Middle East crisis live: Mojtaba Khamenei chosen as Iran’s new supreme leader | US-Israel war on Iran
Summary of the day so far…
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The body in charge of selecting a new Iranian supreme leader said it had reached a decision – although the name was not immediately announced.
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Israel threatened to “pursue every successor” to the former Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in joint US-Israeli airstrikes last weekend.
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Overnight strikes by the US and Israel hit five oil sites around Tehran, according to an Iran official. The official said that the five facilities “were damaged” but the “fire was brought under control”.
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Lebanon’s health ministry said the amount of people killed from Israeli airstrikes in the past week had increased to 394, including many women and children.
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An Israeli airstrike hit a hotel in Beirut on Sunday, killing at least four people, according to Lebanese health officials.
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Iran’s health ministry, meanwhile, said US and Israeli airstrikes had killed 200 children and about 200 women since the war started, and have damaged critical health infrastructure.
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Swiss defence minister Martin Pfister said the US and Israel have violated international law with their attacks on Iran.
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A wave of Iranian strikes hit the Gulf on Sunday, with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait all reporting attacks. In Bahrain, authorities announced that a desalination plant had been damaged in an Iranian attack.
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Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, reportedly threatened to increase attacks on American targets across the region in the face of ongoing Israeli and US airstrikes. He had earlier apologised to Iran’s neighbours for recent strikes against them and pledged to halt such strikes unless an attack on Iran originated from their soil.
Key events
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Iran names new supreme leader
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Seventh US military service member killed in action
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Donald Trump says Iran’s new leader ‘is not going to last long’ if Iran does not get his approval first
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IDF launches ‘extensive strikes’ in Iran
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US-Israeli strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure marks ‘dangerous new phase’ of war, spokesperson says
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Summary of the day so far…
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UAE acting in self-defence ‘against brutal and unjustified Iranian aggression’, foreign ministry says
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Israel say two soldiers killed in southern Lebanon
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Iran ‘reckless’ to attack Gulf states, says Arab League chief
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Iranian Red Crescent Society warns public to avoid toxic acid rain after Israel struck oil storage depots
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Nearly 400 people killed in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon, health ministry says
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Iran’s new supreme leader has been selected, says deciding body
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US-Israeli attacks on Iran violated international law, Swiss defence minister says
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US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran have killed 200 children, health ministry says
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UK government’s job is not to be ‘outsourcing our foreign policy’, foreign secretary says
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Iran’s president says his country will ‘not bow easily to bullying’
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Huge fire engulfs tower in Kuwait after drone strikes
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Summary
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Israel warns it will pursue Iran’s next supreme leader
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China’s foreign minister says Iran war ‘should never have happened’
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Majority consensus reached on Iran’s next supreme leader: Reports
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US and Israel strikes damage five oil sites around Tehran, says Iran official
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Iran ‘will be forced to respond’ if attacked from neighbouring country, says president
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Israel launches fresh strikes across Iran
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Iran launches fresh strikes launched across the Gulf
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Kuwait cuts crude oil production amid renewed attacks
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Israel renews its assault on southern Lebanon
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Opening Summary
Lorenzo Tondo
For many analysts, Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment is a symbolic move designed to make the regime still appear strong and determined not to bow to western pressure.
The 56-year-old cleric has never held elected office nor formally occupied a senior position within Iran’s government. He has spent much of his life at the centre of power in Iran while remaining largely out of public view.
Born in 1969 in the north-eastern city of Mashhad, Khamenei was raised within the political and clerical world that emerged after the 1979 revolution. As a young man he studied theology in the seminaries of Qom and reportedly took part in the final stages of the Iran-Iraq war.
Unlike many figures in Iran’s leadership, Khamenei never pursued elected office or a prominent government role. Instead, he gradually became an influential presence inside his father’s office, where he was widely seen as part of a small circle managing political access to the supreme leader.
Over the years he cultivated close relationships with conservative clerics and elements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), a connection analysts say strengthened his standing within the system.
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Iran names new supreme leader
Iran has named Mojtaba Khamenei as the country’s new supreme leader following the killing of his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes, the state-run media announced early Monday.
He was selected by Iran’s Assembly of Experts, an 88-member body of elected senior clerics tasked with choosing the supreme leader.
Mojtaba, a mid-ranking cleric with close ties to the powerful Revolutionary Guards, had long been viewed by elements of Iran’s ruling establishment as a potential successor to his father, who was killed after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on 28 February.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and his counterpart from the United Arab Emirates called on Sunday for an end to all attacks on both Iran and Gulf states and said renewed diplomacy was needed to ensure long-term regional security, Reuters reported.
“Attention focused on the necessity of stopping attacks that lead to casualties among the civilian population and cause damage to civilian infrastructure both in the Arab countries of the … Gulf and in Iran,” the ministry said of Lavrov’s telephone conversation with Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed.
The UAE has maintained good relations with both Russia and Ukraine during their four-year-old war and acted as an intermediary in holding talks and arranging exchanges of prisoners of war.
Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said on Sunday that Tehran is not seeking a ceasefire, adding that “aggressors” should be punished.
“If the enemy attacks us from any country, Tehran will respond decisively,” he told Iran’s state TV.
The Iranian army said on Sunday that at least 104 people were killed and 32 were wounded in an attack by the US on an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka’s coast last week.
The report follows a statement from US defense secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday, who confirmed that a US submarine sank an Iranian naval vessel in international waters.
Following a rescue mission launched by Sri Lankan authorities, the surviving injured crew members were transported to a hospital in Sri Lanka for medical treatment.
