DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran named the hard-line Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his late father as supreme leader on Monday, signaling no letup in the war launched by the United States and Israel. Oil prices surged as Iran attacked regional energy infrastructure and the U.S. and Israel bombed targets across Iran.
With Iran’s theocracy under assault for more than a week, the country’s Assembly of Experts chose the secretive, 56-year-old cleric with close ties to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as the new supreme leader. The Guard has been firing missiles and drones at Israel and Gulf Arab states since Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had ruled Iran for 37 years, was killed during the war’s opening salvo.
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Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Mourners pray during the funeral of Mehdi Hosseini, a man killed in a U.S.-Israeli strike, at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Relatives mourn over the flag draped coffin of Mehdi Hosseini who was killed in a U.S.-Israeli strike during his burial ceremony at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
The coffin of Mehdi Hosseini, a man killed in a U.S.-Israeli strike, is carried for burial at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A man carries shoes from his destroyed house that was hit by Israeli airstrikes hit several houses in Sir al-Gharbiyeh village south Lebanon, Sunday, March, 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Residents look on and take pictures as flames and smoke rise from an oil storage facility struck as attacks hit the city during the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (Alireza Sotakbar/ISNA via AP)
Two women from the Iranian Red Crescent Society stand as a thick plume of smoke from a U.S.-Israeli strike on an oil storage facility late Saturday rises in the sky in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
This image taken from video provided by Iran state TV shows Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran's slain supreme leader, who has been named as the Islamic Republic's next ruler, authorities announced Monday, March 9, 2026. (Iran state TV via AP)
The appointment marked a new sign of defiance by Iran’s embattled leadership after more than a week of heavy U.S. and Israeli bombardment, suggesting that Tehran is not close to giving up on what it considers a fight for the country's existence.
World markets plummeted following the news, and Brent crude oil, the international standard, surged to nearly $120 a barrel on Monday, about 65% higher than when the war started, before retreating.
Iran's attacks in the Strait of Hormuz have also all but stopped tankers from using the key shipping lane through which a fifth of the world's oil is carried. Fire broke out at an oil facility that Iran attacked in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain's only oil refinery was apparently also hit, and Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted several drones attacking its Shaybah oil field.
In Israel, sirens blared multiple times on Monday as Iran’s drones and missiles were unrelenting. A man was killed in central Israel in a missile strike, the first such death in Israel in a week, and a woman was wounded.
Israel said it struck the Iranian city of Isfahan, hitting command centers for the Revolutionary Guard and its volunteer Basij force, as well as a rocket engine production facility and missile launch sites. There was no immediate confirmation from Iran.
Turkey meanwhile said NATO defenses had intercepted a ballistic missile that entered the country’s airspace for the second time since the start of the war.
The younger Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since the war started, was long considered a potential successor — even before the Israeli strike killed his father. His wife, Zahra Haddad Adel, was killed in the same Israeli strike that killed the 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Political figures within Iran have criticized handing over the supreme leader's title based on heredity, comparing it to the monarchy overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. But top clerics in the Assembly of Experts apparently voted for continuity.
Khamenei, who is seen as even more hard-line than his late father, will now be in charge of Iran's armed forces and any decision about Tehran's nuclear program.
While Iran's key nuclear sites are in tatters after the U.S. bombed them during the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June, it still has highly enriched uranium that's a technical step away from weapons-grade levels. Khamenei could choose to do what his father never did — build a nuclear bomb.
Israel has already described him as a potential target, while U.S. President Donald Trump has called him “unacceptable” and dismissed him as a “lightweight.”
Both the Revolutionary Guard and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah issued statements in support of Khamenei.
Top Iranian security official Ali Larijani, speaking to Iranian state television, praised the Assembly of Experts for “courageously” convening even as airstrikes continued in Tehran. He said the younger Khamenei had been trained by his father and “can handle this situation.”
Saudi Arabia lashed out at Iran following a thwarted drone attack on its massive Shaybah oil field, saying Tehran would be the “biggest loser” if it continues to attack Arab states.
In the UAE, authorities said two people were wounded by shrapnel from the interception of Iranian missiles over the capital, Abu Dhabi.
Iran also attacked Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, where it hit a residential area, wounding 32 people, including several children, according to authorities. Another attack appeared to have started a fire at Bahrain's only oil refinery, sending thick plumes of smoke into the air.
Bahrain has also accused Iran of damaging one of its desalination plants, though its electricity and water authority said supplies remained online. Desalination plants supply water to millions of residents in the region, raising new fears of catastrophic risks in parched desert nations.
