Iran confirms supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead after US -Israeli strikes

By Anas Abbas

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has died, Iranian state media confirmed early Sunday following an unprecedented military offensive by the United States and Israel.

The joint strikes, which targeted key leadership and strategic sites across Iran, mark an escalation in the long-standing tensions between Tehran and its Western and Israeli adversaries.

Iran’s state television and official news agencies reported the 86-year-old leader’s death and announced 40 days of national mourning along with seven days of public holidays as the nation comes to terms with the loss.

Reports confirmed that U.S. President Donald Trump had earlier stated that Khamenei was killed in coordinated military action, describing the outcome in stark terms on social media. Israeli officials also indicated that Khamenei’s compound in Tehran had been destroyed during the strikes.

Reports from Iranian media further indicate that members of Khamenei’s immediate family, including his daughter, son-in-law, and a grandchild, were also killed in the attack.

Khamenei had led the Islamic Republic since 1989, succeeding Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and guiding Iran’s hardline theocratic system for more than three decades. As supreme leader, he exercised ultimate authority over the country’s political, military and religious institutions and was a defining figure in shaping Tehran’s domestic and foreign policies.

The strikes have prompted swift retaliatory action by Iranian forces, with missile and drone launches directed at U.S. and allied positions across the region. Analysts warn that the developments could trigger broader instability across the Middle East.

Under Iran’s constitution, a transitional council composed of senior officials including the president, the judiciary chief and a Guardian Council cleric will temporarily oversee state affairs while the Assembly of Experts, a body of clerics, convenes to select a new supreme leader.

Observers say the power vacuum left by Khamenei’s death and the sweeping geopolitical fallout from the U.S. Israeli military operation will have far-reaching consequences for Iran and the wider region in the weeks and months ahead.