JAKARTA – Women members of Iran’s Red Crescent Society stand near smoke plumes rising from an ongoing fire following an overnight airstrike on the Shahran oil refinery in northwestern Tehran on March 8, 2026.
Iran’s military and political leaders have pledged allegiance to Mojtaba Khamenei, who has been named to replace his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after he was killed. Mojtaba Khamenei is now set to become the country’s new supreme leader.
Meanwhile, the United States and Israel continue to bombard Iran, with explosions reported in both Qom and Tehran. The attacks come hours after Israeli strikes on oil facilities triggered toxic smoke across the Iranian capital.
An eighth US soldier has been confirmed killed, a day after US President Donald Trump paid tribute during a ceremony honoring troops who died in the conflict.
Elsewhere in the region, two people were killed in Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia, following Iranian counterattacks. In Lebanon, more than half a million people have been forcibly displaced as Israeli forces and Hezbollah continue exchanging fire.
