US-Iran war news updates: Israel vows to take down Khamenei’s successor; Trump considering putting ‘boots on the ground’ in Iran

If you’re just joining us, here are some of today’s major developments in the widening conflict:

• The United States has discussed with Israel the prospect of sending US troops to Iran to secure nuclear facilities on the ground, news website Axios reported, following a report from NBC that President Donald Trump was seriously considering the move.
• Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that US-Israeli forces would strike “many more targets”, after what were thought to be the first hits on fuel depots within Iran.
• Iran is due to choose a new leader to replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the start of the war, with Israel’s defence minister vowing the country would eliminate any successor.
• China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, said the war “shouldn’t have happened” and cautioned against attempts at regime change but signalled the hostilities would not derail a meeting between Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping.
• A major fire has erupted in a Kuwaiti government building following reports of intercepted drones and missiles by the state’s air defences.
• Foreign Minister Penny Wong has ruled out Australian troops participating in a ground offensive but says Australia could help Middle Eastern nations defend themselves against attacks by Iran.
• Unleaded petrol was sitting at just under $2.20 at dozens of pumps in Sydney and Melbourne this morning, according to government fuel apps, as the war chokes the passage of oil through the Strait of Hormuz.

Thanks for joining us for our coverage today. Here’s what we learned about the fighting between Iran and the forces of the United States and Israel:

• Residents of Tehran have woken to smoke and black rain after US-Israeli strikes on fuel depots in the capital
• Israel has vowed to kill whoever becomes the new Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, as Iranian political figures report the succession process has almost finished
• US President Donald Trump is considering deploying small contingents of US troops on the ground to secure nuclear facilities, according to several US media outlets
• Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia’s defence forces could help defend gulf states hit by Iranian retaliatory strikes, but ruled out involvement in any offensive action
• Iranian attacks damaged a water desalination plant in Bahrain and a fire has erupted in a government building in Kuwait, amid reports of drone and missile attacks
• China has said the war “shouldn’t have happened” but signalled it would not jeopardise a meeting between President Xi Jinping and Trump

We’re concluding this live blog here, but our coverage continues in a new blog, which you can read now here.

The BBC reports it has verified footage of streams of oil burning on a boulevard on Tehran’s outskirts, near a fuel depot hit by US-Israeli forces.

The fire can be seen from multiple angles in different videos posted to X, which show high flames rising from a canal in a suburban Shahran area.

The Iran International news network reports the oil had spilled into the sewage system. The capital has woken to wet weather and journalists have observed black raindrops falling as well as lingering smoke.

The clerical body that will choose Iran’s next supreme leader, succeeding the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has more or less reached a majority consensus, Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Mohammadmehdi Mirbaqeri said on Sunday.

The Mehr news agency quoted him as saying “some obstacles” still needed to be resolved regarding the process.

Two members of the panel, Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari Alekasir and Ahmad Alamolhoda, said the assembly had chosen a successor, according to Iranian media.

Heidari Alekasir said the candidate had been picked based on the late supreme leader’s advice that Iran’s top leader should “be hated by the enemy” instead of praised by it.

“Even the Great Satan (US) has mentioned his name,” the senior cleric said of the chosen successor, days after US President Donald Trump said Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was an “unacceptable” choice for him.

Reuters

US President Donald Trump honoured six service members killed in Kuwait during the war with Iran, attending a solemn ceremony as their remains returned to home soil.

Trump met family members at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware as part of what the US military calls a “dignified transfer” of Americans killed abroad — the first since the US and Israel began strikes on Iran, prompting Iranian retaliation.

Trump, wearing a blue suit, red tie and white cap with a “USA” logo in golden letters, acknowledged that Americans could die when he announced the start of the war, and he did so again on Saturday.

“When it comes to war, there’s always that, but we’re going to keep it to a minimum, I think,” he told a meeting of Latin American leaders in Doral, Florida, before heading to the air base.

Iran has reported at least 1332 people killed, including the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on the war’s first day.

Bloomberg

If you’re just joining us, here are some of today’s major developments in the widening conflict:

• The United States has discussed with Israel the prospect of sending US troops to Iran to secure nuclear facilities on the ground, news website Axios reported, following a report from NBC that President Donald Trump was seriously considering the move.
• Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that US-Israeli forces would strike “many more targets”, after what were thought to be the first hits on fuel depots within Iran.
• Iran is due to choose a new leader to replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the start of the war, with Israel’s defence minister vowing the country would eliminate any successor.
• China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, said the war “shouldn’t have happened” and cautioned against attempts at regime change but signalled the hostilities would not derail a meeting between Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping.
• A major fire has erupted in a Kuwaiti government building following reports of intercepted drones and missiles by the state’s air defences.
• Foreign Minister Penny Wong has ruled out Australian troops participating in a ground offensive but says Australia could help Middle Eastern nations defend themselves against attacks by Iran.
• Unleaded petrol was sitting at just under $2.20 at dozens of pumps in Sydney and Melbourne this morning, according to government fuel apps, as the war chokes the passage of oil through the Strait of Hormuz.

An Iranian drone attack caused “material damage” to a desalination plant, Bahrain said on Sunday morning (Bahrain time). It is the first time an Arab country has reported Iran targeting a desalination plant during the nine-day war.

Hundreds of desalination plants sit along the Persian Gulf coast, and the Arab countries in the region rely heavily on the facilities for their drinking water.

Bahrain’s water authority said the Iranian attack had no impact on water supplies.

Bahrain has also announced that three people were injured when material damage was inflicted on a university building in Muharraq, the country’s third-largest city, following “Iranian aggression”.

AP, Reuters