Iran Confirms Assassination of Supreme Leader Khamenei

(MENAFN) Iranian state media have confirmed the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during the ongoing joint US-Israeli military offensive against the Islamic Republic — marking one of the most seismic political assassinations in modern history.

Multiple Iranian news outlets reported early Sunday that the 86-year-old cleric had been "martyred" in the assault. "The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in a joint attack by the criminal America and the Zionist regime," read the official statement carried across state channels.

Authorities pushed back sharply against Israeli suggestions that Khamenei had been sheltering in a bunker at the time of the strike. "At the moment of the martyrdom, he was carrying out his assigned duties and was present at his workplace, when this cowardly attack occurred," the statement added.

Tehran issued immediate and unambiguous warnings of reprisal. The office of President Masoud Pezeshkian announced 40 days of national mourning and pledged a forceful response. "This great crime will never go unanswered and will mark a new chapter in the history of the Islamic and Shiite world," his office declared. "With full force and strength… we will make the perpetrators and commanders of this great crime regret their actions."

The official confirmation brought an end to hours of conflicting and unverified reports surrounding Khamenei's fate. US President Donald Trump had earlier posted on Truth Social that "Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead," shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that "there are many signs" the supreme leader "is no more."

Netanyahu claimed that Khamenei's compound was struck in a "powerful surprise attack," and issued a sweeping threat, 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.

Washington and West Jerusalem have framed the broader military campaign as a "preemptive" operation, with strikes targeting Iran's senior leadership, military infrastructure, and nuclear-related installations. Trump stated the offensive was specifically designed to dismantle Iran's missile industry and naval capabilities while engineering regime change in Tehran. Iran has since launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes against Israeli territory and US military bases spread across the Middle East.

The international community reacted with alarm. Moscow condemned the operation outright, with the Russian Foreign Ministry branding it a "premeditated and unprovoked act of aggression" — one it said was calculated to bring down a government "they deem undesirable because it has refused to yield to the dictates of force and hegemonic pressure."

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