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The Iran conflict widened Monday as proxies got involved. Iran and Iranian-backed militias fired missiles at Israel and Arab states Monday, apparently hitting the U.S. Embassy compound in Kuwait, while Israel and the United States pounded targets in Iran. Top Iranian security official Ali Larijani said on X: 鈥淲e will not negotiate with the United States.鈥� Meanwhile, Iran expanded its attacks to major regional oil infrastructure. The attacks add a new element to the war gripping the Middle East, directly targeting the area鈥檚 economy. 鈥� Associated Press

Our coverage: Stocks drop, oil prices surge as Iran conflict hits global markets

Shiite Muslims around the world protested Khamenei鈥檚 killing. Millions of Shiite Muslims outside Iran viewed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a spiritual leader. On Sunday, following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes, hundreds of Iraqis attempted to storm the American embassy in Baghdad. In Indian-controlled Kashmir, thousands marched peacefully through the capital, holding portraits of Khamenei and chanting anti-U.S. and anti-Israel slogans. Authorities say at least 22 people have died in clashes between Shiite protestors and police across Pakistan, where Shiites make up 10-20% of the population. 鈥淓very citizen of Pakistan shares in [Iran鈥檚] grief,鈥� said Pakistan鈥檚 interior minister in a public plea for calm. 鈥� Staff

Afghanistan says it thwarted a Pakistani airstrike on Bagram Air Base. Cross-border fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan has stretched into a fourth day, with local police reporting that Pakistani military jets entered Afghan airspace 鈥渁nd attempted to bomb鈥� Bagram Air Base early Sunday morning. Once the United States鈥� largest military base in Afghanistan, Bagram was taken over by the Taliban after the U.S. withdrawal from the country in 2021. After years of deteriorating ties, Pakistan has declared it is in 鈥渙pen war鈥� with the Taliban, accusing the government of harboring militant groups. 鈥� Associated Press聽

The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting. Secretary-General Ant贸nio Guterres condemned both the U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran and Iran鈥檚 retaliatory strikes on Saturday, calling for an immediate return to negotiations 鈥渢o pull the region, and our world, back from the brink.鈥� The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, insisted the U.S. military action was lawful. 鈥淚ran cannot have a nuclear weapon,鈥� he told the council. 鈥淭hat principle is not a matter of politics. It鈥檚 a matter of global security.鈥� Bahrain, which is the Arab representative on the council, France, Russia, China, and Colombia called for the emergency meeting. 鈥� Associated Press
Our coverage: US and Israel launch broad campaign against Iran

After President Trump chastises Anthropic, OpenAI strikes deal with Pentagon. President Donald Trump has ordered all U.S. agencies to stop using Anthropic technology following the company鈥檚 unusually public dispute with the Pentagon over artificial intelligence safety. Shortly after that order, Sam Altman, CEO of Anthropic rival OpenAI, announced that his company had agreed to supply its AI to classified military networks, potentially filling a gap created by Anthropic鈥檚 ouster. But he said that the same red lines that were the sticking point in Anthropic鈥檚 dispute 鈥� prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons 鈥� are enshrined in OpenAI鈥檚 new partnership. 鈥� Associated Press
Our coverage: As AI leaps forward, concerns rise that innovation is leaving safety behind

U.S. and Israeli airstrikes killed Iran鈥檚 supreme leader,聽Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Saturday. His death closes a nearly four-decade chapter in Iran marked by iron-fist rule and resistance to the U.S. and Israel.

The U.S.-Israel air war that has targeted Iran鈥檚 leadership has not been a regime change operation a la Iraq. Rather, President Donald Trump is calling on the Iranian people to rise up and finish the job. It is not at all clear they have the tools to do so.

Some lawmakers pushed for Congress to have a role in President Trump鈥檚 decision on whether to attack Iran. Now that the U.S. military operation is under way without congressional backing, the political risks are coming to the forefront.

In thundering attacks on Iran鈥檚 government that started Saturday, Israel and the United States appear to have shredded what remains of the liberal, rules-based world order. The head of the United Nations 鈥� the pinnacle of that order 鈥� called the attacks a threat to international security. Yet as much as that charge might be true, President Donald Trump nonetheless has left open a door to an essential value that has sustained that order for decades.

He told the Iranian people in a video that they themselves, not American soldiers with boots on the ground in Iran, must ultimately choose to be free from the regime 鈥� one that has denied basic rights, killed dissenters by the thousands, and sown terror abroad.

Liberty, in other words, is first a mental commitment.

鈥淭he hour of your freedom is at hand,鈥� Mr. Trump told them. 鈥淪o let鈥檚 see how you respond.鈥� In January, he even asked protesters to 鈥渢ake over ... institutions.鈥�

So how have Iranians reacted so far? While the war is far from over, the killing of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday sent people in many cities onto their balconies and into the streets with 鈥渁 rare mix of jubilation, fear and expectation,鈥� according to the news site Iran International. The New York Times reported people setting off fireworks and honking car horns, yelling 鈥渇reedom, freedom鈥� with exuberance.

The moment was captured by the European Union鈥檚 foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, in a post on the social platform X on Sunday: 鈥淲hat comes next is uncertain. But there is now an open path to a different Iran, one that its people may have greater freedom to shape.鈥�

With no single leader or stable organization to mount more protests, however, pro-democracy Iranians might be waiting to see how much the regime鈥檚 security forces are degraded by the attacks. They also might be hoping for mass defection in those forces 鈥� something Mr. Trump encouraged in his video.

In January, Iranians showed just how much they would sacrifice to achieve the self-determination that is the cornerstone of democracy as well as world order. During two days of protests, the regime killed more than 7,000 people.

Mr. Trump has often ripped up the old rules that have governed the global commons. Yet the international order did not protect the Iranians in their hour of need. He told Iranians to take over their government 鈥渨hen we are finished鈥� with the attacks.

鈥淎 lot of assumptions will be tested in the next few weeks,聽but much will depend upon how the Iranian population reacts 鈥� that鈥檚 the key question,鈥� Professor Ali Ansari of the University of St. Andrews told The Times of London. Whether a new order is emerging or the old one is simply fading, some fundamental values like freedom still remain in global affairs.