Iranian officials are deliberating over who will replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader killed in the U.S.-Israeli assault. Fears of the war’s economic toll sent Asian markets lower.
The Israeli military on Wednesday bombarded sites affiliated with Iran’s repressive security apparatus that has long preserved the Islamic Republic’s grip on power, as uncertainty hung over the direction of the Iranian leadership and the endgame for the U.S.-Israeli assault.
All sides are closely watching for the outcome of deliberations by top Iranian officials over the replacement for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader assassinated by Israel in the bombing campaign’s opening blow on Saturday.
President Trump has acknowledged the possibility that Iran’s next ruler could “as bad as” Mr. Khamenei. Iran’s leaders are leaning toward anointing his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, a hard-liner who would likely carry on his father’s legacy, according to three Iranian officials familiar with the deliberations. Israel’s defense minister that if the next supreme leader followed Mr. Khamenei’s ideology, he would become “an unequivocal target for elimination.”
As Israeli forces took aim at Iranian police stations and the headquarters of the powerful state Basij paramilitary, experts said the goal may be to weaken the security agencies and encourage Iranians to rise up against their leaders. The Basij, numbered at about a million, played a major role in the Iranian government’s bloody crackdown on mass protests earlier this year.
The war with Iran, and the potential economic fallout, has roiled the global markets, with Asian stocks falling precipitously on Wednesday. Investors fear that a prolonged conflict could send energy costs surging as shipping through the Persian Gulf stalls and drone attacks target energy infrastructure.
There was little indication on Wednesday of hostilities easing. Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry said it had intercepted 10 drones and two cruise missiles, and the Israeli military said it had detected missiles launched from Iran toward Israel. The Israeli military said that it had launched a “broad wave of strikes” in Iran and shot down a manned Iranian warplane over Tehran. And Adm. Brad Cooper of the U.S. Central Command said Tuesday evening that the U.S. military was conducting “24/7 strikes into Iran from seabed to space and cyberspace.”
Here’s what we’re covering:
-
Funeral rites: The body of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s slain supreme leader, will be on display starting Wednesday night in Tehran, signaling the beginning of the funeral process. Iran’s state television announced that the farewell viewing would last for three days and be held in a large compound in central Tehran where the former leader often delivered public speeches and led prayers.
-
Trump letter: In a letter to Congress, Mr. Trump said the strikes on Iran were carried out because of “the threat to the United States” and U.S. forces in the region, and to advance U.S. national interests and “in collective self-defense of our regional allies, including Israel.” Officials with access to U.S. intelligence have said that Mr. Trump has exaggerated the immediacy of any threat Iran posed to the United States. Read more ›
-
Evacuations: Several countries were struggling to evacuate hundreds of thousands of their citizens from the region. The State Department said it was facilitating charter fights from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, after Mr. Trump was asked why the government was not helping Americans evacuate. Read more ›
-
Navy escorts: Mr. Trump said the United States might deploy its Navy to escort commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway south of Iran through which a fifth of the world’s oil travels. Tanker traffic through the strait has nearly stopped because of the fear the ships might be attacked. Read more ›
-
Death toll: The Red Crescent Society, Iran’s main humanitarian relief organization, said the death toll had risen to 787 since the start of the U.S.-Israeli attacks. The bombing of a girls’ elementary school in Iran killed at least 175 people. Dozens of people in Lebanon also have been killed, according to the Lebanese health ministry, in Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah. Read more ›
-
Americans killed: Six U.S. service members have been killed in the conflict. The Defense Department released the names of four Army Reserve soldiers killed over the weekend in Kuwait in a drone attack on U.S. military facilities. Read more about them ›
-
U.S. damage: Iranian strikes damaged structures that are part of or near communication and radar systems on at least seven U.S. military sites across the Middle East, according to a New York Times analysis of satellite imagery and verified videos.
Israeli fighter jets attacked sites in the Iranian cities of Isfahan and Shiraz overnight for the first time in the war, Effie Defrin, the Israeli military spokesman, said in a news conference.
In Lebanon, the Israeli military has struck more than 250 sites since the escalation of its conflict with Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed armed group, began on Monday, Defrin added.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the supreme religious leader for Shiite Muslims, comdemned the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, saying in a statement that the assault would have “grave consequences” internationally and lead to “widespread chaos and prolonged instability.”
Sistani, who is based in Iraq, rarely weighs in on politics. But he called on all Muslims and “free people of the world” to denounce the war, and “exert their utmost efforts to bring about its immediate cessation” according to the principles of international law.
After President Trump threatened last night to cut off trade with Spain over its decision to deny him use of Spanish military bases for his campaign in Iran, the European Union on Wednesday reminded the United States that a trade attack on one member state is an attack on the 27-nation bloc. Olof Gill, a spokesperson for the European Union’s executive arm, said that the E.U. was “in full solidarity” with its member states, and would “stand ready to act if necessary to safeguard E.U. interests.”
