An Iranian state broadcaster failed to announce the “martyrdom” of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on live television after a major attack by Israel and the United States.
The network said Khamenei was killed in what Iranian authorities characterized as an assassination attempt.
A visibly emotional presenter, Maryam Azarchehr, struggled to keep her composure as she delivered the news. Referring to Khamenei as the “leader of the Islamic revolution”, she warned that “revenge will come soon”.
An emotional Azarchehr said: “Revenge is coming. Revenge will come soon. They will see what they have done.”
The clip went viral almost immediately.
Azarchehr also paid an emotional tribute to Khamenei, praising his leadership and ideological stance. “He stood for children in Palestine. He stood for children in Lebanon. Today, orphans around the world will mourn him,” she said.
She concluded with a respectful historical comparison: “Imam Khamenei will go down in history just like Imam Ali.”
“Uprooting the Criminal Regimes of the US and Israel”
According to Press TV, the Iranian government said “the crime of assassinating the leader of the Islamic Revolution will not go unpunished” and declared that “the pure blood of the martyred leader will root out the criminal regimes of the US and Israel.”
The Fars news agency said Khamenei was killed in his office while “carrying out his assigned duties” in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Iran’s television network also broadcast visuals from the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala, where pilgrims were seen mourning Khamenei’s death. In Tehran, people gathered in Enghelab Square to mourn, with crowds holding portraits and chanting slogans, television reported.
The Iranian government declared 40 days of public mourning and seven days of public holidays after the killing of Khamenei.
Who was Ayatollah Ali Khamenei?
In 1989, following the death of Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei became Iran’s supreme leader. Khamenei played an important role in the movement that overthrew Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the 1979 revolution.
Eighty-six-year-old Khamenei was Iran’s supreme commander and had the final say on all political and religious matters. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards, the force that protects the Islamic Republic, reports directly to him.
Khamenei was in charge of previous crackdowns on protesters in Iran. He recently stated that Iran is ready to retaliate against any US attack.
One of the first joint US-Israeli strikes on Saturday struck near Khamenei’s office. Iran’s state television and state news agency IRNA reported the death of the 86-year-old on Sunday, hours after Trump said Khamenei had been killed in a joint US-Israeli operation.
His death is being hailed as the martyrdom of a guard by state media, framing it “not as a defeat but as the ultimate sacrifice for the nation’s sovereignty”.
