Reuters World News - Iran’s leadership, retaliation, travel and oil disruption and Trump’s plan

Episode Date: March 1, 2026

Israel has launched a new wave of strikes on Tehran after killing Iran's supreme leader and leaving the Islamic Republic grappling to rebuild its leadership. The U.S. and Israeli strikes, and Iranian retaliation, have sent shockwaves through sectors from shipping to air travel to oil. Inside Iran, some grieved for Khamenei while others have celebrated his death. Protests against the military action have also erupted across Pakistan and Iraq. Follow the ⁠latest developments in Iran live⁠ by subscribing to Reuters. Listen to the latest On Assignment podcast: ⁠⁠Mexico vs. the cartels⁠ Listen to the Morning Bid podcast ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm your weekend host Sharon Reich Garson. It's Sunday, March 1st, today. Morning in Iran as it confirms that its supreme leader is dead. U.S. President Trump calls this the greatest chance for Iranians to take back their country. Concern from world leaders as protests erupt across Pakistan and Iraq. And retaliatory strikes by Iran cause disruption across the Middle East as oil markets prepare for major interference. This is Reuters World News,

bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. A tearful presenter on Iranian state media announcing the death of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He was killed in airstrikes by Israel and the U.S. that pulverized his central Tehran compound on Saturday. There have been further strikes across the country on Sunday as the concern of a wider conflict grows.

The U.S. has confirmed its first casualties, at least three service members were killed, and at least five have been seriously wounded. Edmund Blair's our Middle East editor and says more details have now emerged about the timing of the attack. What we understand from sources is that there was a meeting which involved

the supreme leader and a couple of senior advisors. And it seems that that meeting, or at least moments after that meeting, or a moment when they had located Khomeini and made a strike on Khamenei was the start gun for the wave of strikes that followed. In a sense, it would look like Ahmadinei was the primary target. Striking him was a primary goal. We did effectively get that message from both Prime Minister Netanyahu and from President Trump. But what happens next with Iran's leadership? Edmund says it's an unprecedented situation and hard to know. On one level, it's fairly straightforward. Iran has a constitution under the system of clerical rule. And the idea is, and this has already taken place, they've appointed a three-person

That three-person, effectively a three-man council, involves the president, a member of something called the Guardian Council, and it involves the head of the judiciary. And then they hold power for about three months, and then another body called the Assembly of Experts, which is a grouping of senior clerics, come together and decide who will be the next Supreme Leader. That's in a world where you're not under attack. It's in a world where you've got a institution which is firmly in person. place and has not lost enormous numbers of its leaders, senior clerics, senior politicians,

senior military commanders. And so exactly how this pans out in practice may be quite different. Several figures are still around. So we have the head of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larajani. He's acting as something of a power broker. There are other people around who we have seen involved in the negotiations, such as the foreman. Foreign Minister Arachi. But the question is who is the major decision-maker now? That's what is less clear. 40 days of national mourning have been declared in Iran.

There have been emotional scenes on the streets of Tehran, but there have also been celebrations, with videos showing joy and defiance elsewhere, including the toppling of a statue of the Ayatollah. The U.S. and Israeli military action have seen protests erupt across the wider region, too. At least nine people are dead in Pakistan after crowds breached the outer wall of the U.S. consulate in Karachi. And in the north of the country, protesters torched a United Nations office.

While in Baghdad, security forces fired tear gas and stung grenades to push back demonstrators near the green zone. Experts have warned how this latest action in Iran could ignite a wider regional war. Israel says it launched a broad wave of strikes in central. central Tehran on Sunday and wants to dominate the skies over the capital. In retaliation, Iran says it's targeting U.S. bases in countries in the region, telling its neighbors that their fight isn't with them, but with the Americans. You must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity or in the alternative face certain death. Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump has warned that Iranian retaliation would cause the U.S. to hit Iran with a quote,

force that's never been seen before. I spoke to senior foreign policy correspondent Matt Spitalnik earlier, and he says Trump is now operating on a high-risk, high-reward equation, betting that the payoff will define his legacy. What we've seen is this sort of growing appetite for military action, for use of raw American force. We've seen vacillating reasons for doing it, although now he's speaking of regime change as being a big factor.

His idea is to incite mass protests again in Iran that could then topple the rulers. And let's say this is not a very effective method that he's kind of ginning up. And they see, in fact, that air power alone, which is what the U.S. is using, minus any kind of commitment of troops, is not enough and has not historically been enough to unseat rulers in countries of this sort. The action in Iran follows the recent talks on the country's nuclear program. Our national security correspondent Phil Stewart says that might not have been the focus of this weekend's initial attacks, but Iran's military capability is.

Right now, the U.S. military is very focused on achieving stated objectives, which include destroying Iran's ability to attack it. they're going after their ability to launch the missiles they have as well as going after the stock piles and the industry to create them. The president said that the United States was going to destroy Iran's navy. That, from a tactical perspective, makes a lot of sense, but it's also not an easy thing to do, and it raises the risk that Iran may attempt to mine the strait, which would be obviously very disruptive to oil markets. So what we're all going to be trying to do is really get a sense of the order a battle when it comes to this campaign.

Many U.S. allies have reacted with concern to this weekend's action, with the EU describing the situation as, quote, perilous. A letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin to Iranian President Massoud Peschkian has been shared on Russian state TV. In it, Putin calls Hamanai's death a cynical murder that violates international law. China's called for a ceasefire and says the attacks are brazen aggression against a sovereign nation. The conflict has caused widespread cancellations of flights. Major Middle Eastern airports, many of them key travel hubs, have been shut, causing some of the biggest disruptions to global aviation in years.

Disruption also to the flow of global oil supplies. While Iran only exports about 2% of global supplies, almost 20% of global supplies, almost 20% of, percent of overall trade passes through the Strait of Hormuz. That's the waterway separating Iran and other major oil producers in the Arabian Peninsula. At least 150 tankers have dropped anchor in open Gulf waters beyond the strait. And dozens more were stationary on the other side of the choke point. Disruption to shipping could mean higher oil prices, according to our energy and commodities editor, Dmitzschez Dhanikov. Of course, the market has has been preparing for this for quite some time.

And the first thing big oil companies and big oil traders did, they put on hold all shipments through the strait of Hormuz. Sources are telling us most shippers are sitting put. They don't want to expose their ship to a possible retaliation from Iran. So a lot of things are on hold. Dmitri says we'll have to wait until Monday to know just how high prices will rise. but there are already hints of a steep climb ahead. On Friday, the market was already gearing up for some potential serious action over the weekend

and prices rose a few percent and were trading above $70 per barrel. But the scale of the U.S. attack on Iran and the scale of possible disruptions means that if there's no de-escalation in the next 24 hours, most analysts expect prices to jump quite significantly further. On Monday, we've had some analysts telling us it could be a 10 or even a 20 dollar per barrel jump, depending on what happens in the next 24 hours, how serious are the disruptions to the global oil flows, and the scale of Iranian retaliation against facilities,

particularly energy facilities of its neighbors in the region. To keep up to date with all the latest developments in Iran, head to Reuters.com. A link to our live pages in the pod description, as well as a map showing where the United States and Israel have launched strikes. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. And if you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back with any significant updates, but our next scheduled podcast will be

the Monday episode of Reuters World News.