News of the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was announced by state media on Sunday morning, hours after US President Donald Trump confirmed the news. The leader of post-revolutionary Iran and the spiritual leader of millions of Shiite Muslims died on February 28 at the age of 86 after joint US-Israeli missile attacks.
Let’s take a look at the moment Iran’s state television announced the death of its 86-year-old leader – the longest-serving head of state in the Middle East.
An Iranian TV anchor became upset at this momentous announcement and said, “Indeed, to Allah we belong and to Him we shall return. The great nation of Iran mourns the passing of the esteemed great Iranian nation and the vanguard of the Islamic Ummah, His Eminence Imam Khamenei, who ascended to the highest heavens during the month of National of Ramadan sweet sweet nectar of Ramadan. The Security Council issued the following……”
According to state media, Khamenei was working in his office at the time of Saturday’s attack, Reuters reported. Several members of Khamenei’s family were killed in the attack, including his daughter, grandson, daughter-in-law and son-in-law. US officials and sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that Israel and the United States had timed the attacks to coincide with a meeting between Khamenei and his top aides.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz celebrated Khamenei’s assassination, saying in a post on X: “He who acted to destroy Israel has been destroyed. Stating that Israel will ‘continue to act with full force’, he added that justice had been served and the axis of evil had been dealt a fatal blow.”
Donald Trump issued a new warning about Iranian retaliation, saying in a post on Truth Social: “Iran just said they are going to hit back very hard today, harder than ever. HOWEVER THEY WON’T BECAUSE WHEN THEY DO WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THEY HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE!”
Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said: “You (the US and Israel) have crossed our red line and you must pay the price,” Al Jazeera reported. He added: “We will deal such devastating blows
that you yourselves will be driven to begging.’
Iran launches new attacks
Iranian state media confirmed the killing of Khamenei’s security adviser, Ali Shamkhani, as well as IRGC Commander-in-Chief Mohammad Pakpour, in ongoing US-Israeli strikes.
In response to Khamenei’s killings and missile attacks, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched “large-scale missile and drone attacks” on Israeli and US military bases in the region, calling it the sixth wave of attacks. According to the IRGC, it attacked 27 US bases, Israel’s Tel Nof air base, the Israeli army headquarters in HaKirya in Tel Aviv, and a large defense industrial complex in the same city. On Sunday morning, there were new explosions in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Doha, Qatar and Manama, Bahrain.
