TEHRAN/TEL AVIV: Israel says a man was killed in an Iranian missile attack, raising the country's death toll from the war to 11.
Several blasts rocked central Israel on Monday, seriously injuring at least two people, emergency services said, shortly after the military reported it had detected new missiles launched from Iran.
Paramedics were “searching a number of scenes and treating two unconscious males in serious condition,” the Magen David Adom emergency service said in a statement.
The military said there were reports of several impact sites from the missiles.
“Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat,” the military had earlier said.
Iran fired its first missiles toward Israel on Monday after the appointment of the Islamic republic’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, state broadcaster IRIB said.
“Iran fires first wave of missiles under Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei toward occupied territories,” IRIB said on its Telegram channel.
It posted a picture of a projectile bearing the slogan “At Your Command, Sayyid Mojtaba,” a Shiite religious reference.
Mojtaba Khamenei was selected to succeed his slain father despite threats by the United States and Israel to target him next.
Nine days after US-Israeli strikes killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and plunged the Middle East into war, Shiite clerics convened to choose the country’s third supreme leader since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
An announcer on state television solemnly read a statement from the 88-member Assembly of Experts next to a picture of the new 56-year-old leader, who bears a striking resemblance to his father.
Mojtaba Khamenei “is appointed and introduced as the third leader of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, based on the decisive vote of the respected representatives of the Assembly of Experts,” the statement said.
It said the clerical body “did not hesitate for a minute” in choosing a new leader despite “the brutal aggression of the criminal America and the evil Zionist regime.”
A picture of Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is displayed on a screen in Tehran on March 9, 2026. (WANA via REUTERS)
Apart from Israel, Iran also sent waves of missiles and drones to its Gulf neighbors.
Explosions were also heard early Monday in Qatar, home to a major US air base.
Kuwait's Ministry of Defense said its forces were dealing with aerial threats from iran.
Saudi Arabia's Defense Ministry also said the Kingdom's air defenses on Monday have shot down at least three ballistic missiles and four drones that have entered the Kingdom's airspace at past midnight.
The war came weeks after Iranian security forces crushed nationwide protests against the government, killing thousands. The younger Khamenei is considered a fellow hard-liner who will pursue his father’s rejection of dissent.
US President Donald Trump had previously dismissed the younger Khamenei as a “lightweight,” and insisted again Sunday that he should have a say in appointing a new leader.
“If he doesn’t get approval from us he’s not going to last long,” he told ABC News before the announcement was made.
Israel’s military had also warned any successor that “we will not hesitate to target you.”
Few expect major changes under the younger Khamenei, a trained cleric close to the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of the military.
The Guards quickly pledged support for the new leader, who comes into the role with far less experience than his father, who had been president under the first supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
The Guards Corps said in a statement it was “ready for complete obedience and self-sacrifice in carrying out the divine commands” of the younger Khamenei.
