An operation decades in the making took just 60 seconds to carry out, but some question its wisdom

The assassination of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was the culmination of decades of painstaking intelligence gathering by Israeli secret services, with crucial technological resources and manpower provided over the last six months by the CIA and other US intelligence services, that culminated in a single concentrated burst of lethal violence to decapitate the Iranian regime, according to experts, veteran spies and officials in Israel and the US.

Khamenei was killed along with seven “members of the top Iranian security leadership who had gathered at several locations in Tehran” and around a dozen members of his family and close entourage in near-simultaneous strikes within 60 seconds, military officials in Israel said. Forty other senior Iranian leaders also died in the attack.

War highlights strained alliances, unfettered militaries and a Washington with renewed appetite for regime change

• US-Israel war on Iran – latest updates

A joint US-Israeli operation that appeared to use nuclear negotiations as cover. Gulf leaders courting Donald Trump as he decided to launch a major Middle Eastern intervention. Europe boxed out and a G7 defence minister caught so off-guard that he was grounded in Dubai as the bombs fell. And from Moscow, a strongly worded condemnation of the missile strikes against a fellow member of the anti-US “axis of upheaval” – and little else.

The war unleashed by the US and Israel on Saturday has exposed the new rules of geopolitics in Trump’s second presidency, with strained alliances, unfettered militaries and a Washington that has regained its appetite for regime change.

US government buildings in Karachi and Baghdad targeted by crowds after killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

• US-Israel war on Iran – latest updates

At least 22 people are dead following pro-Iran demonstrations in Pakistan in which hundreds of people marched on the US consulate in Karachi. Security forces in Iraq have also fired teargas at protesters who tried to storm the US embassy in Baghdad.

As anger boiled over after US-Israeli strikes killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a crowd of demonstrators in Karachi chanted against the offensive before entering the reception hall of the consulate building and lighting a small fire.

There were 63 minutes on the Emirates Stadium clock and the Arsenal crowd were in a state of extreme agitation. William Saliba had the ball at the back and he was taking his time – largely because there was nothing on for him. The fans screamed at him to hurry up. To do something. Anything. It was all going wrong because Chelsea were not just level at 1-1, they had dominated the second half up to this point.

Out on the right flank, Jurriën Timber held his arms out and gestured for everybody to calm down. There was still time. Arsenal would be fine if they could keep their focus and do their stuff. It took Timber precisely three minutes to practise what he preached. When Declan Rice arched over a corner, it was Timber who wriggled free to head home what would prove to be a priceless winning goal.

‘They should have done it sooner, they waited too long,’ says Trump but he doesn’t say when talks would take place

• US-Israel war on Iran – latest updates

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Donald Trump said on Sunday that Iran’s political leadership have agreed to talks, a day after the US and Israel began to target the country’s military and political infrastructure, killing the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several top officials.

“They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them,” Trump told a reporter for the Atlantic magazine on Sunday. “They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long.”

Reuters contributed reporting

• Espanyol defender Omar El Hilali reports insult

• Mir then scores 90th-minute penalty to secure 2-2 draw

The Espanyol defender Omar El Hilali accused the Elche forward Rafa Mir of a racist insult during their teams’ La Liga game on Sunday, according to the referee’s report.

Iosu Galech Apezteguia briefly paused the match under the anti-racism protocol in the 80th minute after speaking to the Morocco international El Hilali. “El Hilali informed me that he [Mir] addressed him in the following terms: ‘You came here on a dinghy,’ which could not be heard by any member of the refereeing team,” wrote the referee in his report. Consequently, I proceeded to activate the anti-racism protocol, for which reason the match was stopped for three minutes.”

• Samson guides India to five-wicket win to reach last four

• T20 World Cup co-hosts play England in Mumbai on Thursday

For the third time in three T20 World Cups, England will meet India in the semi-finals, after the co‑hosts beat West Indies in what was in effect a quarter-final on Sunday night to seal their place in the final four and eliminate their opponents.

Sanju Samson, who lost his place in the side on the eve of the tournament but who was recalled after India’s humbling Super 8s defeat by South Africa, dramatically rediscovered his touch, batting through the innings to finish unbeaten on 97. Chasing 196, the co-hosts looked in control with the 31-year-old at the crease and fittingly it was Samson who struck the winning runs, lifting his 50th delivery over mid-on to seal victory by five wickets, with four balls remaining.

