Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack by Israel and the United States, Iranian state media confirmed early Sunday, throwing the future of the Islamic Republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability.
President Donald Trump announced the death hours earlier, saying it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country.
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State media reported that the 86-year-old was killed in an airstrike targeting his compound in downtown Tehran. Satellite photos from Airbus showed the site heavily bombed.
His death at his office “showed that he consistently stood among the people and at the forefront of his responsibilities, confronting what officials call global arrogance,” state TV said.
Iran’s Cabinet warned that this “great crime will never go unanswered.”
Iranians initially cheered from rooftops and their homes in Tehran, Iran’s capital, when rumors first started to spread late Saturday of Khamenei’s death.
“Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” Trump wrote in a social media post. He warned of “heavy and pinpoint bombing” that he said would continue throughout the week and even beyond, part of a lethal assault the U.S. has justified as necessary to disable the country’s nuclear capabilities.
