Iran confirms Supreme Leader no more after US-Israel attack

TEHRAN (AP/Web Desk) — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is no more following a major military strike carried out by the United States and Israel, Iranian state media reported early Sunday. The development has cast uncertainty over the future direction of the Islamic Republic and heightened fears of further regional instability.

State media said the 86-year-old leader passed away after an airstrike targeted his compound in central Tehran. The reports described him as remaining steadfast in his duties until the end. His passing marks a historic turning point for Iran, where he had held ultimate authority over political, military and religious affairs since 1989.

US President Donald Trump announced hours earlier that senior Iranian leadership had been severely impacted in the strikes, which Washington said were aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Iranian officials, however, warned that the actions would not go unanswered, vowing a strong response.

Authorities in Tehran have formed an interim leadership council until a new supreme leader is selected. The government declared a period of national mourning, while gatherings were reported in several cities as citizens reacted to the news.

The incident signals a dramatic escalation in tensions between Iran, the United States and Israel, raising concerns of broader conflict across the Middle East.

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 the Revolutionary Guard, the two main centers of power in the governing theocracy.

State media also reported the deaths of the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and a top security adviser to Khamenei in airstrikes. Maj. Gen. Mohammad Pakpour took over as the Guard’s top commander after Israel killed its past commander in the 12-day war last June. The adviser, Ali Shamkhani, had long been a figurehead within Iran’s security establishment, IRNA said.

Mourners raised a black mourning flag over the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city and a major pilgrimage site for Shiite Muslims. The Iranian government declared 40 days of public mourning and a seven-day nationwide public holiday to commemorate Khamenei’s death.

Citing unidentified sources, the semiofficial Fars news agency, believed to be close to the Revolutionary Guard, reported that several relatives of Khamenei were also killed, including a daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law and grandchild.

Israel claims killing defense minister

Israel, for its part, said it had killed the commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps and the country’s defense minister, as well as the secretary of the Iranian Security Council, a close adviser to Khamenei.

Khamenei “was unable to avoid our Intelligence and Highly Sophisticated Tracking Systems and, working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do,” Trump said. “This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country.”

An Iranian diplomat told the United Nations Security Council that hundreds of civilians were killed and wounded in the strikes. Iran retaliated by firing missiles and drones toward Israel and at US military bases in the region, and exchanges of fire continued into the night.

Iranian nation will make aggressors regret their action: Larijani

Ali Larijani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, says the Iranian nation will make the United States and Israel regret their aggression against the country.

Iranians fill streets in anger at US-Israeli aggression

People hold Iranian flags during a rally in the capital, Tehran, to protest the US-Israeli aggression against the country. Tehran, IRNA – People in different Iranian cities have held spontaneous gatherings to vent their anger at the ongoing war of aggression by the United States and Israel against their country.

Crowds of people filled the streets and iconic squares in at least a dozen cities, including the capital Tehran. Protesters chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” in a show of anger at the two regimes over their aggression on Iran.

“We will make the Zionist criminals and the despicable Americans regret their actions. The valiant soldiers and the great nation of Iran will teach an unforgettable lesson to the tyrannical international devils,” Larijani said on his X account on Saturday.

Pahlavi says Iran nears ‘liberation’

Iran’s exiled prince Reza Pahlavi has welcomed US and Israeli strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, saying the moment could mark a turning point in Iran’s long struggle against the Islamic Republic.

Writing in an op-ed for The Washington Post, Pahlavi thanked President Donald Trump for supporting the Iranian people and said the final outcome will depend on Iranians themselves.

“Even with U.S. and Israeli assistance, the final victory will be forged by the Iranian people,” he wrote, arguing that a democratic Iran could transform the Middle East.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump and Israeli officials had claimed that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed, which Iran had denied, saying he was steadfast and well.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that there were signs that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been killed in an attack on his compound as part of US-Israeli strikes.

“This morning, in a powerful surprise strike, the compound of Ali Khamenei was destroyed in the heart of Tehran… and there are many signs that he is no longer alive,” Netanyahu said in a televised statement.

President Donald Trump said Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in massive US and Israeli attack, which Trump said will continue with heavy bombing throughout the week. Iran has claimed its leaders are “safe and sound.”

There was no immediate Iranian confirmation of his fate. The United States and Israel carried out military strikes on Iran on Saturday, targeting its top leaders and plunging the Middle East into a conflict that President Donald Trump said would end a security threat to the US and give Iranians a chance to topple their rulers.

The US president has told ABC News that he believes “a lot” of Iranian leadership has been killed in US and Israeli strikes.

When asked directly if the administration believes that Iranian leadership were killed, Trump replied: “A lot of it is, yeah. But we don’t know all, but a lot of it is. Was a very powerful strike.”

He said the attacks will continue “as long as we wanted to”.

Seven high-ranking Iranian officials killed: Israel

Effie Defrin, the spokesperson for the Israeli military, has just made a televised address in which he claimed Israel has killed several top Iranian officials in attacks on Iran.

The most prominent of those Israel claims to have killed is Ali Shamkhani, former secretary of Iran’s National Security Council and close adviser to Supreme Leader Khamenei.

Defrin also claimed to have killed Mohammad Pakpour, a commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Amir Nasirzadeh, Iran’s defence minister.

He added that Israeli warplanes targeted several locations across Iran, especially missile launcher sites.

Defrin did not define a timeframe when a reporter asked how long military operations would continue.

Key Iranian decision-makers ‘gone’: Trump

US President Donald Trump said that “the people that make all the decisions, most of them are gone.”

Trump has offered his clearest statement yet on the reported killing of Khamenei, which, as we’ve been reporting, has been claimed by Reuters and the Israeli media, citing unnamed sources.

Addressing the reports that Khamenei was killed, Trump told NBC News: “We feel that that is a correct story”.

Trump further said that “most” of Iran’s senior leadership is “gone”.

“The people that make all the decisions, most of them are gone,” he said.