Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead, Iranian state media reported. He was 86.
After a major attack by Israel and the United States, state television and the state news agency IRNA reported Khamenei’s death without specifying the cause of death.
The Fars news agency said Khamenei was killed in his office while “carrying out his assigned duties” in the early hours of Saturday morning.
His death in his office “showed that he consistently stood among the people and at the head of his duties, facing what officials say is global arrogance,” state television said.
According to Fars News, the Iranian government declared 40 days of public mourning after the killing of Khamenei. They also declared seven days of public holidays.
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The confirmation by Iranian media comes hours after US President Donald Trump said Khamenei was killed in a joint US-Israeli operation targeting Iran.
“Evil” Khamenei is dead
“Khamenei, one of the worst people in history, is dead,” Trump wrote in a post on the social network. He warned of “heavy and precise bombardment” that he said would continue throughout the week and beyond, part of a deadly strike that the US justified as necessary to disable the country’s nuclear capabilities.
The killing of Khamenei in the Trump administration’s second attack on Iran in eight months seemed certain to create a leadership vacuum, given the absence of a known successor and the fact that the supreme leader has had the final say on all major policies during his decade in power.
Khamenei led Iran’s clerical establishment and its paramilitary Revolutionary Guards, the two main centers of power in the ruling theocracy.
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Khamenei’s daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter were killed in the strike
Iranian media also reported that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter were killed in US-Israeli airstrikes.
“After making contact with informed sources in the Supreme Leader’s household, the news of the martyrdom of the revolutionary leader’s daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter has unfortunately been confirmed,” Fars and other Iranian media reported.
The massive attack reportedly targeted Iran’s command structure
Israel said targets in Iran include Revolutionary Guard command facilities, air defense systems, missile and drone launch sites and military airports. It said the operation was aimed at breaking down Iran’s leadership hierarchy, with attacks targeting around 30 senior military and civilian figures, including:
- Ali Shamkhani, Khamenei’s top security adviser
- Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Mohammad Pakpour
- Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh
- Chief Military Secretary Mohammad Shirazi
- Military intelligence chief Saleh Asadi
- SPND Chairman Hossein Jabal Amelian
- Former SPND Chairman Reza Mozaffari-Nia
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The strikes followed months of rising tensions
The joint US-Israeli operation, which officials said had been planned for months, took place on Saturday during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan and at the start of Iran’s work week.
It came after stalled negotiations and warnings from Trump, who last year touted his administration’s success in disabling the country’s nuclear program but issued the final round needed to avert its potential revival.
About 12 hours after the attacks began, the US military reported no US casualties and minimal damage to its bases despite “hundreds of Iranian missile and drone strikes”.
Khamenei “was unable to evade our intelligence and highly sophisticated surveillance systems, and in close cooperation with Israel, there was nothing he or the other leaders who were killed with him could have done,” Trump said. “This is the single best chance for the Iranian people to get their country back.”
(With input from agencies)