An airstrike hit a hotel in the upscale Baabda suburb of Beirut at around 4 a.m. on Wednesday, local officials said, in a notable escalation of the bombing campaign in the Lebanese capital. The attack on the Comfort Hotel was less than a mile from Lebanon’s presidential palace and prompted the evacuation of the country’s main courthouse complex, according to the minister of justice, Adel Nassar. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strike.
U.S. gasoline prices jumped again on Wednesday, gaining about nine cents a gallon, according to the AAA motor club. The average price of fuel was $3.20 per gallon, a sharp increase from the start of the week, when it was just under $3 a gallon. The price of oil, a key input in gasoline, has continued to climb, on fears of a prolonged disruption in supplies from the Middle East. If the spike in pump prices continues, it could become a political headache for the Trump administration as consumers fret about inflation and the state of the economy.
An Israeli F-35 fighter jet shot down an Iranian Yak-130 fighter over Tehran today, the Israeli military said. This is the first reported combat between two crewed planes from Israel and Iran in the ongoing fighting. There was no immediate comment from the Iranian authorities.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain said in an address to the nation on Wednesday that it was “not clear what the goals are of those who launched the first strikes” on Iran and added that he didn’t want Spain to get dragged into another Middle East war. His comments came a day after President Trump threatened to cut off Spain from trade for the country’s opposition to the war in Iran.
“We demand with all our resolution, that the United States, Israel and Iran, stop before it’s too late,” he said, adding, “You cannot respond to illegality with illegality. That’s how the biggest disasters in humanity start.”
The Israeli military said it has launched another wave of airstrikes against Hezbollah in the Lebanese capital of Beirut. The announcement follows the Israeli military warning people in Beirut’s southern suburbs to flee an area near what it said was a Hezbollah-affiliated site. Overnight, Hezbollah announced that it had conducted another rocket attack. These rockets set off air-raid sirens in northern Israel, but did not cause any casualties.
Israel Katz, the Israeli defense minister, said Wednesday that his country would kill Iran’s next supreme leader too if they follow the ideology of the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Any replacement who similarly seeks to destroy Israel and threatens the United States “will be an unequivocal target for elimination,” said Katz.
The Israeli military said it had launched attacks on dozens of targets belonging to the Basij, a state-run Iranian paramilitary force, and the country’s internal security forces. The Basij played a major role in the deadly crackdown on the recent antigovernment protests in Iran.
Iran’s state television has announced that the body of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the slain supreme leader, will be on view for a public farewell at the Mossalla site in Tehran for three days starting at 10 p.m. Wednesday. This signals the beginning of the funeral process. Mosalla is a large compound in central Tehran where Khamenei often delivered speeches and led prayers.
The State Department has ordered nonemergency U.S. government employees and the families of U.S. government personnel at the consulates in the Pakistani cities of Lahore and Karachi to leave the country because of safety risks. At least 22 people were killed on Sunday as thousands gathered across Pakistan to denounce U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, including 10 who died as crowds tried to storm the U.S. consulate in Karachi.
The U.S. State Department has increased its travel advisory on Oman to level 3, “reconsider travel.” Oman is in the Persian Gulf region, now a large war zone, and tried to act as a mediator between the United States and Iran on nuclear talks last month. Those talks failed at averting the U.S.-Israel war against Iran.
There is little indication so far on Wednesday of hostilities easing. Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry said it had intercepted and destroyed 10 drones and two cruise missiles, and the Israeli military said it had detected missiles launched from Iran toward Israel. The Israeli military also said early Wednesday that it had launched a “broad wave of strikes” in Iran. And Adm. Brad Cooper of the U.S. Central Command said Tuesday evening that the U.S. military was conducting “24/7 strikes into Iran from seabed to space and cyberspace.”
The United States government has urged Americans to leave the Middle East as the conflict worsens, but many are having trouble finding a way out.
If you are stranded or have had your travel plans affected by the conflict, we want to hear about it. Tell us here.
The Israeli military has issued an evacuation warning for the residents of 13 villages in Lebanon, saying it was responding to Hezbollah activities there. Earlier on Wednesday, it issued an evacuation warning for 16 towns and villages in southern Lebanon.
The State Department said late Tuesday that nonemergency U.S. government employees and the families of U.S. government employees have been authorized to leave Cyprus because of safety risks. The authorities in Cyprus are on heightened alert after an Iranian-made drone crashed into a British military base there. Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain said earlier Tuesday that his government was deploying a warship and helicopters with antidrone capabilities to help defend Cyprus.
The tumult in global markets continued for a third day as investors in Asia, worried that an escalating war would keep driving up energy costs, dumped stocks. South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, all highly dependent on imports of oil and natural gas, were among the hardest hit. In South Korea, the Kospi index plunged so rapidly that trading was temporarily suspended to stem the selling.
