all closed their airspaces to civilian traffic, at least in part, and multiple airlines cancelled flights to the Middle East. Trump’s envoys had negotiated in Geneva on Thursday with Iran’s foreign minister.Trump said that Iran’s leaders had not compromised sufficiently on its disputed nuclear programme, although he made clear after the attack that the goal was regime change and not a nuclear deal.Oman had been mediating and had on Friday reported what it called a breakthrough, with Iran said to agree not to stockpile any uranium.Oman called Saturday for an immediate ceasefire. Iran also called on the UN Security Council, which held an emergency session Saturday and where the United States holds veto power, to act to stop the attack.burs/sct/sst/ceg/hmn

President Donald Trump made his case for war against Iran early on Saturday as US and Israeli forces bombed the Islamic republic, saying conflict was required to eliminate “imminent threats” from Tehran.Iran “rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions,” Trump said in a roughly eight-minute video message posted on social media more than an hour after US strikes began.”They attempted to rebuild their nuclear program and to continue developing long-range missiles” that “could soon reach the American homeland,” the US president said, also calling on Iranians to overthrow their government.But Iran was said to have signaled in talks that it was willing to cease stockpiling nuclear material, while Tehran may still be years away from developing significant quantities of missiles with intercontinental range — raising significant questions about Trump’s rationale for the conflict.”President Trump did not make a strong case for an imminent threat posed by Iran that would justify the massive joint US-Israeli strikes,” said Mona Yacoubian, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.”His call for the Iranian people to prepare to take control underscores that the ambitions here are more akin to regime change,” Yacoubian said, also noting that according to intelligence assessments, Iran’s nuclear program was “still not close to weaponizing.”Trump had repeatedly claimed to have obliterated Tehran’s nuclear program in June 2025 strikes, and the US military did not mention nuclear-related sites in a list of targets it had struck on Saturday.- Progress in negotiations? -Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, who has been mediating talks between Tehran and Washington, said Friday that Iran had agreed to cease stockpiling nuclear material needed to make a weapon — a major concession he said would have eliminated the nuclear threat.”If you cannot stockpile material that is enriched then there is no way you can actually create a bomb,” Albusaidi told CBS’s “Face the Nation.””If the ultimate objective is to ensure forever that Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb, I think we have cracked that problem through these negotiations,” the foreign minister said.Trump’s assertion that Iranian missiles could “soon” strike the United States is meanwhile called into question by a 2025 Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that said Tehran did not have intercontinental ballistic missiles then, and that it could take until 2035 for it to develop 60 such weapons.Tehran currently possesses short- and medium-range ballistic missiles with ranges that top out at about 1,850 miles (3,000 kilometers), according to the US Congressional Research Service.Aside from nuclear and missile issues, Trump cited other sources of tension with Iran, including the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran, attacks by Iranian proxy groups on US forces and international shipping in the region, as well as Iran’s deadly crackdown on protesters.But proxy attacks on American forces were not currently ongoing, and Trump had hailed a ceasefire last year as having halted attacks on shipping by Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels.And while Trump had repeatedly threatened military intervention if Iran killed protesters, he pulled back from ordering strikes last month at the height of Tehran’s crackdown on dissent.

As a fresh Middle East conflict risks sending oil prices sharply higher, Saudi Arabia, Russia and six other key members of the OPEC+ alliance are widely expected to announce an output increase Sunday, analysts say.The virtual meeting by the eight members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied nations (OPEC+) known as the “Voluntary Eight” (V8) comes a day after the US and Israel launched an ongoing wave of strikes on Iran.Last year, the V8 group — comprising Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman — boosted production by around 2.9 million barrels per day (bpd) in total before announcing a three-month pause in output hikes.  But now the picture has changed dramatically.Even before the conflict erupted on Saturday, the market had already priced in a growing geopolitical risk premium over months of US military build-up in the region.Brent, the global benchmark for crude oil, jumped more than three percent on Friday to trade over $73 per barrel, up from $61 at the beginning of the year.Several other developments have squeezed oil supply since early January, said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.They include “cold weather in the US across January (that) resulted in temporarily production shut-ins”, “disruptions in Russia” linked to drone attacks, as well as in Kazakhstan, where “a power outage disrupted production from the Tengiz oil field”, he added.That’s why, even before Saturday’s strikes, the market was anticipating a quota increase of 137,000 barrels per day. “These relatively high prices are a good incentive for OPEC+ to resume its production increases” from April, Kpler analyst Homayoun Falakshahi told AFP.Before the weekend, Falakshahi said a US strike on Iran would not necessarily alter the OPEC+ decision, as the group might prefer to wait and assess the impact on flows before adding more oil to the market than previously planned.