Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dead, Iranian state media confirm after US-Israel attack

Public Lokpal
March 01, 2026

Tehran: Iranian state media on Sunday said the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was dead. The confirmation came after President Donald Trump took to social media late on Saturday to announce the assassination.

Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency however did not report a cause of death for the 86-year-old.

Trump on Saturday took to 'Truth Social' to announce Khamenei's death that he said gave Iranians their "greatest chance" to "take back" their country but that also put the future of the Islamic Republic in doubt and raised the risk of regional instability.

"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 US has justified as necessary to disable the country's nuclear capabilities.

The attack opened a stunning new chapter in US intervention in Iran, carried the potential for retaliatory violence and a wider war, and represented a startling flex of military might for an American president who swept into office on an "America First" platform and vowed to keep out of "forever wars."

The killing of Khamenei in the second Trump administration assault on Iran in eight months appeared certain to create a leadership vacuum given the absence of a known successor and because the 86-year-old supreme leader had final say on all major policies during his decades in power. He led Iran's clerical establishment and its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, the two main centres of power in the governing theocracy.

As reports trickled out about the death, eyewitnesses in Tehran told The Associated Press that some residents were rejoicing, blowing whistles and letting out ululations.

Iran, which responded to the strikes with its own counterassault, warned of retribution.

Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran's National Security Council, said Saturday that Israel and America will "regret their actions."

"The brave soldiers and the great nation of Iran will deliver an unforgettable lesson to the hellish international oppressors," Larijani posted on X.