Israel and Iran traded strikes on Sunday as part of a widening war after the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a surprise US and Israeli bombardment a day earlier.

Blasts in Tehran – whose target was not immediately clear – sent a huge plume of smoke into the sky in an area where there are government buildings.

Iranian authorities say more than 200 people have been killed since the start of the US and Israeli strikes that killed Khamenei and other senior leaders.

Iran fired missiles at targets in Israel and Gulf Arab states in retaliation.

Loud explosions caused by missile impacts or interceptions could be heard in Tel Aviv. Israel’s rescue services said eight people were killed and 28 wounded in a strike in the central town of Beit Shemesh, bringing the overall death toll in the country to 10.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards also said they attacked the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Gulf.

"The US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln was struck by four ballistic missiles," the Guards said in a statement carried by local media, warning that the "the land and sea will increasingly become the graveyard of the terrorist aggressors".

Meanwhile, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a pre-recorded message aired on state television that a new leadership council “has begun its work.”

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the Al Jazeera network that a new supreme leader will be chosen in “one or two days.”

The killing of Khamenei and US President Donald Trump's calls for the overthrow of the decades-old Islamic Republic marked the start of a stunning new US intervention in the Middle East and potentially a prolonged war.

“You have crossed our red line and must pay the price,” Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said in a televised address on Sunday.

“We will deliver such devastating blows that you yourselves will be driven to beg.”

Trump warned that any retaliation would only lead to further escalation.

Asked whether Israel was considering deploying ground forces to Iran, Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said that was not under consideration even though Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have urged Iranians to seize a rare opportunity to topple their leaders.

As the conflict raged, flights across the Middle East were disrupted and air defence fire thudded over Dubai. The United Arab Emirates’ commercial capital has long drawn business and expatriates by billing itself as a safe haven in a volatile region.

Shrapnel from Iranian attacks on the Emirates’ capital of Abu Dhabi killed two people, state media said, and debris from aerial interceptions caused fires at the city’s main port and on the facade of the iconic Burj Al Arab hotel.

Attacks also extended into Oman, Iran’s longtime interlocutor with the West that hadn’t been drawn into the fray previously.

Saudi Arabia condemned Iran’s attacks on its capital, Riyadh, and eastern region, saying it had successfully intercepted them. The kingdom noted that it had not allowed its airspace or territory to be used to target Iran.

Jordan said it “dealt with” 49 drones and ballistic missiles. Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar also said they had intercepted projectiles on Sunday morning.

Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced Khamenei's death as a cynical murder, while European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the death was "a defining moment in Iran’s history".

Pope Leo told pilgrims in St. Peter's Square he is following events after the strikes with "deep concern" and appealed for a halt to what he called a "spiral of violence". (Agencies)


Edited by Edmond Fong