Iran launched a new wave of attacks on Israel and American bases Thursday while also striking near the Azerbaijan border, marking a significant expansion of the conflict beyond the Middle East.

An Iranian drone struck an airport terminal and another came down near a school in a region along the Azerbaijan-Iran border, injuring four civilians. Azerbaijan's president convened his Security Council in response and is demanding an apology from Iran and criminal accountability for those responsible. The country's military has been put on full combat readiness.

Iran denied firing drones at Azerbaijan, but Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said its own technical systems tracked four of the drones from Iranian territory.

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Iran has long accused Azerbaijan of serving as an Israeli spy base on its northern border and warned Baku it would be punished if it did not stop. Azerbaijan supplies Israel with more than 40% of its crude oil.

The strikes on Azerbaijan came on the same day Iran launched a new wave of attacks on Israel and American bases. Those strikes followed the U.S. Navy sinking an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean, killing at least 87 sailors.

A top Iranian cleric called for violence against Israelis and President Donald Trump on state television Thursday. The message represents a rare call for violence by an Ayatollah, one of the highest ranks in Shiite Islam.

Israel also carried out new airstrikes in Beirut, targeting Hezbollah command centers. The Israel Defense Forces posted video on social media claiming to show those attacks. The IDF said the strikes hit several command centers, including one used by the group's aerial unit. Israel described the attacks as intelligence-based strikes against what it calls the Hezbollah terrorist organization.

The Israeli Air Force has destroyed or disabled around 300 Iranian mobile missile launchers since the war began. Thermal satellites and drones are monitoring the battlefield around the clock to locate and eliminate launchers as they are deployed.

There has been a reduction in the volleys of missiles being fired at Israel, though attacks are ongoing, with approximately four ballistic missiles coming in over a 15-to-16-hour period.

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Analysts believe Iran may be holding back some of its most sophisticated missiles those most capable of penetrating air defenses as a show of strength to its own population. Iran has also released video of what it calls its underground missile cities, where it stores its missiles. U.S. and Israeli intelligence say they know the location of many of these sites, but not all of them.

The regime is believed to view offensive capability as essential to its legitimacy, needing to demonstrate to its own people that it retains the power to strike its enemies.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Irans Supreme Leader and the driving force behind decades of hostility toward Israel, was killed in a targeted Israeli strike enabled by U.S. intelligence.

The CIA had been tracking Khamenei's movements for months mapping his patterns and identifying locations where he could be reached. On Saturday morning, U.S. intelligence learned he would be attending a high-level meeting with Irans top military and defense officials in central Tehran. That tip opened a narrow window for Israel to act.

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By Sunday, Israel released footage of the strike, showing precision munitions striking the compound. Iranian state television in a stunning move confirmed Khamenei's death.

For Israel, the strike marks the elimination of a figure they considered their greatest foe. Khamenei, who ruled for more than 35 years, oversaw the financing of Hamas, the arming of Hezbollah, and the creation of an anti-Israel military and intelligence network stretching across the Middle East.

Shifting Landscape in Tehran

The death of Khamenei leaves a sudden and uncertain power vacuum. No obvious successor has been named, and analysts say infighting within Irans political and military elite is likely. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) retains both its arsenal and its will to continue Irans policies, but its next leader could redefine or double down on the countrys direction.

Khamenei's removal comes just weeks after massive street protests in Iran, where hundreds of thousands chanted Death to Khamenei in rare public defiance. Those rallies did not bring him down but a joint American-Israeli covert operation did.

A Legacy Built on Destruction

Some leaders are remembered for what they create. Khamenei's legacy may be remembered for what he opposed and what he was willing to destroy. For decades, he shaped Irans foreign and domestic policy to undermine Israel and challenge U.S. influence in the region.

What the Islamic Republic will look like without the man who was the Islamic Republic remains an open and consequential question.

The U.S. military has activated what officials describe as Americas first dedicated one-way attack drone squadron in the Middle East, marking a shift toward lower-cost unmanned weapons systems.

The unit, known as Task Force Scorpion, will operate the LUKAS short for Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System a one-way attack drone developed under the direction of U.S. Special Operations Command.

The drones design was informed by analysis of Irans Shahed drones. U.S. personnel studied a captured system to better understand its construction and capabilities before developing their own version.

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The LUKAS drone is designed to operate in GPS-denied environments and can be deployed in swarms. It is manufactured in Arizona at an estimated cost of about $35,000 per unit, which is significantly less expensive than many traditional precision-guided munitions.

The system was successfully test-launched in December 2025 from the deck of the USS Santa Barbara in the American Sea. The vessel, homeported in San Diego, is currently deployed to the Middle East as part of a U.S. show of force in the region as tensions with Iran remain high.

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The deployment reflects lessons drawn from recent conflicts, particularly in Ukraine, where low-cost drone systems have reshaped battlefield tactics and challenged more expensive weapons platforms.

Traditional cruise missiles such as the Tomahawk can cost millions of dollars per unit. By contrast, lower-cost one-way attack drones offer militaries the ability to conduct precision strikes at a fraction of that cost.