On Monday, Bahrain's state oil company declared force majeure for its oil shipments, the state-run Bahrain News Agency reported, a legal maneuver releasing a company of its contractual obligations because of extraordinary circumstances. It insisted that local demand could still be met.
In Iraq, air defenses downed a drone as it attacked a U.S. military compound inside the Baghdad International Airport, a security source told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press. No injuries or damage were reported. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack, but Iran-backed militias have previously targeted the base.
Elsewhere, the U.S. military said a service member died of injuries from an Iranian attack on troops in Saudi Arabia on March 1. Seven U.S. soldiers have now been killed.
The U.S. State Department early Monday ordered nonessential personnel and families of all staff to leave Saudi Arabia following the escalation in attacks.
Eight other U.S. diplomatic missions have ordered all but key staff to leave: Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the consulates in Karachi, Pakistan, and Adana, Turkey.
Smoke billowed over Beirut after Israel carried out airstrikes on its southern suburbs Monday.
Ahead of the strikes, the Israeli army said it would operate against targets associated with the Hezbollah-linked financial institution al-Qard Al-Hasan — which Israel said finances the militant group — and repeated its warning to residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs to flee.
The war has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, at least 397 in Lebanon and 11 in Israel, according to officials. Another person died in Israel of an asthma attack on her way to a shelter. Israel reported its first soldier deaths on Sunday, saying two were killed in southern Lebanon, where it is fighting Hezbollah.
Rising reported from Bangkok and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press journalists Sam Metz in Ramallah, West Bank; Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel; Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel; Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut; Aamer Madhani in Doral, Florida, and Qassem Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad contributed reporting.
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Mourners pray during the funeral of Mehdi Hosseini, a man killed in a U.S.-Israeli strike, at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Relatives mourn over the flag draped coffin of Mehdi Hosseini who was killed in a U.S.-Israeli strike during his burial ceremony at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
The coffin of Mehdi Hosseini, a man killed in a U.S.-Israeli strike, is carried for burial at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A man carries shoes from his destroyed house that was hit by Israeli airstrikes hit several houses in Sir al-Gharbiyeh village south Lebanon, Sunday, March, 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Residents look on and take pictures as flames and smoke rise from an oil storage facility struck as attacks hit the city during the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (Alireza Sotakbar/ISNA via AP)
Two women from the Iranian Red Crescent Society stand as a thick plume of smoke from a U.S.-Israeli strike on an oil storage facility late Saturday rises in the sky in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
This image taken from video provided by Iran state TV shows Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran's slain supreme leader, who has been named as the Islamic Republic's next ruler, authorities announced Monday, March 9, 2026. (Iran state TV via AP)
Iran launched more attacks on Israel and Gulf countries Monday, hours after Iranian state TV said Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the country’s late supreme leader and long considered a contender, had been named his successor.
Iran’s powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard answers to the supreme leader and the younger Khamenei will have a central say in the war strategy.
Oil prices skyrocketed Monday, leading to more worries that higher energy costs will fuel inflation and lead to less spending by U.S. consumers, the main engine of the economy. Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index plunged as much as 7% in early Monday trading, while other Asian markets also tumbled.
Saudi Arabia sharpened its warnings to Iran, telling Tehran Monday it would be the “biggest loser” if it continues to attack Arab states. The Saudi statement came after a new drone attack apparently targeted its massive Shaybah oil field.
Here is the latest:
Monday’s interception was second since the start of the Iran war. Iran has fired missiles and drones at several countries across the region since the United States and Israel attacked it over a week ago.
The United Arab Emirates says 15 ballistic missiles and 18 drones were fired on the Gulf country on Monday.
That has brought the total projectiles fired at the UAE since the start of the U.S. and Israel war against Iran to 253 missiles and 1,440 drones, the Emirati Defense Ministry said. Four foreign nationals have been killed and 117 people wounded in the attacks, it said.
The U.S. State Department on Monday ordered non‑emergency staff and family members to leave the U.S. Consulate in Adana, in southern Turkey. It also advised American citizens to depart southeast Turkey.
The decision marks the 10th U.S. diplomatic mission placed on ordered departure since the start of the war with Iran, and the first such move involving a NATO ally.
Israel said it had begun “a wide-scale wave of strikes” in Tehran, Isfahan and in southern Iran.
In the early days of the war there were barrages with dozens of missiles, but that has dropped to less than 10 or 20 missiles being launched at a time, said Israeli military spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani.
