Iran names new leader amid escalating conflict

Iran named Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of its slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as its new supreme leader on Monday, nine days after the United States and Israel launched a joint military attack on the country, killing hundreds of people including children.

Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, is a veteran cleric with close ties to Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and is the country's third supreme leader since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Meanwhile, in China's latest efforts to promote peace in the Middle East, Foreign Minister Wang Yi held separate phone calls on Monday with Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani.

Wang said that China's special envoy on the Middle East issue has traveled to the region to conduct mediation efforts, and the nation will continue to play a constructive role in promoting peace and stability in the region.

During talks with his Kuwaiti counterpart, Wang said the current conflict is a war that should never have happened and serves the interests of no party. He emphasized that any attacks on innocent civilians and nonmilitary targets should be condemned.

During his phone call with the Bahraini foreign minister, Wang said the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of all countries should be respected. He also called for an immediate halt to military operations and urged all parties to return to dialogue and negotiations as soon as possible.

While leading Iranian diplomats in pledging "full allegiance" to Mojtaba Khamenei, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said the appointment of a supreme leader will "safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity".

United States President Donald Trump, who had previously dismissed Mojtaba Khamenei as a "lightweight", said on Sunday that Washington should have a say in Iran's selection of a new supreme leader. Last week, Israel said a new supreme leader would also become a "target", with its military pledging to remove any successor to the position.

On Monday, the conflict sent oil prices soaring more than 25 percent, the highest level since 2022, with major producers in the Middle East, such as Iraq, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, reducing output amid roiled global markets and fears of prolonged shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.

The Israeli military announced that it had struck targets in central Iran, including internal security command centers and missile launch sites, in the first raid after the Islamic republic appointed its new supreme leader. Saudi Arabia's Defense Ministry said that security forces had destroyed two drones that were targeting the country's massive Shaybah oilfield.

In the UAE, a fire broke out at an oil facility in Fujairah, one of its seven constituent emirates, but was swiftly brought under control, authorities said on Monday.

With no letup in the conflict, water, rather than oil, may become the most vulnerable resource in one of the world's driest regions. Hundreds of desalination plants that supply water to millions of people in the Middle East sit along the Persian Gulf coast, which puts these systems within the range of missile and drone strikes. In Kuwait, about 90 percent of drinking water comes from desalination, compared with roughly 86 percent in Oman and 70 percent in Saudi Arabia.

On Sunday, Bahrain accused Iran of damaging one of its desalination plants, although its Electricity and Water Authority said the water supply had not been disrupted. The island nation, which hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, has been among the countries targeted by Iranian drones and missiles.

Earlier, Iran said a US airstrike that damaged a desalination plant on its Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz had cut off the water supply to 30 villages.

As uncertainty lingers over the duration of the conflict, Trump told The Times of Israel that any decision to end hostilities would be made jointly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In a sign that the US does not anticipate an end to the crisis anytime soon, the State Department ordered nonessential personnel to leave Saudi Arabia, within days of a drone strike at the US embassy in Riyadh.

Agencies contributed to this story.