LUCKNOW, March 1 -- Anxiety peaked for several families in Lucknow on Sunday as tensions flared in the Middle East following reports by Iranian state-backed media of the death of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in joint missile strikes by Israel and the United States. With airspace shut across much of the Gulf and flight operations disrupted, relatives in the city said they were struggling to stay in touch with loved ones abroad.

Danish Zaidi, a resident of Tahseen Ganj area in old city, said his family has been in a state of panic since losing contact with his brother, who works in the media in Tehran. "I last spoke to him around 10:30 am yesterday (Saturday). He told me a missile had landed barely half a kilometre from his...