The U.S. military is amassing its largest concentration of forces in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq as tensions with Iran remain heightened.

Plane spotters and aviation enthusiasts first noticed American F-22 fighter jets lifting off one after another from a U.K. air base. The activity was an unmistakable signal from what is widely considered the most advanced fighter jet in the world.

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The fleet soon touched down in the Israeli desert at a remote air base within operational range of Iran and its proxy forces. The deployment comes as U.S. and Iranian officials met Thursday in what was described as a last-chance effort at diplomacy over Tehrans nuclear program.

The F-22 Raptors are built to slip past radar, dominate enemy aircraft and clear skies before other forces move in. Their mission is clear: gain control of contested airspace before an adversary can respond.

From southern Israel, the jets are positioned within reach of Iranian air defense networks and possible infrastructure targets. They are also strategically located to respond to aerial threats facing Israel on multiple fronts, including from nearby Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have previously attacked Israel.

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The buildup extends beyond air power. The USS Ford the worlds largest aircraft carrier, with more than 5,000 sailors and aviators departed from a naval base Thursday morning, believed to be heading toward the coast of Israel. The carrier brings a strike force of destroyers and submarines, signaling the U.S. and Israel may be bracing for potential direct attacks from Iran and its regional proxy networks.

One technician climbing a tower. One FPV drone closing in. It sounds like a single tragic frame from an endless war. But it captures something larger: Russia's scramble to replace what Elon Musk took away.

Earlier this month, Ukraine appealed directly to Musk, asking him to disable Russian military access to SpaceX's Starlink internet system. The Russians had been running thousands of unauthorized terminals along the front smuggled through Dubai and ex-Soviet republics, activated in countries where Starlink is legal, then shipped into the war zone.

With the flip of a switch, Musk complied.

The effect was immediate. Russian military bloggers began sounding the alarm, the message consistent across channels: there are no alternatives.

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Russian forces, suddenly cut off, began improvising setting up repeaters and relay stations to sustain drone video feeds and battlefield communications. And sending technicians up towers to do it.

Those technicians keep appearing in Ukrainian drone compilation videos as easy targets.

What makes this more than a communications setback is something few outside the conflict fully grasp. Unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) are now coming to scale on both sides of this war. They haul ammunition and supplies into what soldiers call the kill zone, guided remotely by operators miles away. Starlink terminals mounted on board make that possible. Without Starlink, the robots stop. And soldiers go in instead.

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The result, according to sources familiar with Russian battlefield operations, is that Russia is now losing even more soldiers than before men replacing machines that no longer work.

Which feeds directly into Ukraine's current strategy: killing Russians faster than Putin can replace them.

The bandwidth war has a body count. And right now, Russia is losing it.

One word is increasingly being used in Ukraine to describe what some men say is happening during military mobilization: busification. The term refers to enlistment officers detaining men in public before requiring them to undergo a month of training prior to serving in the war against Russia.

In Odesa, civilians recently clashed with military personnel during a mobilization incident. Tear gas was deployed and injuries were reported.

Ukrainian authorities have vowed harsh punishment for those who fail to fulfill their legal obligations to serve in the Armed Forces.

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Ukraines defense minister recently disclosed that roughly 200,000 soldiers have gone absent without leave, while an estimated 2 million men are believed to be evading service.

Scripps News senior international correspondent Jason Bellini recently met with a Ukrainian man who said he has spent the last two years in hiding.

Scripps News is not revealing the mans name for his safety and is identifying him only as Igor. He said he was detained once but managed to escape. He said he fears for his life if he is forced into military service.

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Igor said he believes Ukraine should seek a deal with Russia to end the war, even if it means giving up the Donbas region a position Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has resisted.

While Igors view appears to be in the minority, there are signs of a small but growing underground sentiment that Ukraine should accept a negotiated settlement to end the war, even if the terms are seen as unjust.

Thursday marks the end of more than half a century of nuclear restraint.

The New START Treaty, which was signed by Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev in 2010, is expiring. Under its terms, both the U.S. and Russia were limited to 1,550 deployed warheads and 800 delivery systems.

Now, for the first time since 1972, there are no limits on the two countries that possess nearly 90% of the world's nuclear weapons.

Analysts foresee Russia and the U.S. deploying hundreds of additional warheads within months, with no caps, inspections or verification.

As nuclear taboos erode, Russia is hitting Ukraine with nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, and Putin threatening use of the nukes themselves. The weapons once considered too terrible to mention are now a tool of coercion.

Scripps News got a rare sight last year when we descended into the deep bunker of a Soviet-era Ukrainian missile facility, decommissioned in the early 1990s when the country agreed to give up its 1,900 nuclear warheads in exchange for security guarantees.

The hollowness of those security promises that left silos like this one empty echoes into the current peace negotiations and proposals from Russia and the U.S.: Surrender land beyond what Russian President Vladimir Putin has already grabbed, and get peace and protection.

And Ukraine's past lesson in giving up its nukes could become the world's lesson, amid collapsing confidence in the international order.

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