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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is killed, confirms state media

WASHINGTON
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is killed, confirms state media

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in his office on Saturday morning during US-Israeli air strikes, Iran's state media has confirmed.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump claimed Khamenei was killed in yesterday’s massive US and Israeli attack. Heavy bombing will continue throughout the week, Trump said. 

Khamenei's daughter, grandchild, daughter-in-law and son-in-law were killed in US-Israeli strikes, Iranian state media reported.

Iran has threatened the most ferocious offensive in its history after the Supreme Leader's death. It has already attacked US bases and other targets in the Gulf region, including hitting residential buildings with drones and missiles. 

The official IRNA news agency said a three person council consisting of the country’s president, the chief of the judiciary, and one of the jurists of the Guardian Council will temporarily assume all leadership duties in the country.

Trump, after confirming Khamenei's death in a post on Truth Social, said this is the "single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their country."

He also said some people in Iran are "looking for" immunity. "We are hearing that many of their IRGC (Revolutionary Guards), Military, and other Security and Police forces, no longer want to fight, and are looking for Immunity from us," said Trump. 

He said 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."


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier said Khamenei's Tehran compound had been destroyed in "a powerful, surprise strike" and that there were many signs that the 86-year-old cleric was "no more".

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in his X post: "The Iranian regime had their chance, yet refused to make a deal — and now they are suffering the consequences. For almost fifty years, Iran has targeted and killed Americans, always seeking the world’s most powerful weapons to further their radical cause. Last night, unlike any previous president, President Trump began dealing with this cancer.

"We will not tolerate powerful missiles targeting the American people. Those missiles will be destroyed, along with Iran’s missile production. The Iranian navy will be destroyed. And, as President Trump has said his entire life, Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. 

"The United States did not start this conflict, but we will finish it. If you kill or threaten Americans anywhere in the world — as Iran has — then we will hunt you down, and we will kill you."