Iran war updates: New supreme leader named; 2 killed in Saudi Arabia strike

You can read all about Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, here.

For more on the US and Israel’s war on Iran, you can find the latest updates here.

We will be closing this live page soon. Here are the day’s main developments:

• Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been chosen by Iran’s Assembly of Experts to succeed his late father as supreme leader after the father’s killing last week in the US-Israel war.
• Top Iranian officials, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the Assembly of Experts have declared their allegiance to Khamenei and called on Iranians to follow suit.
• The US and Israel continued to strike Iran, hitting oil storage depots and refining facilities in Tehran for the first time.
• Israel claimed credit for killing five people, including three alleged commanders of the IRGC’s Quds Force, in an attack on a Beirut hotel.
• A seventh US soldier died from wounds sustained during an Iranian attack on a US base, this time in Saudi Arabia, CENTCOM said.
• An Iranian drone attack caused material damage to a water desalination plant in Bahrain.
• An Israeli military spokesman has warned that the current US-Israel operations could continue “for a long time”.

An American cardinal close to Pope Leo XIV has described a White House video montage mixing Hollywood film clips with real footage of strikes on Iran as “horrifying” and “sickening”.

“A real war with real death and real suffering being treated like it’s a video game – it’s sickening,” Cardinal Blase Cupich said in a statement on the diocese’s website.

In the 42-second video posted on X on Friday with the caption, “Justice the American way”, Hollywood heroics are interspersed with footage released by the US military showing real strikes on various targets in Iran.

It was a “horrifying portrayal”, as “more than 1,000 Iranian men, women and children” have been killed by US and Israeli missiles, he wrote.

“Our government is treating the suffering of the Iranian people as a backdrop for our own entertainment, as if it’s just another piece of content to be swiped through while we’re waiting in line at the grocery store.

He warned: “We lose our humanity when we are thrilled by the destructive power of our military.”

“I know that the American people are better than this,” he wrote.

Cupich is the archbishop of Chicago, Pope Leo’s hometown and one of the largest dioceses in the United States.

At least 13 Israelis have been killed and 1,929 others wounded in Iranian attacks on Israel since last week.

The Health Ministry said in a statement that 157 people were injured in Iranian strikes over the last 24 hours.

Some 112 people are still hospitalised, including nine in serious condition. The ministry urged Israelis to rush to bomb shelters “with caution”, noting that people have been injured while running to shelters.

Sri Lanka will issue monthlong visas for the Iranian sailors evacuated outside its waters after a US submarine attack sank another ship in the same area, killing more than 80 sailors.

Public Security Minister Anada Wijepala told the media that the government will issue “a free visa” for the Iranian sailors, adding “it will take some time for them to leave this country”.

On Saturday, 204 sailors were transferred to a Sri Lankan naval base from their ship IRIS Bushehr, which was taken under Sri Lankan custody.

The ship sought help from Sri Lanka, reporting an engine failure. The appeal followed the sinking of the Iranian warship IRIS Dena by a US torpedo attack off Sri Lanka’s coast on Wednesday.

The Sri Lankan navy rescued 32 sailors and recovered 87 bodies. The strike marked one of the rare instances since World War II in which a submarine sank a surface warship.

‌Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed ⁠bin Abdulrahman ⁠Al Thani has urged all sides ⁠involved in the Middle East war to de-escalate.

“We will continue talking to ⁠the Iranians; we will continue trying to seek de-escalation,” the prime minister said in a Sky News interview.

Sheikh Mohammed said that recent events delivered “a huge shake-up” to the trust underpinning the relationship with Iran.

“For the US, we would like to see a de-escalation. We would like to see … a diplomatic solution that ⁠addresses our concerns as well ⁠as their concerns,” he added.

“We need to ensure first that Iran should stop all attacks against ⁠Gulf countries and other countries that they ⁠are attacking and are not ⁠party of this war,” said Sheikh Mohammed.

The US and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran last week, ‌prompting Tehran to fire missiles towards Israel and several Gulf locations hosting US ‌military ‌facilities.

This news is being analysed in Israel very closely indeed. What we’re going to get is two linked but slightly separate approaches.

The first is what Israel will be saying in public, which is that this essentially doesn’t really change anything at all: that the new leader of Iran will be a target just like the old leader of Iran was, that he will be hunted, and they will look for any opportunity to strike.

The Israelis have a position that the man at the top and his personality don’t matter. It’s the system that they feel is an enemy of Israel, and they’ll continue their policies against Iran as long as the leadership continues its politics against Israel.

But beyond that, they’ll be interested in who this new guy is, and what his appointment says about the stability of the regime.

If Iran is now moving into a dynastic situation, is that a suggestion that the cracks are starting to widen within the regime? That is the kind of thing the Israelis will be looking at now.

For the Gulf, it’s a de facto war situation. They are being hit with Iranian drones and missiles on a daily basis, so they’re already in a state of hostility with Iran.

The way Gulf countries will react to Mojtaba Khamenei’s selection is going to be with a lot of concern.

At the same time, they’ll be watching: maybe he’ll come with something new, and maybe he’ll surprise them.

But it’s not the right time now, because this is war.

The internet blackout here has caused a reduction in the amount of information that is flowing in Iran. Everyone expected the supreme leader announcement to take time, and this development tonight may surprise many.

At the same time, there have been names talked about, and speculation about whether the leadership would take a hard line – which is what happened – or whether they would select someone closer to the reformists.

Iranians will, of course, remain divided about this announcement, because the reformists have been on the streets demanding change in Iran, and I don’t think that situation will change.

But under the current circumstances of war, we have seen their voices being hushed – not by the authorities, but the feeling among many Iranians that this is not the time to rally.

The White House has not immediately responded to the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s supreme leader, but Trump has previously stated a dim view.

Trump derided the 56-year-old – who has never been elected or appointed to a government position – as “a lightweight”.

“We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” Trump said in an interview with Axios last week.

“I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy in Venezuela,” Trump said, referring to the acting president in the South American country.

Trump earlier on Sunday repeated that he expects to have a say in picking Iran’s next leader, warning that a new leader “is not going to last long” if the person doesn’t have his approval.

Tehran has carried out more attacks on Gulf states despite an apology by the president to Iran’s neighbours.

Civilian targets have been hit, including airports and vital infrastructure.

Who is in control in Iran, and how will Gulf states react as the attacks continue?

Watch Inside Story below:

Mojtaba Khamenei’s name has been circulating for years within the Iranian elite.

There has been this discussion as to whether it works or doesn’t. Many thought it wouldn’t happen because succession within the same family could give a resemblance to the monarchy.

Yet the new circumstances – the killing of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – meant Mojtaba Khamenei could ascend and become Iran’s new supreme leader.

We will be waiting to see how President Trump will react and whether Mojtaba Khamenei will try to continue this war.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli forces detained a Palestinian man and seized his vehicle in the village of Duma, south of Nablus.

Israeli settlers established a new illegal outpost on Palestinian-owned land between al-Lubban Asharqiya, south of Nablus, and Yasouf, east of Salfit, it said.

Three Palestinians were killed by Israeli settlers and soldiers in their village near Ramallah on Saturday night, in what local reports describe as the third deadly attack in a week of escalating violence across the occupied territory.

A sixth Palestinian died on Saturday after inhaling military-grade tear gas fired by Israeli forces, according to reports.