Iran confirms Supreme Leader Khamenei killed in US-Israeli strike

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been “martyred,” multiple state news agencies have announced

Iranian state media have confirmed the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the ongoig joint US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic.

Multiple news agencies, including the Tasnim, Mehr and Press TV simultaneously announced early Sunday that the 85-year-old leader had been “martyred” in the attack.

“The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in a joint attack by the criminal America and the Zionist regime,” the official statement said.

“At the moment of the martyrdom, he was carrying out his assigned duties and was present at his workplace, when this cowardly attack occurred,” it added, refuting the “Zionist regime’s psychological warfare” claiming that the Supreme Leader was hiding in a secure and hidden location. The government has announced 40 days of public mourning.

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The confirmation came hours after conflicting reports about Khamenei’s fate. Earlier on Saturday, US President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” following a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “there are many signs” the supreme leader “is no more.”

Netanyahu claimed that Khamenei’s compound was struck in a “powerful surprise attack,” vowing that “thousands of targets” in the Iranian leadership would be killed in the coming days and calling on Iranians to take to the streets and overthrow the government.

Iran’s Tasnim and Mehr initially reported that the supreme leader was “steadfast and firm in commanding the field,” while Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told NBC that “almost all officials are safe and sound and alive. We may have lost one or two commanders.”

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The strikes, which Washington and West Jerusalem described as a “preemptive” operation, targeted the Iranian leadership, as well as military and nuclear-related facilities. Trump said the attack was aimed at destroying Iran’s missile industry and navy, as well as forcing regime change in Tehran. Iran has since retaliated with missile and drone strikes against Israeli territory and US military bases across the Middle East.

Moscow condemned the operation, with the Russian Foreign Ministry describing it as a “premeditated and unprovoked act of aggression” aimed at toppling a government “they deem undesirable because it has refused to yield to the dictates of force and hegemonic pressure.”