Iran's ⁠Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ⁠has ⁠been killed ⁠in ⁠Israeli and US air strikes, Iranian state ⁠media said on ⁠Sunday.

A few hours earlier, US President Donald Trump declared that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been killed in the opening salvo of a massive US and Israeli attack on the Islamic Republic.

Khamenei "is dead," Trump announced in a post on social media platform Truth Social.

Meanwhile, Trump said the massive military campaign against Iran would continue.

"The heavy and pinpoint bombing, however, will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!" Trump said in the post.

Iran has responded to the US-Israeli military operation with a flurry of missile and drone attacks across the Middle East, killing at least one person in Abu Dhabi and another in Tel Aviv as explosions rocked the wealthy cities of the Gulf states.

There was no immediate confirmation from Iranian authorities of Khamenei's death.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had earlier told NBC News that Khamenei was alive "as far as I know" and foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei told the BBC he was "not in a situation to confirm anything".

Speaking before Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said of Khamenei that there were "many signs that this tyrant is no longer alive" and said to Iranians, "This is your time to join forces, to overthrow the regime and to secure your future."

The Israeli army said that Ali Shamkhani, a top advisor to Khamenei, and the head of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Pakpour, were both also killed.

One apparent survivor, Ali Larijani, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, vowed defiance.

"The brave soldiers and the great nation of Iran will teach an unforgettable lesson to the international oppressors," he said. (AFP/Xinhua)
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Last updated: 2026-03-01 HKT 09:39


Edited by Tony Sabine