Bombing of Tehran intensifies as war enters day six

The US-Israeli campaign against Iran entered its sixth day on Thursday with what residents described as even more intensive bombing.

"Today is worse than yesterday. They are striking northern Tehran. We have nowhere to go. It is like a war zone. Help us," said Mohammadreza, 36, by phone from Tehran, as explosions rang out from what Israel described as its latest wave of strikes on Iranian government targets.

On Thursday, Iranian officials indefinitely postponed the planned three days of mourning for slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the first hours of the US-Israeli air campaign, shortly before it was due to begin.

The body of Khamenei had been due to lie in state in a Tehran prayer hall from Wednesday evening ahead of the three days of mourning.

Iranian officials gave no reason for the postponement of the memorial.

According to reports, Iran is close to naming Khamenei's successor, and that the leading candidate was his son Mojtaba.

The war has had global economic impact, above all from the interruption to tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows along Iran's coast.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had hit a US tanker in the northern part of the Gulf and the vessel was on fire. Passage through the Strait of Hormuz would be under the control of Iran in time of war, the Guards said.

In Washington late on Wednesday, Republican senators blocked a motion aimed at stopping the US air campaign against Iran and requiring that military action be authorised by Congress. That rejection leaves US President Donald Trump's power to direct the war largely unbound, as the conflict continues to widen across the Middle East and beyond.

Israel said US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had told his Israeli counterpart, Israel Katz, by telephone: "Keep going until the end - we’re with you.

Iran vowed to take revenge for a US torpedo attack on an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, which killed more than 80 sailors thousands of miles from the battle zone. Iran's foreign minister said the ship had been struck without warning in international waters, and Washington would "bitterly regret" the precedent it had set.

State television was hacked on Thursday, airing a video of Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran's last shah who has emerged as a significant opposition figure.