Iran is still firing missiles frequently toward Israel, sending people running for shelter multiple times per day, especially in central Israel.
Shoshani noted that Iran still has “a significant amount” of missiles, as Israel has concentrated on attacking Iran’s missile launchers rather than its weapons arsenals. Israel claimed previously it has destroyed around 60% of Iran’s launchers and has also targeted missile production facilities.
Funeral processions were held Monday for two Palestinian women and a 12-year-old girl who were killed in an Israeli attack in the Gaza Strip.
The three were killed Sunday when tank shelling hit two tents in Abu Shemeis camp for displaced people in central Gaza, according to Awda Hospital. A 6-month-old boy was severely wounded, it said.
The camp is located around 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the so-called Yellow Line separating Israeli-controlled areas from the rest of Gaza. The dead included a journalist, Amal Shamali, who worked for Radio Qatar, according to the hospital.
The Israeli military didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Lebanon’s state news agency said legislators voted 76-41 with four abstentions. Hezbollah’s 13-member bloc in parliament voted in favor of the extension.
The latest conflict with Israel that began last week has displaced over half a million people and made it difficult to organize a vote in large parts of the country. The next parliamentary elections had been scheduled for May.
Iran has been using cluster munitions against Israel on a “nearly daily basis,” an Israeli military spokesperson said Monday. He said Iran had fired similar missiles at Israel during the 12-day war last June.
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said that the cluster munitions fired at Israel so far have targeted Israel’s most “densely populated civilian areas” in Jerusalem and central Israel.
A cluster munition is a bomb that opens in the air and releases smaller “bomblets” across a wide area. The bomblets are designed to take out tanks and equipment, as well as troops, hitting multiple targets at the same time.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a telegram to Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei to congratulate him on becoming Iran’s new leader.
The message, published on the Kremlin’s website Monday, reaffirmed Moscow’s “unwavering support for Tehran,” and said that “Russia has been and will remain a reliable partner of the Islamic Republic.”
“At a time when Iran is opposing armed aggression, your tenure in this high post will undoubtedly require great courage and dedication. I am sure that you will honorably continue your father’s work and unite the Iranian people,” Putin’s message read.
There was no advance warning, suggesting rocket fire from Lebanon.
In naming Mojtaba Khamenei as the new supreme leader, the Assembly of Experts and Iranian state media referred to him as “ayatollah,” one of the highest titles given to clerics within Shiite Islam. Khamenei’s father, Ali, similarly became an ayatollah with his appointment as supreme leader in 1989.
French President Emmanuel Macron says Group of Seven nations could dip into their emergency oil stockpiles in response to soaring energy prices.
Speaking to reporters en route to a visit to Cyprus, Macron said “the use of strategic reserves is an envisaged option.” He said G7 leaders could meet this week to coordinate a response to climbing energy prices, expected via a call or a video conference. France currently holds the rotating presidency of the G7 group.
Separately, finance ministers from the G7 nations are meeting Monday afternoon by video conference to discuss the repercussions from the Iran war.
The man was killed in an attack that targeted central Israel.
It marked the first death from missiles in Israel in a week.
China’s government said the authorities “have noted” the reports of Iran naming Mojtaba Khamenei as new supreme leader and called on all parties to go back to negotiations to avoid further escalation.
“This is a decision made by the Iranian side in accordance with the country’s constitution,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Monday.
He added that “China opposes interference in other countries’ internal affairs under any pretext” and said that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iran “should be respected.”
Around 70,000 Syrians have crossed the border from Lebanon “under duress in a rush to Syria because they were so afraid of what is happening in Lebanon,” Karolina Lindholm Billing, the representative of the U.N. refugee agency in Lebanon, said Monday.
Lebanon was at one point hosting more than 1 million Syrian refugees, but the numbers have declined, particularly since the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December 2024. Today around 532,000 registered refugees remain, with potentially hundreds of thousands more believed to be unregistered.
The United States and Iran have offered sharply different accounts of the sinking of an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean.
Washington has rejected Tehran’s claim that the warship IRIS Dena was unarmed when it was sunk in a submarine attack near Sri Lankan waters on March 4.
In a statement Sunday on X, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command called Iran’s assertion that the vessel was unarmed “false.”
Iranian officials say the vessel was operating in a noncombat role as it returned home after taking part in a naval exercise in India.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said last week the warship was “unarmed.”
Israel said Monday it has carried out airstrikes in Beirut.
The Israeli army earlier Monday said it would operate against targets associated with the Hezbollah-linked financial institution al-Qard Al-Hasan. It repeated the warning to residents of Beirut’s Dahiyeh suburb to flee.
