Iran Strikes U.S., Israel Bases After Khamenei’s Death

Dozens of retaliatory strikes targeting U.S. and Israeli positions have been launched in response to the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Sunday.

The Tasnim news agency, a semi-official news outlet linked to the IRGC, reported that 27 U.S. bases in the region, as well as Israel’s army headquarters and an arms complex in Tel Aviv had been targeted.

The reports could not be independently verified.

Earlier on Sunday, the IRGC vowed revenge for the death of Khamenei.

“The killers of the Imam of the nation will not escape severe, decisive, and deterrent punishment,” the elite force said in a statement on Sunday carried by Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia.

Israel experienced repeated rocket alerts early on Sunday.

According to the military, the air force was deployed to counter the threat.

Meanwhile, a three-person council will temporarily govern Iran following the death of Khamenei.

The council, made up of President Masoud Pezeshkian and judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, as well as a member of the Guardian Council, will assume responsibility for the transitional phase, Iranian state media reported on Sunday.

The trio will assume Khamenei’s duties until the Assembly of Experts, a body of 88 influential clerics, nominates a successor.

Iranian law states the Assembly of Experts must pick a new supreme leader as soon as possible.

It is unclear who could succeed Khamenei, who was killed in wide-ranging strikes on Iran by the United States and Israel on Saturday.