More than 3,400 flights were canceled Sunday across 7 airports in the Middle East, according to flight tracker Flightradar24. Airports in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain were among those closed.
A suspected drug dealer has been arrested after hiding for 13 years.
The suspect was nabbed by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) over cocaine and heroin shipments said to be linked to him.
Disclosing this in a statement on Sunday, NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said he was first arrested in 2013 for cocaine trafficking and arraigned before Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court, Lagos, in charge number FHC/L/187c/2923.
Babafemi noted that the suspect jumped bail after being released and went underground.
According to the anti-narcotics agency, his name resurfaced in February 2024 as one of the masterminds behind the importation of 49.70 kilogrammes of heroin from South Africa.
READ ALSO: Navy Hands Over 500kg Of Suspected Cannabis To NDLEA
“After 13 years in hiding, a notorious drug kingpin, Reginald Peter Chidiebere, has been taken into custody following the seizure of large consignments of cocaine and heroin linked to him by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos,” the statement read.
“The drug lord was first arrested in 2013 over the shipment of cocaine into Nigeria and was subsequently arraigned before Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court Lagos in charge no. FHC/L/187c/2923. He however, jumped bail and went into hiding after the trial judge granted him bail in 2013 and has since remained at large.
“In February 2024, his name featured prominently as one of the masterminds of the shipment of 49.70 kilograms of heroin imported from South Africa following the interception of the consignment by NDLEA operatives at the import shed of the Lagos airport.
“A follow-up operation was carried out on 19th February 2024 at his Golden Platinum Hotel & Suites, located at No. 16/18 Reginald Peter Chidiebere Street, Hope Estate, Ago Palace Way, Okota, Lagos, where an additional 2.20 kilograms of heroin was recovered from one of his guests, Igbuanugo Ebuka ThankGod. As a result, Chidiebere went underground. The agency however, secured the interim forfeiture of his hotel and blocked all bank accounts traced to him since 2024.
“Following these developments, Chidiebere could no longer sustain himself in hiding, prompting his surrender to the agency on 13th February 2026, and he has since been taken into custody to face his pending charges for which he jumped bail in 2013 and fresh charges based on the 2024 heroin consignments linked to him.”
In a related development, NDLEA operatives in Imo State dismantled a clandestine laboratory at Isiozi Obiato, Umuaka, in Njaba Local Government Area, where 18.4kg of methamphetamine, precursor chemicals and production equipment were recovered.
“Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives in Imo state on Wednesday, 25th February 2026 dismantled a clandestine laboratory tucked in Isiozi Obiato, Umuaka, Njaba local government area of the state where 18.4 kilograms of methamphetamine were recovered along with a large quantity of precursor chemicals and equipment used in the production of the illicit substance,” Babafemi stated.
Iranian top officials vowed Sunday to avenge their slain supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and declared a new wave of strikes on US bases in the Gulf, defying US President Donald Trump’s threat of an unprecedented escalation in force.
As crowds gathered in Tehran, explosions rang out, and the Israeli military announced that it was again striking targets in the heart of the city — as more blasts were heard in Jerusalem, Riyadh, Dubai, Doha and Manama.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian declared Khamenei’s killing a “declaration of war against Muslims” and warned: “Iran considers it its legitimate duty and right to avenge the perpetrators and masterminds of this historic crime.”
Ali Larijani, the powerful head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, declared: “The brave soldiers and the great nation of Iran will teach an unforgettable lesson to the international oppressors.”
In a social media post that adopted Trump’s style and rhetoric, he warned: “YESTERDAY IRAN FIRED MISSILES AT THE UNITED STATES AND ISRAEL, AND THEY DID HURT. TODAY WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT THEY HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED BEFORE.”
Meanwhile, blasts were heard in northern Tehran, and smoke was seen emanating from a building, an AFP journalist reported. It was not immediately clear what the target was.
Earlier, cheers had been heard as some Iranians celebrated early reports of the death of their longtime leader, but — after state media confirmed his killing — pro-government demonstrations also formed, chanting “Death to America!”.
As crowds demanded revenge — and Iran’s army announced strikes targeting US bases in the Gulf and Iraqi Kurdistan — Trump threatened to unleash “force that has never been seen before” and urged Iran’s people to rise up and seize power.
Iran’s first retaliatory strikes on Saturday had hit all the Gulf states apart from Oman, which had sought to mediate US-Iran talks. But on Sunday the country’s commercial port of Duqm was hit by two drones, injuring a foreign worker, the Oman News Agency said, with a tanker off the sultanate’s coast also hit.
Outrage at Saturday’s wave of US and Israeli strikes against Iran, which killed 86-year-old Khamanei and some other senior figures, spilled over into neighbouring Iraq and Pakistan, where crowds attempted to storm US diplomatic missions.
In the Pakistani megacity of Karachi, at least eight people were killed during pro-Iran protests at the US consulate, according to Muhammad Amin, a spokesman for the Edhi Foundation rescue service, who added that most had bullet wounds.
In Iran, the Red Crescent said strikes had left 201 people dead and injured hundreds more.
Iran’s judiciary confirmed that Ali Shamkhani, a top adviser to Khamenei and the head of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Pakpour, were both killed.
Iran responded to the strikes with a flurry of missile and drone strikes across the Middle East, killing at least two people in Abu Dhabi and another in Tel Aviv, before following up with a new wave after state media confirmed Khamenei’s death.
Iran had already seen intense speculation on a successor to Khamenei, given his age. Upon his death, many observers expected greater power for the Revolutionary Guards, which are deeply entrenched in the Iranian economy.
Pezeshkian and two other top officials would lead Iran in the transitional period following Khamenei’s death, state television said Sunday.
Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late pro-Western shah deposed in the 1979 Islamic revolution, said any successor within the system would be illegitimate.
Hailing the demise of Khamenei, Pahlavi said: “With his death, the Islamic Republic has effectively come to an end and will soon be consigned to the dustbin of history.”
Pahlavi, who has spent most of his life in exile near Washington, has presented himself as a transitional figure to a secular democracy, but he does not enjoy support from across the opposition.
Iranian state media confirmed that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader since 1989, was killed in a joint US-Israeli air strike. Here’s what we know about him and the key moments that defined his rule.
BREAKINGBREAKING,
At least nine people have been killed after an Iranian missile strike on the central Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, as Tehran continued to launch retaliatory attacks a day after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in US-Israeli strikes.
The Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service said on Sunday that nine people were killed and 20 other people were injured by the impact, including two in serious condition.
The Israeli military said in a statement that search and rescue teams, and a helicopter to evacuate those injured are currently operating in Beit Shemesh, with the army’s spokesperson adding that the circumstances of the impact from the Iranian ballistic missile are under review.
On Saturday, as the United States and Israel attacked Iran, US President Donald Trump sent a message to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) conscripts, demanding they surrender or die.
“To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces and all of the police, I say tonight that you must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity,” Trump said. “Or in the alternative, face certain death. So, lay down your arms. You will be treated fairly with total immunity, or you will face certain death.”
Instead, they retaliated with drone and missile attacks on Israel and multiple Arab states that host US assets in the region. Early on Sunday morning, Iranian state television announced that one of the strikes on Tehran killed its longtime supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
If Trump’s appeal to the IRGC was aimed at inspiring defections or abdications, it does not seem to have had the intended effect. So why did Trump’s call for the IRGC to lay down their arms fall on deaf ears?
Here’s everything you need to know:
It is an elite armed force and a constitutionally recognised component of the Iranian military, established in 1979 after the Islamic revolution. It operates alongside the country’s regular army but answers directly to the supreme leader.
In fact, its doctrine is built on velayat-e faqih, or guardianship of the Islamic jurist, essentially the protection of the Islamic revolution and its fealty to the supreme religious leader, initially Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who died in 1989 and was succeeded by Khamenei.
It is composed of ground, naval and air forces troops and includes an internal security paramilitary militia known as Basij. It also has an external operations force called the Quds Force, which is focused on special operations outside Iranian territory.
It plays a key role in Iran’s defence, foreign operations and regional influence with its 190,000 or so active personnel and a total of 600,000 if reserves are included. The IRGC manages Iran’s ballistic missile programme, is responsible for security for the country’s nuclear programme and coordinates with its regional allies in what is described as the “axis of resistance”.
The IRGC has been heavily sanctioned by various states. The US designated it an FTO (foreign terrorist organisation) in 2019. The European Union did the same in February 2026, prompting Tehran to respond by naming all EU member states, naval and air forces, as terrorist organisations the same month.
The IRGC, however, is also deeply entrenched in Iran’s political and economic structures. Its economic role expanded during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, as it handled engineering and logistics to sustain Iran’s war effort. Firms affiliated with the IRGC reportedly have contracts in key sectors such as Iran’s natural resources, transport, infrastructure, telecommunications, and mining. Iranian officials call this the “resistance economy” and say this is part of how the country has circumvented sanctions.
Also founded by Khomeini in 1979, the Basij is a volunteer paramilitary force that falls under the IRGC and enlists civilians motivated by their devotion to the country, though some analysts say young men also sign up for privileges and economic betterment.
The group is considered to be deeply ideological, often made up of young, working-class men. There are an estimated 450,000 personnel in the group, according to the Institute for the Study of War, though that also includes members who manage the group’s communications and sociocultural programmes.
Basij personnel are often deployed on the front lines of protests and have played a large role in countering uprisings against the government in recent years, including the 2009 Green Revolution and the 2022-23 Woman, Life, Freedom protests.
During the Iran-Iraq war, Basij members volunteered and were deployed to the front lines. They were encouraged to undertake “martyrdom missions”, wherein they would clear minefields in “human waves” to clear the battlefield for more experienced soldiers to advance.
In short, it seems the answer is no.
Michael Mulroy, former deputy assistant secretary of defence (DASD) for the Middle East, told Al Jazeera: “In Iran, you have the supreme leader, of course, but there are multiple different power centres in the clerical, in the military, in the IRGC, in the intelligence service. They are unlikely to comply with what President Trump has done, and Israel.”
“Everything that they are saying right now, including recent statements from [Ali] Larijani, is that they intend to escalate this and essentially turn the region into an all-out war, causing as much pain not only to the United States but also against the Gulf countries in the region,” Mulroy said, referring to the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran.
Ideology and loyalty to the Islamic revolution and the supreme leader are key ideological tenets of the IRGC. But even beyond that, the economic and social power that many members receive makes it unlikely that a mass abdication will occur.
In fact, some analysts believe the latest attacks on Iran and the assassination of Khamenei might even expand the IRGC’s control over the Iranian state.
Director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative, Jonathan Panikoff, said an end of the current regime in Iran is less likely to lead to a democracy than a “military-controlled state that might offer a new supreme leader as a symbolic token to millions of conservative Iranians, but with power firmly vested in the hands” of the IRGC.
That seems unlikely.
The IRGC is still very likely in control, despite a turbulent year for Iran.
After Israel’s war on Iran in 2025, the government grappled with relaxing social freedoms and appointing advisers to reach the country’s youth in an effort to improve national morale and ease public discontent.
Still, in January, Iran erupted in antigovernment protests, with analysts saying economic hardships from years of sanctions and government mismanagement were a key cause.