Israel says Hezbollah uses al-Qard al-Hasan to finance its military activities.
Smoke billowed over Beirut after the attacks. The first strike destroyed a building housing an office of al-Qard al-Hasan in the southern suburb of Chiyah.
Israel’s military targeted several branches of al-Qard al-Hasan in southern and eastern Lebanon last week.
During the last Israel-Hezbollah war in 2024, Israel’s military carried strikes that destroyed more than a dozen branches of al-Qard al-Hasan across Lebanon.
Emirati authorities have reported another missile attack in the capital, Abu Dhabi, urging people to remain in safe locations.
Israel has identified another launch on northern Israel shortly after a previous warning of an incoming missile attack from Iran on Monday.
Israel said in a new warning Monday that it has identified missiles launched from Iran toward northern and southern Israel.
Sirens sounded in Israel warning of a missile attack from Iran for the sixth time Monday.
Bangladesh on Monday closed all universities, bringing forward the break for Eid al-Fitr as part of emergency measures to conserve electricity during the conflict in the Middle East.
The South Asian country, which depends on imports for 95% of its energy requirements, already has experienced instances of panic buying. Car owners and drivers have struggled to collect fuel as shortages are reported.
The government has shut most fertilizer factories, redirecting available gas to power plants to avoid widespread outages.
Islam’s biggest festival is expected to be held either March 20 or 21, depending on the moon sighting, at the end of a month-long fasting ritual.
Energy Minister Iqbal Hasan Mahmud urged people to remain calm, saying Bangladesh has sufficient fuel stocks.
The capital of the United Arab Emirates came under Iranian attack Monday, with two people hurt by shrapnel from interceptions in Abu Dhabi, authorities said.
South Korea says it will cap oil prices for the first time since 1997 to stabilize soaring fuel costs driven by the war.
Kim Yong-beom, the presidential policy chief of staff, said in a briefing Monday that Seoul plans to introduce the caps sometime this week.
The government did not immediately provide details on how the caps would be structured and operated.
The move will help make fuel prices more predictable and prevent refineries and gas stations from raising prices “abnormally,” Kim said.
The Korea National Oil Corporation says it is holding several months’ worth of strategic oil reserves at nine storage facilities across South Korea, a stockpile that exceeds the International Energy Agency’s recommendation of 90 days.
South Korea last released its strategic reserves, which are used to address serious supply disruptions, in 2022 when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shocked global energy markets.
India’s foreign minister says two Indian mariners have been killed during the war.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar confirmed the deaths in an address to India’s parliament Monday and said the victims were working on merchant shipping operating near the conflict zone.
One sailor was still missing, he said.
The minister did not give further details of the vessels involved.
“This ongoing conflict is an issue of particular concern for India,” Jaishankar said, explaining that nearly 10 million Indians live and work in Gulf countries.
The region also is central to India’s energy security and trade, accounting for nearly $200 billion annually in commerce, he said.
Jaishankar reiterated that India favors peace in the region and urged a return to dialogue and diplomacy.
“We advocate de-escalation, restraint and ensuring the safety of civilians,” he said.
Turkey has deployed six F-16 jets and air defense systems to the Turkish-Cypriot part of the divided island of Cyprus to bolster its security, the defense ministry said.
A ministry statement said Monday additional measures would be taken if deemed necessary.
A British air base on Cyprus’ southern coastline was hit by a drone last week.
Ankara maintains some 30,000 troops in northern Cyprus, which broke away from the Greek south in 1974. Turkey is the only country to recognize the northern administration.
Iran’s judiciary reiterated it can order the assets of “enemies” abroad seized in the country.
It made the announcement Monday on the judiciary’s Mizan news agency.
Reporters for Farsi-language media abroad have seen their assets seized over the years.
The report also said “any intelligence or espionage activity conducted” abroad for the Israeli or U.S. governments “could lead to the confiscation of all assets and even the death penalty.”
Mourners carry the bodies of Hezbollah fighters who were killed by Israeli airstrikes during their funeral procession in Khraibeh village, eastern Lebanon, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Israeli tanks are parked in a staging area in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon, Israel, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
This image taken from video provided by Iran state TV shows Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran's slain supreme leader, who has been named as the Islamic Republic's next ruler, authorities announced Monday, March 9, 2026. (Iran state TV via AP)
Flames rise from an oil storage facility south of the capital Tehran as strikes hit the city during the U.S.–Israel military campaign, Iran, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
