The United States and Israel began joint attacks against Iran on Saturday, killing the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran has responded with an unprecedented wave of strikes across the Middle East, targeting Israel and several countries that host US military bases, including Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
Israel and Hezbollah are also trading blows as the conflict widens.
Both US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said their main objectives were to defend their respective countries from imminent threats posed by Iran — most notably, to prevent the Islamic regime from acquiring a nuclear weapon, without providing any evidence that it was any closer to obtaining one.
Trump and Netanyahu have also been clear about their hopes for regime change in Iran. Trump told the Iranian people that “the hour of your freedom is at hand,” while Netanyahu has urged them to “cast off the yoke of tyranny.”
Here are some of the stories that made headlines over the past week, as well as some photos that caught our eye.
