TEHRAN / WASHINGTON — Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has reportedly been killed in a joint airstrike by Israel and the United States, Iranian state media confirmed early Sunday.
According to Tasnim News Agency, a semi-official outlet, Khamenei, 86, was “martyred” on Saturday, February 28, in a strike targeting his compound. Iranian authorities also reported that his daughter, son-in-law, and grandson were killed in the attack.
US President Donald Trump stated that Khamenei and other senior Iranian officials “couldn’t escape US intelligence and the advanced tracking systems,” highlighting the precision of the operation.
Khamenei had been Iran’s supreme leader since 1989, following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Revolution that overthrew the Pahlavi monarchy in 1979. While Khomeini provided the ideological foundation for the revolution, Khamenei shaped Iran’s military and paramilitary apparatus, securing the country’s regional influence and domestic control.
Before assuming the supreme leadership, Khamenei served as Iran’s president during the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq war, a period that deepened his skepticism of the West and particularly the United States, analysts note.
His death raises critical questions about Iran’s political future, including the selection of a new supreme leader and whether the country will maintain its current theocratic structure or face calls for systemic change.
