Published: March 1, 2026 9:41 am
Author: RT
The retaliatory attack targeted 27 bases hosting US troops in the Middle East, as well as Israeli military facilities in Tel Aviv
Iran has carried out a large-scale attack on US bases across the Gulf Arab states and the Israeli army’s headquarters, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced on Sunday morning. The retaliatory strikes come after Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top officials, including the IRGC chief, were killed in the US-Israeli operation against the Islamic Republic.
The latest airstrikes targeted 27 American bases and the Tel Nof air base, the Israeli army’s headquarters in Tel Aviv, as well as a large defense industrial complex, the IRGC said.
Video footage released by military forces captured fire and plumes of smoke over a building following an alleged rocket strike on Tel Aviv. Another clip depicts smoke reportedly rising above a US base in the autonomous Kurdish province of Erbil in Iraq. Several unverified videos circulating on social media show an apparent missile strike on a US base in Bahrain, as well as the aftermath of a reported direct hit in the Qatari capital of Doha.
Israel launched what it described as a pre-emptive operation against Iranian military and nuclear-related targets in the early hours of Saturday, claiming that the strikes were aimed at neutralizing threats posed by Iran. US President Donald Trump later confirmed the American military had joined the operation, citing the failure of nuclear diplomacy as the direct trigger for the renewed bombing.
Iranian state media reported on Sunday morning that Khamenei and four members of his family had been killed. The commander of the IRGC, General Mohammad Pakpour, and the secretary of Iran’s Defense Council and top political adviser to Khamenei, Ali Shamkhani, were also confirmed dead. The Iranian authorities additionally confirmed the deaths of Chief of Staff Abdulrahim Mousavi and Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh.
In a statement, the IRGC vowed it “will not let sirens fall silent in occupied territories or US bases” and promised a “different and difficult step of revenge” against the US and Israel for the killing of Khamenei and the ongoing strikes on Iran.
The IRNA news agency later reported that a three-member council comprising President Masoud Pezeshkian, Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, and a jurist from the Guardian Council will oversee Iran’s leadership during the transitional period following the death of Khamenei.
