DUBAI: An enormous explosion rocked Iran's capital on Sunday as the Israeli military said it was targeting the heart of the city. Earlier, Iran fired missiles at targets in Israel and Gulf Arab states after vowing massive retaliation for the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by the United States and Israel.
The blast in Tehran sent a huge plume of smoke into the sky and shook the ground. It wasn't immediately clear what the target was. The blast appeared centred in a neighbourhood that is home to the country's police headquarters and Iranian state television. The Israeli military said it was striking targets in central Tehran.
Khamenei's death in a joint Israeli-American airstrike Saturday on his Tehran office has thrown the future of the Islamic Republic into question and raised the risk of regional instability.
Iran's Cabinet vowed that this “great crime will never go unanswered”, and the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened to launch its “most intense offensive operation” ever, targeting Israeli and American bases.
“You have crossed our red line and must pay the price,” Iran's parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said in a televised address Sunday. “We will deliver such devastating blows that you yourselves will be driven to beg.”
The blast in Tehran sent a huge plume of smoke into the sky and shook the ground. It wasn't immediately clear what the target was. The blast appeared centred in a neighbourhood that is home to the country's police headquarters and Iranian state television. The Israeli military said it was striking targets in central Tehran.
Khamenei's death in a joint Israeli-American airstrike Saturday on his Tehran office has thrown the future of the Islamic Republic into question and raised the risk of regional instability.
Iran's Cabinet vowed that this “great crime will never go unanswered”, and the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened to launch its “most intense offensive operation” ever, targeting Israeli and American bases.
“You have crossed our red line and must pay the price,” Iran's parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said in a televised address Sunday. “We will deliver such devastating blows that you yourselves will be driven to beg.”
US President Donald Trump warned that any retaliation would only lead to further escalation.
“THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT,” Trump fired back in a social media post. “IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!”
As Israel and the US targeted other top officials, an airstrike on a meeting of the country's defence council killed Iran's army chief of staff and defence minister, alongside the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard and a top security adviser to Khamenei.
Gen. Abdol Rahim Mousavi and Defence Minister Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh were killed at the meeting, along with Maj. Gen. Mohammad Pakpour took over as the Guard's top commander after Israel killed its past commander in the 12-day war last June. The adviser, Ali Shamkhani, had long been a figurehead within Iran's security establishment.
In a sign of how the attack could spread instability throughout the region, hundreds of Shiite Muslims stormed the US Consulate in Pakistan's port city of Karachi on Sunday, smashing windows. Police and paramilitary forces used batons and fired tear gas to disperse the crowd, said Mohammad Jawad, a police official. At least six people were killed in clashes, authorities said. Shiite Islam is the predominant branch in Iran, though its followers are a minority in Pakistan.
Oman said an oil tanker in the strategic Strait of Hormuz came under attack, wounding four mariners on board. The attack targeted a Palau-flagged vessel called Skylight, the state-run Oman News Agency said. It described the crew as Indian and Iranian.
It wasn't clear who attacked the vessel, but it came as authorities have said Iran has been threatening ships travelling the strait via radio since the United States and Israel launched their attack on Iran.
Meanwhile, in Iraq, a militant group claimed responsibility for a drone attack “targeting American bases in Irbil,” according to the Rudaw media outlet. Smoke could be seen from an area where the US has an air base, but it was not immediately clear whether it had been hit.