War in Iran intensifies – British holiday hotspot now in the line of fire
The bloody Middle East war is spreading across a wider region toward Europe as Iran begins ballistic bombings of Turkey and the death toll rises, with nearly 10,000 injured.
Middle East warThe death toll has risen as it spread towards Europe, while Tehran has named Motzaba Khamenei, the son of the slain ayatollah, as its new leader.
NATO security forces were forced for the second time to intercept an Iranian ballistic missile heading towards Turkey – a popular holiday destination for Britons.
This comes as 1,255 are reported dead in Iran, at least 13 in Israel, eight US soldiers lost their lives in Iranian attacks and now 14 more have been killed in the Gulf states.
Nearly 500 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 10,000 injured across the war-torn region – as a NATO country also comes under fire.
Iranian attacks on Israel have injured 1,929 people since last week, including 157 in the last 24 hours. At the same time, Iranian missiles have several times targeted the headquarters of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet in the Jafair area of Bahrain.
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read more: : Foreign Office issues major update on flights for Britons stranded in the Middle East. Read more: Petrol prices rise in UK amid Iran war, fears of fuel hike – find the cheapest near you
The Iran war has spread throughout the Middle East region – and Beirut has been attacked by Israel (Image: AP)
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth ruled out a US strike on the ground in Iran as the joint mission with Israel against Iran enters its second week.
On CBS News, Hegseth confirmed that US troops were not on the ground in Iran and added, “But we reserve the right. We would be completely remiss if we did not reserve the right to take a particular option, whether it involves boots on the ground or without boots on the ground.
Motzaba, a 56-year-old middle-ranking cleric, is an insider close to Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and his appointment has dashed hopes for a quick end to the war.
He is believed to be even more radical than his father; he lost his wife, a son, and both parents in the war that began on February 28.
The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is part of the US armada (Image: AP)
As the war entered its tenth day, the US-Israeli strike hit 140 Tehran regime targets with nearly 900 missiles, and the war shows no signs of slowing down.
Three more US Air Force B-52 bombers have landed at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, joining a huge fleet of US warplanes preparing to attack Iran.
These included three American B-1 stealth bombers, which arrived after Britain allowed the US to use British bases at Fairford and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
Israeli forces on Sunday killed the late Ayatollah’s emergency command chief, Abu al-Qassim Babaian, in Tehran, who had been in the post for only two years.
Israel also targeted Iranian fuel storage facilities in Tehran over the weekend – the first known attack on Iran’s oil infrastructure since the beginning of the war.
US-Israeli strikes hit multiple targets – including this oil depot in Tehran (Image: Sobhan Farajvan/Pacific Press/Shutterstock)
The Israeli Defence Forces stated that the fuel was used to support their missile programme and their military and was therefore a legitimate target.
Iran continued to bomb Israel, and throughout the night, air raid sirens sounded in the centre, south, and coastal regions of the country.
Some weapons were intercepted and the rest fell in deserted areas. Israeli bombs rained down on the Iranian city of Isfahan, targeting the command centres of the Revolutionary Guard and its Basij security forces.
They also attacked a facility for producing rocket engines and missile launch sites. Intelligence analysis confirms fears that Iran would provoke conflict by decentralising the IRGC, along with its 250,000 radicals and Tehran’s half-million security police, the Basij.
US Air Force B-52s have landed at RAF Fairford, Britain (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
European warships have massed around Cyprus to stop Iran’s war from spreading and to protect the island, including Greece, France, Italy, Spain and Germany – but there are still no UK ships in the area.
The Type 45 frigate HMS Dragon is expected to leave this week to reach Cyprus or the eastern Mediterranean as soon as next week.
But Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has launched attacks on at least 27 targets in the Middle East where US troops are stationed, as well as Israeli military facilities in Tel Aviv and other parts of Israel.
So far, Iran has launched attacks in ten countries in the region, including Israel, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
An Iranian drone also struck the runway of a British military base in Cyprus. Top clerics of Iran’s Assembly of Experts reportedly finalised their decision on Sunday – eight days after Ali Khamenei, who ruled for 37 years, was killed in an Israeli strike on Tehran. State media shared a statement from the assembly confirming Mojtaba Khamenei’s election through a “decisive vote”.
The clerical body urged citizens across the country—”especially the elite and intellectuals in seminaries and universities”—to pledge allegiance to the new leadership.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) welcomed Khamenei’s appointment in a statement carried by state media. It claimed the Iran–Iraq War veteran was a “distinguished jurist, a young thinker and one of the most knowledgeable on political and social issues.”
Smoke seen rising in southern Lebanon after airstrike (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
The IRGC also declared its “respect, devotion and obedience” to Khamenei and said that its members are “ready for complete obedience and self-sacrifice in carrying out the divine orders of the Guardian Jurist”.
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Iran’s next supreme leader was “not going to last long” if Tehran did not first seek his approval. The Israeli military said in a post in Farsi on Twitter that it would continue to pursue every successor to Ali Khamenei and target anyone involved in his appointment.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that no foreign actors would have a role in the selection of the new supreme leader. Speaking to NBC News on Sunday, Araghchi said Iran “allows[s] no one to interfere in our domestic affairs.”
He further said, “It is up to the Iranian people to choose their new leader. They have already elected the Assembly of Experts and the Assembly will do its job. This is the job of the Iranian people only and no one else.”
An American B-1B bomber is seen at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. (Image: AP)
Mojtaba Khamenei has maintained a low profile, never holding elected office or formally holding a senior position within the government of Iran.
He has never given a public speech and few of his photographs are available online. But the billionaire property tycoon has strong ties to the IRGC and was sanctioned by the US in 2019 for working “closely” with the IRGC’s Quds Force and the commander of the Basij Resistance Force.
Ali Khamenei and his predecessor Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, were both critical of hereditary succession, particularly in the context of the Pahlavi monarchy, which was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