The US-Israeli military action will test the fragile rules governing the use of force

The killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, by a US-Israeli strike is a targeted assassination of a head of state. It also marks a grave escalation in a region already burdened with smouldering wars and fragile states. The consequences of the deliberate strike will reverberate across a Middle East marked by the aftershocks of foreign intervention. Revulsion against the hardline regime in Tehran, or the desire for a better future for the Iranian people, does not confer a legal justification.

Force is lawful, under the UN charter, only in self-defence against an imminent attack or with security council approval. Neither condition has been met. There was no evidence of an “instant, overwhelming” Iranian attack being prepared. What Donald Trump’s Operation Epic Fury looks like is not pre-emption but prevention: a decision to eliminate a future risk while an enemy appeared weak. It is a war of choice. Mr Trump’s call to overthrow a sovereign government was extraordinary.

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From a landmark Tracey Emin show at Tate Modern to the first female painter in the Royal Academy’s main space, the art world is finally catching up

“Do women have to be naked to get into the Met Museum?” the feminist art collective Guerrilla Girls asked in their famous 1989 poster. It pointed out that fewer than 5% of the artists in the modern art sections were women, but 85% of the nudes were female. They could have asked the same question of any major art gallery in the world. Four decades later, this year’s biggest UK exhibitions finally show a different picture.

Dame Tracey Emin might be naked in many of her self-portraits, but that isn’t what got her into Tate Modern for a landmark retrospective. Rose Wylie, 91, is the first female painter to have a solo exhibition at the Royal Academy. The Colombian artist Beatriz González (who died, aged 93, in January) is at the Barbican. And that is just this week’s openings.

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• Lead vehicle takes top-three off main course

• Jess McClain falls from first to ninth

USA Track & Field has denied an appeal after its Half Marathon Championship in Atlanta ended in chaos.

With less than two miles to go in the women’s race, Jess McClain had a significant lead over Ednah Kurgat and Emma Hurley when the guide vehicle took the trio off course. Molly Born, who had been more than a minute behind the leaders, came through to win the race, with Carrie Ellwood and and Annie Rodenfels in second and third. McClain, Hurley and Kurgat finished in ninth, 12th and 13th respectively around two minutes behind Born. Wesley Kiptoo won the men’s race.

One of the country’s bestselling singers is heading to a contest mired in geopolitical controversy – but, she says, ‘I believe in the healing powers and hope of music’

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Delta Goodrem is to represent Australia at Eurovision in May, the 70th anniversary of the annual song contest.

The 41-year-old singer – one of the country’s best-loved and bestselling pop stars – heralds a shift in Australia’s Eurovision selections, which have been smaller breakout acts and genre pioneers. She is the 11th entrant since Australia joined the competition in 2015 and will represent the country in Vienna, Austria.

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Some publicly mourn leader’s demise but videos also show jubilant response after violent crackdown in January

• US-Israel war on Iran – latest updates

Celebration and mourning broke out across Iran in response to the death of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in an extraordinary public response to the end of nearly four decades of the top cleric’s rule.

In the squares of Tehran, crowds gathered to mourn the leader, chanting and holding placards with his image. But videos shared widely on social media also showed people celebrating, dancing, honking car horns and setting off fireworks as news of the leader’s death broke.

The star of the gay hockey superhit shows a penchant for physical comedy in an episode scrambling to cover the events in Iran

Saturday Night Live returns from a short hiatus to find the US newly at war with Iran. From behind the presidential podium, Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) wishes “happy world war three to all who celebrate.” After claiming that “Iran has been two weeks away from developing a nuclear weapon [for, like, the last 15 years]”, he weaves into the Temptations’ War: “What is it good for? Distracting from the Epstein files!”

As to why the US should attack now, Trump explains: “We had to strike in the early hours of Saturday, which has two advantages militarily. One, it’s after the stock market closes for the weekend. And two, it’s to cause immeasurable fear, rage and chaos in the SNL writers’ room.”

Isaiah Martin’s videos have gone viral – he thinks his party should follow his lead and stand up to Republican excess

Dynamism, courage, and wit are words that few are likely to associate with the mainstream Democratic party, particularly after its capitulation to Republicans’ budget demands last year.

Polls show that majorities of Democratic voters think their party is weak and ineffective. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate leader, is even more unpopular than Donald Trump. People are crying out for a bold voice, someone to take the fight to an increasingly authoritarian Republican party.