Seventh US military service member killed in action
Another US military service member has died from wounds sustained during Iran’s initial counter-attack a week ago, bringing the number of US troops killed in action so far in the war with Iran to seven, the US military said on Sunday.
“Last night, a US service member passed away from injuries received during the Iranian regime’s initial attacks across the Middle East. The service member was seriously wounded at the scene of an attack on US troops in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on March 1,” US Central Command said in a statement.
“This is the seventh service member killed in action during Operation Epic Fury. Major combat operations continue. The identity of the fallen warrior will be withheld until 24 hours after next of kin notification,” the statement said.
British forces successfully engaged a one-way drone fired towards Iraq from Iran last night, the UK Ministry of Defence said in an X post on Sunday.
“UK forces successfully engaged a one way attack drone fired from Iran towards Iraq,” the post said. “Last night, the engagement occurred as RAF Typhoons and F-35 jets continued to conduct defensive sorties across the region.”
It continued: “A Merlin helicopter is due to arrive in theatre, further strengthening our ability to detect aerial threats. The aircraft can fly up to a mile in height, giving advance warning of incoming drones or missiles.”
French president Emmanuel Macron has spoken with Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian, calling on Iran to halt strikes against other countries in the region and to end the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Macron said on Sunday.
In a post on X, Macron also reiterated France’s position that a diplomatic solution was necessary to end the conflict.
“I met with Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian,” he wrote. “I informed him that the safety and return to France of Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who are currently within the grounds of the French Embassy, remain an absolute priority for us.”
“I emphasized the necessity for Iran to immediately cease its strikes against countries in the region. Iran must also guarantee freedom of navigation by putting an end to the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz.”
He continued: “Finally, I reiterated our grave concern regarding the development of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic programs and the entirety of its destabilizing activities in the region, which lie at the root of the current crisis.”
Macron ended the statement by saying the two “agreed to remain in contact.”
Hugo Lowell
President Donald Trump took a golf break Sunday morning as US airstrikes against Iran continued. Guardian White House correspondent Hugo Lowell posted an image of Trump waving to supporters after finishing up a round.
Donald Trump says Iran’s new leader ‘is not going to last long’ if Iran does not get his approval first
Edward Helmore
Donald Trump warned Sunday that Iran’s new leader “is not going to last long” if the Iranians do not get his approval first for the theocratic posting.
“He’s going to have to get approval from us,” the president told ABC News. “If he doesn’t get approval from us he’s not going to last long. We want to make sure that we don’t have to go back every 10 years, when you don’t have a president like me that’s not going to do it.”
He added: “I don’t want people to have to go back in five years and have to do the same thing again or worse let them have a nuclear weapon.”
Asked on Sunday if he would accept someone with ties to the old regime, the president told the outlet, “I would, in order to choose a good leader I would, yeah, I would. There are numerous people that could qualify.”
He also indicated that he would be willing to send US forces to secure an estimated 460kg of enriched uranium stockpile that Iran is believed to be holding that is considered by the IAEA to be out of regulatory control and could be buried in the Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow enrichment – bombed by the US in June.
“Everything is on the table. Everything,” he said.
He again refused to be drawn on how long the US-Israel actions could last. “I don’t know. I never predict,” he said. “All I can say is we are ahead of schedule both in terms of lethality and in terms of time”.
He also dismissed reports of fractures within his Maga base over the US-Israel actions that to some critics appear to run counter to his no foreign wars, America First campaign promise.
“It’s more popular than ever. It’s a very Maga thing what we’re doing. A very very Maga thing,” he told ABC. “Because otherwise we won’t have a country either, we’ll be hit. And Maga is all about saving America … I’m at the highest point I’ve ever been with Maga.”
Donald Trump appeared unbothered about the effect the war has had on gas prices, referring to the rising costs as “a little glitch.”
“I think it’s fine. It’s a little glitch. We had to take this detour. I knew exactly what was going to happen with the detour,” Trump told ABC News in an interview. “But the nice part is we sank 44 of their ships, which is their entire navy,” he said, going on to continue speaking about the US military’s achievements in the war.
Trump administration officials are defending the temporary easing of certain sanctions on Russian oil, forecasting that the sharp rise in gasoline prices triggered by the war with Iran would subside within weeks. Appearing on several news programs, energy secretary Chris Wright and US ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz argued that a waiver granted last week for Indian purchases of Russian crude is a necessary move to stabilize global markets.
“It’s a 30-day pause to allow, which is just kind of common sense, to allow the millions and millions of barrels of oil that are sitting out on ships to go to Indian refineries,” Waltz explained during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Wright said that the waiver is designed to “tamp this fear of shortage of oil, tamp the price spikes and the concerns we see in the marketplace.” As the conflict enters its second week with no clear resolution, rising fuel costs have become a fresh burden for a US economy already shaken by the unexpected loss of 92,000 jobs in February.
According to AAA data from Friday, the national average for regular gasoline has climbed to $3.32 per gallon—an 11% weekly increase and the highest point since September 2024. Diesel prices have seen an even sharper spike, rising 15% in a week to $4.33, the highest level recorded since November 2023.
Alexandra Topping
Sir Keir Starmer has spoken to Donald Trump and discussed their military co-operation through the US use of RAF bases “in support of the collective self-defence of partners” in the Middle East, Downing Street has said.
The call comes after Trump intensified his criticism of Starmer over the lack of immediate UK support for the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, saying on social media: “We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”
Britain has given permission for the US to use British bases for “defensive strikes” on Iranian facilities, but has not taken part in any direct attacks.
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