Updated March 9, 2026 at 9:50 AM PDT
Iran has named Mojtaba Khamenei to be its new supreme leader, according to Iranian state television.
The 56-year old is the son of the previous supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed by air strikes at the start of the war. Mojtaba Khamenei has close ties with Iran's Revolutionary Guard, signaling a continuation of his father's rule and hard-line stance.
Meanwhile, the American military confirmed on Sunday that a seventh service member has died in the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran.
Also, Israel targeted Iran's oil facilities for the first time Saturday, with videos showing huge flames lighting up the sky, while Tehran responded to attacks on its infrastructure by targeting that of its regional neighbors, hitting a desalination plant in Bahrain.
On Sunday, a senior official in the Israeli military's operations directorate, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss Israel's military plans, told NPR that Israel needs three more weeks to accomplish its goal of wiping out Iran's military forces — but that Israel is fighting as if every day of the war could be the last, depending on what Trump decides.
President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have both pledged to continue hitting Iran hard.
Here's what to know about events from the conflict:
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's son named as new supreme leader
In an announcement early Monday in Iran, the Assembly of Experts, the clerical body responsible for selecting the country's supreme leader, said a majority of its members voted to appoint Mojtaba Khamenei as the Islamic Republic's third leader since it was founded in 1979.
The assembly also called on the Iranian public, political figures, intellectuals and senior clergy to pledge their allegiance to the newly appointed leader.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was Iran's supreme leader for 37 years and was killed on Feb. 28 in a U.S.–Israeli strike on Tehran, marking the first day of the war.
President Trump had said Khamenei's son would be an unacceptable choice to lead Iran.
Israel's military had said earlier that it would pursue any successor to Khamenei and target those participating in the selection process. Netanyahu said in a press conference he seeks to "destabilize the regime and enable change."
The U.S. confirms a 7th service member's death
The service member died from injuries, after being "seriously wounded at the scene of an attack on U.S. troops in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," according to a social media post from the U.S. Central Command.
Six members of the Army Reserve were killed last week by a drone attack in Kuwait, where they had been working at a command center.
President Trump and top administration officials, including Vice President Vance, attended the return of their remains Saturday.
Since the U.S. and Israel began attacks against Iran on Feb. 28, Iran has launched hundreds of missiles and drones at several neighboring countries in the Gulf region that play host to U.S. military installations.
Iran and Israel launch attacks on critical infrastructure
Saturday's attack appears to be the first time Israel has targeted a civilian oil facility in Iran. An Iranian news agency reported at least four tanker drivers were killed.
The Israeli military says Iran made frequent use of that oil storage facility in Tehran to operate military infrastructure. Separately, Iran's foreign minister said a U.S. airstrike damaged an Iranian desalination plant for the first time.
Also for the first time in the Gulf — a desalination plant in Bahrain was damaged in an Iranian drone attack.
These attacks on energy and water infrastructure are a significant escalation in the war. The region depends on desalinated sea water for drinking water. And much of the world relies on oil from the Gulf.
Elsewhere in the region, in Saudi Arabia, authorities said two people died after a projectile hit a residential area in Riyadh Province. Twelve others were injured.
Earlier, the U.S. military said Iran was using heavily populated civilian areas to launch attack drones and ballistic missiles, which could become legitimate military targets under international law.
Bombing campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon continues
The Israeli military targeted a hotel in central Beirut Sunday, killing at least four people, according to Lebanese health officials. The hotel attack is the first time the heart of the capital has been struck since the war with Iran began.
The strike is part of Israel's intensified bombing campaign in Lebanon against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. Nearly 400 people have been killed — including 83 children — and more than half a million displaced, according to the Lebanese government.
A video shared online showed black smoke billowing from the window of a hotel room in the Ramada Plaza in central Beirut.
The Israeli military also said it killed five Iranian commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard based in Lebanon.
It said in a statement that it would "not allow Iranian terrorist elements to establish themselves in Lebanese territory."
Israeli strikes have been mainly focused on south Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut, which are considered Hezbollah strongholds.
Hezbollah is an Iranian-backed political and military organization in Lebanon that has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union.
Hotels like the Ramada in Beirut are full of displaced families fleeing the Israeli bombing in the south.
Trump slams Britain and China urges restraint
Trump attacked British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Truth Social after reports that the U.K. has readied two aircraft carriers, possibly for deployment to the Middle East.
"That's OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don't need them any longer — But we will remember. We don't need people that join Wars after we've already won!" the U.S. leader said.
Britain has not joined offensive operations against Iran. After initially refusing permission to the U.S. for use of British bases to attack Iran, Starmer later approved "defensive" U.S. action against Iranian missile sites from bases in Gloucestershire and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
Meanwhile, China's foreign minister Wang Yi said armed conflict in the Middle East will only breed hatred, and called for a ceasefire.
"Might does not make right" he said, adding, "the law of the jungle must not return and rule the world."
China has offered to mediate in the conflict, but is more closely aligned with Iran than with either the U.S. or Israel.
That has raised questions over whether Trump will still meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in a few weeks.
Attacks intensify in Iraq's Kurdistan region
Attacks by Iran and its paramilitary proxies have intensified in Iraq and the country's Kurdistan region. A missile strike on the U.S. base at the regional capital Erbil's international airport killed a Kurdish security member, while rockets hit the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad Saturday.
Iran and the Iraqi militias it backs hit a hotel used by the United Nations in the city of Suleimaniyah, as well as a brigade of Kurdish fighters and an Iranian opposition base near the Kurdistan region's second city.
Komala, an Iranian-armed opposition group, said its base near Sulaymaniyah was hit by a missile Saturday, killing one of its fighters and wounding another.
The Iraqi government pledged to arrest militia members it blamed for the rocket attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Security sources said one of the rockets hit the embassy's helicopter landing pad.
NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv, Hadeel Al-Shalchi in Beirut, Kate Bartlett in Johannesburg, Jane Arraf in Irbil, and Jennifer Pak in Beijing contributed reporting.
Copyright 2026 NPR