- Iran tensions -In the short term, the US attack will likely trigger “a massive surge in prices” with what follows depending on how far the conflict escalates, Falakshahi said.The conflict could certainly severely disrupt global oil supplies and send barrel prices soaring to a level not seen in years.Iran is a significant oil producer, but the principal risk remains a prolonged blockade of the Straits of Hormuz, through which around 20 million barrels of crude pass each day — around 20 percent of global production.And there are virtually no alternatives for crude transport.Only Saudi Arabia and the UAE have pipeline networks, capable of carrying a maximum of 2.6 million barrels per day, that allow them to bypass the Straits of Hormuz, according to the US Energy Information Administration.”That said, even if strikes remain limited, we think Brent crude oil prices might rise to about $80pb (around their peak during the 12-day war in June 2025), from $73pb yesterday”, wrote William Jackson, chief emerging markets economist at Capital Economics.But prices would rise much more if the conflict is a prolonged one, particularly if the Strait of Hormuz is blocked for an extended period.”That could cause oil prices to jump, perhaps to around $100pb,” said Jackson.- Limited impact -Even if OPEC+ agrees on an output increase of 137,000 barrels per day on Sunday, the impact on oil prices will be limited, especially since the hike would only translate into an actual increase of 80,000 to 90,000 barrels, according to Kpler estimates. “Spare capacity is much smaller than some perceive, and primarily in the hands of Saudi Arabia,” Staunovo told AFP, adding that Russian production had been “on a declining trend over the last two months”.Boosting production would nevertheless allow OPEC+ members to regain market share in the face of competition from other key players such as the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Guyana. “OPEC+ would prefer prices of $80-90, but around $70 per barrel is the ideal price level for this strategy” because it is “not enough to encourage further investment by US producers but acceptable for OPEC+,” Falakshahi said.

Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, whose death was confirmed by state media on Sunday, was a pillar of the country’s theocratic system since the Islamic revolution and saw off multiple crises over the decades, remaining defiant to the very end.US President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social site that “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in history, is dead” after the United States and Israel launched a massive wave of strikes targeting sites across Iran, including the supreme leader’s Tehran compound.Hours later, Iranian state television announced Khamenei’s death, without referring to the attacks on the compound.Aged 86, Khamenei dominated Iran since taking on the post for life in 1989 following the death of revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.He remained in power after overcoming 1999 student demonstrations, 2009 mass protests sparked by disputed presidential elections and 2019 demonstrations that were brutally suppressed.He also survived the 2022-2023 “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement sparked by the death in custody of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly violating the strict dress code for women.Khamenei was forced to go into hiding during the 12-day war against Israel in June, which exposed deep Israeli intelligence penetration of the Islamic republic that led to the killing of key security officials in air strikes.But he survived that war and, after nationwide protests again shook Iran earlier this year, he emerged defiant as ever.- Tight security -Khamenei lived under the tightest security, and his relatively infrequent public appearances were never announced in advance or broadcast live.As supreme leader, he never set foot outside the country, a precedent set by his predecessor Khomeini following his triumphant return to Tehran from France in 1979.Khamenei’s last known foreign trip was an official visit to North Korea in 1989 as president, where he met Kim Il Sung.There had long been speculation about his health given his age, but there was nothing in his most recent appearance to fuel any new rumours.Khamenei’s right arm was partially paralysed following an assassination attempt in 1981 that authorities have always blamed on the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) group, one-time allies of the revolution now outlawed in the country. – ‘I am opposed’ -Repeatedly arrested under the shah for his anti-imperial activism, Khamenei shortly after the Islamic revolution became Friday prayer leader of Tehran and also served on the front line during the Iran-Iraq war.He was elected president in 1981 following the assassination of Mohammad Ali Rajai, another attack blamed on the MEK. During the 1980s, Khomeini’s most likely successor was seen as the senior cleric Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, but the revolutionary leader changed his mind shortly before his death after Montazeri objected to the mass executions of MEK members and other dissidents.When Khomeini died and the Islamic republic’s top clerical body — the Assembly of Experts — met, it was Khamenei they chose as leader.Khamenei famously initially rejected the nomination, putting his head in his hands in a show of despair and declaring, “I am opposed”. But the clerics stood in unison to seal his nomination and his grip on power never slackened.Khamenei worked with six elected presidents, a far less powerful position than supreme leader, including more moderate figures such as Mohammad Khatami who were allowed to make stabs at cautious reform and rapprochement with the West.But in the end, Khamenei always came down on the side of hardliners.He was believed to have six children, although only one, Mojtaba, gained public prominence. He was placed under US sanctions in 2019 and is one of the most powerful backstage figures in Iran.A family dispute also caught attention: his sister Badri fell out with her family in the 1980s and fled to Iraq in the war to join her husband, a dissident cleric. Some of their children, including a nephew who is now in France, became vehement critics.