The desire to see an increasingly ruthless Iranian regime collapse has intensified in Iranian expat communities

• US-Israel war on Iran – latest updates

A decade ago, when Iran signed an agreement with the Obama administration and five other countries to give up its ambitions for a nuclear weapon, Alaleh Kamran was staunchly on the political left and welcomed the prospect of peace in the country of her birth.

Now, though, as Israel and the United States launched punishing airstrikes on Iran, she finds herself in a dramatically different headspace.

Trump calls Anthropic a ‘Radical Left AI company run by people who have no idea what the real World is all about’

• US-Israel war on Iran – latest updates

The US military reportedly used Claude, Anthropic’s AI model, to inform its attack on Iran despite Donald Trump’s decision, announced hours earlier, to sever all ties with the company and its artificial intelligence tools.

The use of Claude during the massive joint US-Israel bombardment of Iran that began on Saturday was reported by the Wall Street Journal and Axios. It underlines the complexity of the US military withdrawing powerful AI tools from its missions when the technology is already intricately embedded in operations.

Singer and songwriter of such pop canon hits as Oh! Carol, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do and (Is This the Way to) Amarillo

“Prolific” hardly does justice to Neil Sedaka’s songwriting output, which ran to more than 1,000 compositions over seven decades.

If he had been willing to stay behind the scenes, turning out tunes for other singers, he would have still merited a place in pop history thanks to the number of those songs that became part of the pop canon, including Where the Boys Are, Love Will Keep Us Together and (Is This the Way to) Amarillo. However, Sedaka, who has died aged 86, had a constitutional need to see his own name in lights.

Senators Tom Cotton and Lindsey Graham defend attack, Democrats say administration must answer vital questions

• US-Israel war on Iran – latest updates

Donald Trump administration allies reinforced on Sunday the administration’s messaging on the Israel-US strikes on Iran, while Democratsdecried it as a “war of choice” that required congressional approval.

On Sunday talk shows, Arkansas senator Tom Cotton, who serves on the Armed Services Committee, and South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham defended the strikes, while Virginia senator Mark Warner, vice-chairman of the Committee on Intelligence, and other Democrats welcomed the elimination of the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei but said the administration must now answer vital questions.

As the second half began, a banner appeared in the Stretford End that read: “MUFC proudly colonised by immigrants”. If this was a riposte to Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s assertion that these shores have been overrun by those from overseas (for which the co-owner half-heartedly apologised), Manchester United needed their own reply to a listless opening period that left them trailing to Maxence Lacroix’s early header.

Eleven minutes after the restart, they found one.

As each passing week goes by, the threat of relegation becomes more real for Tottenham. This is no longer a quirk that it can be assumed will automatically be corrected. The monster not only exists but is getting closer, and fear is beginning to set in and make itself seen in their play. Defeat on Sunday was not only far more emphatic than the scoreline might suggest, but it was their fourth reverse in a row, extending their run without a win in the Premier League to nine. The only sliver of relief was that all their relegation rivals lost as well.

But this was grim stuff from Spurs. Igor Tudor had hoped the 4-1 defeat in the north London derby would be a wake-up call. But if anything, this was even worse. Arsenal won because they are better than Tottenham; Fulham won because Spurs were terrible. Tudor, the arch-firefighter, has a huge job on his hands.

These are concerning times for Vítor Pereira. Nottingham Forest’s fourth permanent manager of this crazy season may be only four matches into his spell in charge but – given the record of the owner, Evangelos Marinakis – his position is already looking most precarious.

A second Premier League defeat in succession since he was appointed to replace Sean Dyche a fortnight ago leaves Forest only two points clear of the drop zone and facing a daunting trip to Manchester City on Wednesday.

Late designer’s niece opts for natural womenswear look after Bottega Veneta features swishy yeti coats in faux fur

Does it matter who designs women’s clothes? Silvana Armani – niece of the late Giorgio, creative director of womenswear and one of the few women in charge of a fashion house – thinks so.

“The way women and men relate to their bodies is different, which affects the design process. Dressing a woman is more complex than dressing a man,” she said before her first solo show on the last day of Milan fashion week. “Yet, as a woman, you know your body. You try things on and notice if a jacket’s length is off, adjusting it as necessary.”

Belgian special forces boarded the Ethera, which was sailing under the flag of Guinea, on Saturday night

Belgium has seized an oil tanker believed to form part of the so-called “shadow fleet” used by Russia to circumvent western sanctions over the war in Ukraine.

Special forces assisted by French helicopters boarded the ship in a clandestine operation in the North Sea on Saturday night, Belgium’s defence minister, Theo Francken, said on Sunday.