Day 6 of Operation Epic Fury has revealed a regime in freefall. Iran postponed Supreme Leader Khamenei’s funeral over assassination fears, hackers hijacked state television to broadcast a message from the exiled Crown Prince, and the Pentagon announced it will begin striking deeper into Iran’s underground military infrastructure. With the U.S. Senate voting to let the war continue, there is no off-ramp in sight.
Tehran Under Siege: Day 6 Brings the Most Intense Bombing Yet
Residents of Tehran woke Thursday to what they described as the most devastating bombardment since Operation Epic Fury began on February 28. “Today is worse than yesterday. They are striking northern Tehran. We have nowhere to go. It is like a war zone. Help us,” one 36-year-old Tehran resident told Reuters by phone, his voice trembling as explosions echoed in the background.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed the escalation in stark terms: the United States will begin “striking progressively deeper” into Iran. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, briefing reporters at the Pentagon, declared that Iran “cannot outlast” the United States and that its military has been effectively decimated.
Two sources familiar with Israel’s battle plans told Reuters that the campaign is entering a second phase — one focused on targeting underground bunkers where Iran stores its ballistic missiles. Having spent nearly a week dismantling Iran’s above-ground military infrastructure and killing senior leadership, Israel now aims to eliminate the regime’s last hidden offensive capabilities.
According to Al Jazeera, at least 1,230 people have been killed in Iran since the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes began on Saturday. The Pentagon confirmed that six U.S. service members have been killed in action and several more wounded.
Khamenei’s Funeral Postponed as Succession Crisis Deepens
In one of the most telling signs of a regime under existential pressure, Iran abruptly postponed the planned three-day mourning ceremony for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — killed in the opening hours of the U.S.-Israeli air campaign in what marked the first assassination of a country’s top ruler by airstrike.
Khamenei’s body had been scheduled to lie in state at a Tehran prayer hall beginning Wednesday evening, a ceremony expected to draw thousands of passionate mourners to the streets. But the memorial was called off indefinitely, with officials from the Islamic Propaganda Coordination Council of Tehran province telling the Tasnim news agency only that it had been postponed to “a more appropriate time.”
A source told Reuters the delay was motivated in part by fear of assassination — not just of mourners, but of senior officials who would attend, while Israeli and American warplanes remain in Iranian skies around the clock.
The timing was critical. Iranian officials had reportedly been on the verge of naming Khamenei’s successor, with his son Mojtaba Khamenei — a powerful hardliner backed by the IRGC — emerging as the leading candidate. Announcing the successor during the mourning period would have allowed the new leader to consolidate power while grief-stricken supporters filled the streets, making any challenge virtually impossible.
Israel has made its position brutally clear: Defense officials stated that any replacement for Khamenei who continues hostile policies would be considered an immediate target for assassination. According to Iranian sources, Mojtaba Khamenei has already survived at least one airstrike.
An Interim Leadership Council has been formed, consisting of Assembly of Experts member Alireza Arafi, President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei. The IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency says they are at the “final stages” of choosing a permanent Supreme Leader — but with Israeli jets overhead, any public coronation is a death sentence.
State Television Hacked: Crown Prince Pahlavi Calls on Military to Join the People
In a dramatic act of information warfare, hackers breached Channel Two of Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB on Thursday, replacing regime programming with a video of Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah who has emerged as the most prominent opposition figure.
“A heavy burden of destiny rests upon the shoulders of us all. And we, together, will walk this path until final victory. Long live Iran,” Pahlavi declared in the broadcast, directly calling on Iranian military personnel to side with civilian protesters against the Islamic Republic.
The hack came as Washington ratcheted up its calls for Iranians to rise up and seize power. While the U.S. officially states its goal is to prevent Tehran from projecting force beyond its borders, officials have also explicitly encouraged regime change from within.
Many Iranians have openly celebrated Khamenei’s death — the same leader whose security forces killed thousands of anti-government protesters during the December 2025-January 2026 uprising. A 25-year-old woman in Tehran told Reuters that while opponents of the government couldn’t yet take to the streets during active bombing, they had expressed their feelings by posting celebratory videos online.
“If Mojtaba takes over, he will be killed as well, so we are not concerned about it,” she said.
Senate Greenlights Continued War: 53-47 Along Party Lines
Any hope of a political brake on the conflict evaporated Wednesday evening when the U.S. Senate voted 53-47 to block a bipartisan war powers resolution that would have forced President Trump to halt military operations without congressional authorization.
The vote fell almost perfectly along party lines — all but one Republican voted against the resolution, all but one Democrat supported it. It was the eighth failed war powers vote since Congress began attempting to rein in the administration’s Middle East military operations last June. All eight have failed.
Hours before the vote, Hegseth and General Dan Caine told lawmakers that a more intense phase of the campaign had begun as additional bombers arrived in theater. The message was clear: the war is accelerating, not winding down.
The House is expected to vote on its own war powers resolution later this week, introduced by Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie. Even if it passes both chambers, the non-binding measure would not be subject to presidential signature or veto.
Iran Vows Revenge After U.S. Submarine Sinks Warship Off Sri Lanka
The conflict’s geographic scope continued to widen dramatically. A U.S. submarine torpedoed an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka on Wednesday — thousands of miles from the primary battle zone — killing more than 80 Iranian sailors.
Iran’s foreign minister warned that Washington would “bitterly regret” the precedent of sinking a ship in international waters without warning. Revolutionary Guards commander General Kioumars Heydari went further on state television: “We have decided to fight Americans wherever they are.”
The IRGC claimed it hit a U.S. tanker in the northern Persian Gulf, with the vessel reportedly catching fire — the latest in a series of attacks on commercial and military shipping. The Guards declared that passage through the Strait of Hormuz — through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flows — is now under Iranian control.
Europe Enters the Arena
NATO allies are quietly joining the fight — at least on the defensive side. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Thursday that four additional Typhoon fighter jets are being sent to Qatar to “strengthen defensive operations,” joining F-35B jets already deployed to Cyprus. The UK has been intercepting Iranian missiles and drones from these positions but has not participated in offensive strikes.
France went a step further: BFMTV reported Thursday that Paris has authorized American forces to use French military bases in the region. While France officially hasn’t joined the offensive, providing basing rights represents a significant escalation of Western involvement.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan placed its military at the “highest level of readiness” after four Iranian drones crossed its border, wounding four people. Iran denied responsibility — but with drones and missiles already hitting more than ten countries, the conflict has spilled well beyond the Middle East.
What Happens Next
Six days into Operation Epic Fury, the picture is becoming clearer — and more dangerous. Iran’s conventional military has been shattered, its supreme leader killed, its succession paralyzed, and its state media compromised. But the regime still controls ballistic missiles, still threatens the Strait of Hormuz, and still commands proxy forces across the region.
The next phase — Israel’s assault on underground bunkers, the succession question, and Iran’s increasingly desperate retaliatory strikes — will determine whether this war ends in weeks, as Trump has predicted, or spirals into something far more protracted and devastating.
One thing is certain: with six American service members dead, over a thousand Iranians killed, and the world’s energy supply disrupted, the costs are already staggering — and rising by the hour.