Iran begins 40 days of mourning for supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei According to Iranian state media, he was killed in ongoing attacks by the United States and Israel.

Senior security officials were also killed in Saturday’s attack, as well as Khamenei’s daughter, son-in-law and grandson. The killing was one of the most significant blows to Iran’s leadership since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

President Masoud Pezeshkian condemned the killing as a “major crime,” according to a statement from his office. He also announced a seven-day public holiday in addition to the 40-day mourning period.

Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi reported from Tehran that people poured into the streets of the capital after news of Khamenei’s killing broke.

“There will be expected ceremonies,” he said, noting that they would likely take place amid continued bombing across the country.

Protests condemning Khamenei’s killing were also reported elsewhere, including in Shiraz, Yasuj and Lorestan.

“There will be expected ceremonies,” he said, noting that they would likely take place amid continued bombing across the country.

Videos broadcast by Iranian state media showed supporters mourning at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, with some seen crying and falling to the ground in grief.

The killing also sparked protests in neighboring Iraq, which declared three days of public mourning. In Baghdad, protesters faced off with security forces in the heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses Iraqi government buildings and foreign embassies.

Video confirmed by Al Jazeera showed demonstrators waving flags and chanting slogans, and witnesses said some tried to mobilize toward the U.S. Embassy. Video also showed protesters blocking vehicles at a roundabout near an entrance to the area.

There was also a protest in the Pakistani city of Karachi, where video verified by Al Jazeera showed people setting fires and smashing the windows of the U.S. consulate.

However, celebrations were also reported in Iran, with Reuters citing witnesses saying some people took to the streets in Tehran, the nearby city of Karaj and the central city of Isfahan.

Meanwhile, the official IRNA news agency reported that a three-member council consisting of the country’s president, justice minister and a jurist from the Guardian Council will temporarily assume all leadership responsibilities in the country. The body will temporarily oversee the country until a new top leader is elected.

Khamenei became Iran’s leader in 1989 after the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the Islamic revolution a decade earlier.

While Khomeini is considered the ideological force behind the revolution that ended the Pahlavi monarchy, Khamenei continues Shaping Iran’s Military and Paramilitary InstitutionsStrengthen domestic control and regional influence.

attacks across the region

Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has promised retaliation and said it had launched attacks on 27 bases in the region hosting US troops, as well as Israeli military installations in Tel Aviv.

Explosions continued to be reported in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, while security alerts were issued in several countries across the region.

U.S. President Donald Trump warned Iran in a social media post on Sunday that it would be hit with “unprecedented force” if it retaliates.

Since Saturday, Iranian retaliatory attacks have targeted Israeli and U.S. assets in several Middle Eastern countries, including Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Harlan Ullman, chairman of the strategic consulting firm Kirlovin Group and a consultant to the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C., said the United States may have made a “big mistake” in killing Khamenei.

“Beheadings only work if you get all the leaders, and I don’t think we got all the leaders,” Ullman said, adding that the United States should not expect the Iranian leadership to immediately enter negotiations.

Iranian state media reported on Saturday that joint U.S.-Israeli attacks on 24 provinces had killed at least 201 people, citing reports from the Red Crescent Society. A strike at a primary girls’ school in Minab, southern Iran, killed at least 148 people and injured 95 others on Saturday, state media reported, with the death toll continuing to rise.