Satellite images have laid bare the scale of destruction caused by US-Israeli strikes on Iran and the regime’s vengeful suicide drone bombardment in response.
Iran has pounded Dubai and other targets across the Middle East with missiles and suicide drones as it seeks revenge following the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The regime vowed to unleash its ‘most intense offensive operation in history’, with ‘force’ its enemies ‘have never experienced before’ and three US service members were killed on Sunday, with five others wounded in action.
Satellite images show the damage caused across the region, with hundreds thought to be dead and buildings destroyed.
One image shows black smoke rising and blackened buildings at the late Supreme Leader’s compound, which also houses government buildings, in Tehran.
Multiple buildings across the compound were destroyed and gardens were covered in dust and debris.
Iranian media initially denied Khamenei was killed following the US-Israeli early morning raids on Saturday but state media later confirmed his death, announcing 40 days of mourning.
‘Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,’ Donald Trump wrote.
A satellite image shows black smoke rising and blackened buildings at Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s compound in Tehran
Another satellite photograph showed a plume of smoke billowing near the sea in Dubai following a projectile strike
Precision strikes hit aircraft shelters at Konarak base – one of Iran’s major naval sites
Explosions were first reported in Tehran, Karaj, Isfahan, Qom and Kermanshah on Saturday. Several waves of strikes have targeted other parts of the country.
In response, Iran has intensified its strikes on Israel and Gulf Arab countries, who house US army bases.
Three civilians have been killed in Dubai and at least two drones have hit the city’s airport.
The world-famous Burj Al Arab and Palm Jumeirah hotels were hit on Saturday, and further explosions echoed across the Emirates on Sunday.
Another satellite photograph showed a plume of smoke billowing near the shoreline in Dubai following a projectile strike.
The US Fifth fleet naval base in Manama, Bahrain, was also damaged following Iranian strikes.
Two further rounds of blasts echoed around Dubai on Sunday morning, with the most recent reported just before 12pm GMT.
The US Fifth fleet naval base in Manama, Bahrain, was also damaged following Iranian strikes
Satellite imagery shows the desctruction of cruise missile storage facilities and bunkers at Konarak base
Konarak base, in the south-eastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, is one of Iran’s major naval bases
Iran has intensified its strikes on Israel and Gulf Arab countries, who house US army bases
A satellite image also shows a huge crowd of Iranians filling Enghelab Square in central Tehran as they mourn Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
In the Bahraini city of Manama, the Crowne Plaza hotel was damaged by a suicide drone, and Iranian missiles have also been striking Tel Aviv, with at least ten people confirmed to have been killed in Israel.
There has also been a death in Kuwait.
Residents in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, also reported hearing several loud bangs.
Explosions were heard for a second day across the Middle East though most missiles and drones were downed by air defences.
Iran claimed to have struck 27 US bases in the region, but has also hit a range of other sites including residential tower blocks and luxury hotels.
The government of the UAE – which runs Dubai and the six other Emirate states – confirmed that three people have been killed by Iran’s strikes and 58 more injured.
The state confirmed that debris from drones intercepted by air defences had fallen onto two homes in the city, injuring two people, and also caused a fire at the major Jebel Ali port.
Further videos overnight showed panic in a smoke-filled, debris-strewn terminal at Dubai Airport, which has been evacuated after four members of staff were injured.
A satellite image of Jebel Ali Port in Dubai, pictured after one of the berths caught fire because of debris from an intercepted missile
A fireball explosion erupts from a building in Manama, Bahrain, after an Iranian drone attack
Flames and a black plume of smoke rise from a warehouse in the industrial area of Sharjah City in the UAE, following reports of Iranian strikes
Nearly 6,000 flights have been cancelled worldwide and almost 30,000 delayed since conflict erupted across the Middle East.
The UAE’s Ministry of Defence said that, as of this afternoon, it had shot down 152 ballistic missiles, two cruise missiles, and 506 drones. A handful of attacks have successfully breached defences and hit their mark.
Dramatic footage showed a fireball in the sky near the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, as a weapon was intercepted.
Iran also launched two missiles towards British military bases in Cyprus, Defence Secretary John Healey said on Sunday.
The Cypriot government denied that any missiles had been heading towards it. But in the hours that followed a RAF base in Cyprus was hit by an Iranian drone.
Mr Healey warned that Iranian missile commanders are ‘increasingly allowed to choose their own targets’ as Tehran loses its ‘command and control’.
On Sunday afternoon, Iran targeted one of America’s two aircraft carriers that have been dispatched to the region, the USS Abraham Lincoln.
State media declared it had been ‘struck by four ballistic missiles’. USS Central Command denied this, however, insisting the missiles ‘didn’t even come close’.
The Crowne Plaza hotel in Bahrain was engulfed in thick smoke on Sunday morning, with its owners reporting it had suffered an ‘incident’ but that all guests and staff were safe.
Bahrain’s air defences responded overnight to ‘hostile Iranian missile attacks’, intercepting at least 45 missiles and nine drones.
Separately, the US military said that three service people had been killed in action, and a further five seriously injured, as part of Operation Epic Fury.
An oil tanker was attacked off the coast of Musandam in Oman, according to the country’s maritime security center, injuring four people and forcing the entire 20-strong crew to evacuate.
Iran has also closed the Strait of Hormuz – one of the world’s most vital oil shipping lanes that connects the major Gulf producers, such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and the UAE, with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. At least 150 tankers are waiting to travel through it.
The aftermath of an Iranian rocket hitting Beit Shemesh in Israel, where nine people were killed
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s daughter, grandchild, daughter-in-law and son-in-law were killed in joint US and Israeli strikes yesterday
The regime also claims to have struck British oil tankers with missiles leaving them ‘burning’.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said they hit three British and American ships in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz on Sunday – as footage showed a tanker dramatically bursting into flames.
The IRGC said: ‘In continuation of attacks on hostile enemy maritime targets, three violating tankers from the United States and Britain in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz were hit by missiles and are burning’.
At least ten people have been killed in Israel by the Iranian strikes. Nine people were killed in a missile strike on the northern town of Beit Shemesh, the Israeli ambulance service said.