Countries around the world voiced fears of a Middle East conflagration after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran Saturday, and Iran targeted US bases in the region in retaliation.- Iran Guards vow ‘severe’ punishment -Iran’s Revolutionary Guards vowed to punish the “murderers” of supreme leader Ali Khamenei, after his death was confirmed by state television.”The hand of revenge of the Iranian nation for a severe, decisive and regrettable punishment for the murderers of the Imam of the Ummah will not let go of them,” the Guards said in a statement.- UN condemns escalation -United Nations chief Antonio Guterres condemned the latest developments.”I call for an immediate cessation of hostilities and de-escalation,” he said in a statement, adding that the attacks on both sides undermined international peace and security.UN rights chief Volker Turk said further attacks would “only result in death, destruction and human misery”.- EU condemns Iran -EU chief Ursula von der Leyen condemned Iran’s “unjustifiable attacks” on the United Arab Emirates.”These attacks constitute a blatant violation of the UAE’s sovereignty and a clear breach of international law,” the European Commission President wrote on X.EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers for Sunday.- Russia: Nuclear ‘catastrophe’ -Russia condemned the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, warning they were “bringing the region to the brink of a humanitarian, economic, and — this cannot be ruled out — radiological catastrophe”. – UN nuclear watchdog: ‘monitoring’-The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in a statement calling for restraint added that so far, there was “no evidence of any radiological impact”.- China: ‘Immediate halt’ -China urged “an immediate halt to military actions”, with Beijing’s foreign ministry insisting that “Iran’s national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity should be respected”.- Qatar: ‘Right to respond’ -Qatar, which hosts a US military base, condemned an Iranian missile attack on its territory and warned it “reserves its full right to respond to this attack”.- Australia: Khamenei not mourned -Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “will not be mourned” after Iranian state media confirmed his death.- Norway: Israel broke international law -Norway’s foreign minister said Israel’s strikes on Iran broke international law, noting that “a pre-emptive attack would require the existence of an imminent threat”.- SAfrica: Israel, US broke international law -The US and Israeli strikes on Iran violated international law, said South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa.”Anticipatory self-defence is not permitted under international law and self-defence cannot be based on assumption or anticipation,” he said in a statement, calling for “maximum restraint”.- India: ‘Dialogue and diplomacy’ -India’s foreign ministry insisted that “dialogue and diplomacy should be pursued” while the “sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states must be respected”.- UK-France-Germany slam Iran – Britain, France and Germany jointly condemned Iran’s retaliatory strikes, each saying they had played no part in the US-Israeli operation.London expressed fears the situation could escalate “into a wider regional conflict”.French President Emmanuel Macron, urging a halt to the “dangerous” escalation, called for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council.- Lebanon: Won’t be dragged into war -Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam vowed his country would not be dragged into war, after Israel announced it was carrying out strikes targeting Iran proxy Hezbollah in south Lebanon amid the Iran operation. – Shah’s son: ‘Final victory’ near -Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s last shah and a leading critic of Tehran, claimed “final victory” was near following the strikes. “Together we can take back and rebuild Iran,” said Pahlavi — who lives in exile in the US.- Egypt: ‘Grave risks’ -Egypt’s foreign ministry said it “strongly condemns Iran’s targeting of the unity and territorial integrity of brotherly Arab states”, warning of “the grave risks this poses to the security and stability of Arab states”.- Turkey condemns both sides -“We are deeply disturbed over the US-Israel attacks on our neighbour Iran,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised address.He also denounced Iran’s drone and missile attacks against the Gulf as “unacceptable, regardless of the reason”.”In order to prevent our region from experiencing greater suffering, all actors, especially the Islamic world, must take action,” he added.- Jordan: Defend itself -Jordan’s government urged de-escalation while warning it would defend the kingdom’s interests “with all its might”. A government spokesman said the country was not part of the conflict.- Hamas: US-Israel ‘aggression’ -Palestinian militant group and Iran ally Hamas condemned the US and Israel’s “aggression” towards Tehran, calling it “a direct assault on the entire region”.- Palestinian Authority: condemns Iran -The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) “strongly condemned” Iran’s attacks on Arab countries, including several Gulf nations.It rejected “any infringement on their sovereignty or aggression against them by any party”, without mentioning the earlier US-Israeli strikes on Iran.- Ukraine: Oust ‘terrorist regime’ -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky argued the strikes on Iran created an opportunity for the Iranian people to oust the “terrorist regime” in Tehran.- Red Cross: ‘Dangerous chain reaction’ -International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric warned that the “military escalation in the Middle East is igniting a dangerous chain reaction across the region, with potentially devastating consequences for civilians”.- African Union: Stability at risk -The African Union called “for restraint, urgent de-escalation and sustained dialogue” after the strikes, warning that conflict could risk harming people on the continent. – New Zealand: new talks needed -New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon called for “a resumption of negotiations” and respect for international law to bring an end to the crisis, urging “the Iranian leadership to seek a negotiated solution”.burs-jj/cc/jfx/hmn