Iran claims hit on USS Abraham Lincoln after US sinks Iranian vessel. Here's what CENTCOM said in response

Israel carried out another round of airstrikes on Tehran on Sunday, saying the objective was to secure air superiority following the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, as the country struggles to reorganise its leadership during one of the most severe crises it has faced in decades, Reuters reported.

The exchange of U.S. and Israeli attacks and Iran’s retaliation has rattled key global industries, from shipping and aviation to oil — fueling concerns over higher energy prices and disruptions to commerce in the Gulf, a vital corridor for international trade, according to a report by Reuters.

Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said that after the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a three-member leadership council has been established to temporarily exercise the duties of the supreme leader. The council is made up of himself, the head of Iran’s judiciary, and a representative from the powerful Guardian Council, and will serve in this role until a new supreme leader is chosen under the country’s constitutional process.

In a sign of widening turmoil, Israel's ambulance service said nine people were killed by a missile strike in the town of Beit Shemesh, the United Arab Emirates said Iranian attacks killed three people, and Kuwait reported one dead in Iranian raids.

The Israeli military said that over the past day Israeli planes had conducted strikes to open the “path to Tehran”, and the majority of aerial defence systems in western and central Iran had been dismantled, Reuters reported.

It added: “Ali Khamenei was targeted in a precise, large-scale operation carried out by the Israeli Air Force, guided by accurate IDF intelligence, while he was in his central leadership compound in the heart of Tehran, where he was together with additional senior officials”.

Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said many targets remained, including sites of military-industrial production. "We have the capabilities and the targets to keep going on for as long as necessary," he said.

Several hours after the United States and Israel announced that an airstrike had killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s state media confirmed the death of the 86-year-old leader. Reactions inside Iran were sharply divided: while some mourned him, others openly celebrated, revealing deep societal rifts in a nation shaken by the sudden loss of a ruler who had held power for decades.

Khamenei had also authorised a sweeping crackdown on anti-government protests in January, during which thousands of Iranians were killed — the bloodiest unrest the country had experienced since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Footage from Tehran showed mourners packed into a square, dressed in black and many of them weeping.

But videos posted on social media also showed joy and defiance elsewhere, with people cheering as a statue was toppled in the city of Dehloran in Ilam province, dancing in the streets of Karaj city, near Tehran in Alborz province, and celebrating in the streets of Izeh in Khuzestan province. Reuters has verified the locations of these videos.

Khamenei, who built Iran into a powerful anti-U.S. force and spread its sway across the Middle East during his 36-year iron-fisted rule, was working in his office at the time of Saturday's attack, state media said. The raid also killed his daughter, grandchild, daughter-in-law and son-in-law.

Two U.S. sources and a U.S. official familiar with the matter told Reuters that Israel and the U.S. timed their attack on Saturday to coincide with a meeting Khamenei was holding with top aides.

Experts said that while his death and those of other Iranian leaders would deal Iran a major blow, it would not necessarily spell the end of Iran's entrenched clerical rule or the sway of the elite Revolutionary Guards over the population, Reuters reported.

As supreme leader, Khamenei held ultimate power in Iran, acting as commander-in-chief of the armed forces and deciding on the direction of foreign policy, defined largely by confrontation with the United States and Israel.

After Iran retaliated with airstrikes around the Gulf, Anwar Gargash, adviser to the president of U.S. ally and oil power the United Arab Emirates, urged Tehran to "go back to your senses", saying the war is not with Iran's Gulf Arab neighbours. The UAE has so far borne the brunt of Iran's retaliation. Trump warned on Sunday that the U.S. would hit Iran "with a force that has never been seen before" if it strikes back after the attacks on it.

According to Reuters estimates based on MarineTraffic ship-tracking data, the vessels were concentrated in waters off key Gulf energy producers such as Iraq and Saudi Arabia, as well as LNG heavyweight Qatar, Reuters reported.

Elsewhere in the region, unrest spread to Pakistan, where police in Karachi clashed with demonstrators who breached the outer wall of the U.S. consulate. The violence left nine people dead after news of Khamenei’s death triggered protests.

(With inputs from Reuters)