Photo gallery: The attack on Iran shocks, heartens and divides the world

By Kit Doyle · March 2, 2026

(RNS) — As war erupted in the Middle East, reactions around the world varied from elation to mourning. A look at the first days of the U.S.-Israel attack on Iran in photos. Demonstrators burn a picture of President Donald Trump during a protest outside the Israeli consulate in Istanbul, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) People watch as smoke rises on the skyline after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo) People who support the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, rally near the White House, Saturday Feb. 28, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) Mourners take cover while air-raid sirens warn of incoming missiles launched by Iran toward Israel, during the funeral of Sarah Elimelech and her daughter Ronit who were killed in an Iranian missile attack, in Beit Shemesh, Israel, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg) Government supporters gather in mourning after state TV officially announced the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) Shiite Muslims protest against the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran and killing of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in New Delhi, India, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Piyush Nagpal) Iranian people attend a demonstration in support of the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber) Israelis read the Book of Esther, which tells the story of the Jewish festival of Purim, at a bomb shelter synagogue in Hadera, Israel, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) Shiite Muslims chant anti-U.S. slogans during a rally to condemn the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/M.A. Sheikh) People take shelter in an underground metro station as air raid sirens warn of incoming strikes by Iran, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) Iranian students studying in Russia hold flowers to lay at a memorial for the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, outside Iran's embassy in Moscow, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) People protest near the White House against U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

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