Iran names former supreme leader's son to succeed him as war sends oil
prices soaring
[March 09, 2026]
By JON GAMBRELL, DAVID RISING and SAMY MAGDY
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel said on Monday that an Iranian
missile attack killed a man, raising the country’s death toll in the war
to 11.
This marked the first death from missiles in Israel in a week. The man
was killed in an attack that targeted central Israel.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran named Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of
the country's late supreme leader, the Islamic Republic’s next ruler on
Monday, putting a hard-line cleric in charge as the war spreading across
the Middle East sent oil prices skyrocketing with Iran launching new
attacks on regional energy infrastructure.
With Iran’s theocracy under assault by the United States and Israel for
more than a week, the country’s Assembly of Experts chose the secretive,
56-year-old cleric with close ties to the country’s paramilitary
Revolutionary Guard as the new supreme leader. The Guard has been firing
missiles and drones at Israel and Gulf Arab states since the younger
Khamenei’s father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed Feb. 28 during the
war’s opening salvo.
Iran's stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz has also all but stopped
tankers from using the shipping lane between the Persian Gulf and Gulf
of Oman through which a fifth of the world's oil is carried. Brent crude
oil, the international standard, surged to nearly $120 a barrel on
Monday, about 65% higher than when the war started, before retreating
slightly.
As global economic concerns grew, U.S. President Donald Trump downplayed
the spike in prices.
“Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of
the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay for
U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace," Trump wrote on social media.
Iran has targeted Israel and American bases in the region since the
start of the war, and has also been launching missiles and drones at
energy and water infrastructure.
On Monday, a fire broke out at an oil facility that was attacked in
Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. Bahrain's only oil refinery was
apparently also hit and Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted several
drones attacking its Shaybah oil field.
Israel, meantime, claimed strikes on targets in Iran’s city of Isfahan,
saying it hit command centers for the Revolutionary Guard and its
volunteer Basij force, as well as a rocket engine production facility
and missile launch sites. There was no immediate confirmation from Iran.
In Israel, sirens blared multiple times across the country as Iran's
drones and missiles were unrelenting. A woman was wounded by debris in
central Israel.
New Iranian leader seen as even more hard-line than his father
The younger Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since the war
started, was long considered a potential successor — even before the
Israeli strike killed his father. His wife, Zahra Haddad Adel, was
killed in the same Israeli strike that killed the 86-year-old Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei.
Political figures within Iran have criticized handing over the supreme
leader's title based on heredity, thereby creating a clerical version of
the rule of the shah, who was toppled during the 1979 Islamic
Revolution. But top clerics in the Assembly of Experts likely wanted the
younger Khamenei to prosecute the war.
Khamenei, who is seen as even more hard-line than his late father, will
now be in charge of Iran's armed forces and any decision about Tehran's
nuclear program.
While the country's key nuclear sites are in tatters after the U.S.
bombed them during the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June, there's still
highly enriched uranium in Iran that's a technical step away from
weapons-grade levels. Khamenei could choose to do what his father never
did — build a nuclear bomb.
Israel has already described him as a potential target, while Trump had
called him “unacceptable.”
“We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” Trump had
said.
Both the Revolutionary Guard and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group
Hezbollah issued statements in support of Khamenei.
[to top of second column]
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Residents look on and take pictures as flames and smoke rise from an
oil storage facility struck as attacks hit the city during the
U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 7,
2026. (Alireza Sotakbar/ISNA via AP)
Top Iranian security official Ali Larijani, speaking to Iranian
state television, praised the Assembly of Experts for “courageously”
convening even as airstrikes continued in Tehran. He said the
younger Khamenei had been trained by his father and “can handle this
situation.”
Regional anger grows as energy infrastructure is hit and oil
prices spike
Saudi Arabia lashed out at Iran following a thwarted drone attack on
its massive Shaybah oil field, saying Tehran would be the “biggest
loser” if it continues to attack Arab states.
The Foreign Ministry said Iranian attacks mean “further escalation
which will have grave impact on the relations, currently and in the
future.”
In addition to energy facilities in the UAE, authorities there said
the capital of Abu Dhabi was targeted by Iranian missiles and two
were hurt by shrapnel from interceptions.
Iran attacked Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, where it hit a residential
area wounding 32 people, including several children, according to
authorities. Another attack appeared to have started a fire at
Bahrain's only oil refinery, sending thick plumes of smoke into the
air.
Bahrain has also accused Iran of damaging one of its desalination
plants, though its electricity and water authority said supplies
remained online. Desalination plants supply water to millions of
residents in the region and thousands of stranded travelers, raising
new fears of catastrophic risks in parched desert nations.
On Monday, Bahrain's state oil company declared force majeure for
its oil shipments, the state-run Bahrain News Agency reported, a
legal maneuver releasing a company of its contractual obligations
because of extraordinary circumstances. It insisted that local
demand could still be met.
In Iraq, air defenses downed a drone as it attacked a U.S. military
compound inside the Baghdad International Airport, a security source
told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity
because they were not authorized to speak to the press. No injuries
or damage was reported. It was not immediately clear who was behind
the attack but Pro-Iranian Iraqi militias have previously targeted
the base.
Elsewhere, the U.S. military said a service member died of injuries
from an Iranian attack on troops in Saudi Arabia on March 1. Seven
U.S. soldiers have now been killed.
The U.S. State Department early Monday ordered nonessential
personnel and families of all staff to leave Saudi Arabia following
the escalation in attacks.
Eight other U.S. diplomatic missions have ordered all but key staff
to leave: Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, the United
Arab Emirates and the consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.
Israel launches new strikes on Lebanon
Smoke billowed over Beirut after Israel carried out airstrikes on
its southern suburbs Monday.
Ahead of the strikes, the Israeli army said it would operate against
targets associated with the Hezbollah-linked financial institution
al-Qard Al-Hasan — which Israel said finances the militant group —
and repeated its warning to residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs
to flee.
The war has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, at least 397 in
Lebanon and at least 11 in Israel, according to officials. Israel
reported its first soldier deaths Sunday, saying two were killed in
southern Lebanon, where its military is fighting Hezbollah.
___
Rising reported from Bangkok and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press
journalists Sam Metz in Ramallah, West Bank; Natalie Melzer in
Nahariya, Israel; Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut; Aamer Madhani in
Doral, Florida, and Qassem Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad contributed
reporting.
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