Illustrative image. (Iranian Leader Press Office)
Iran confirmed on March 1 that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in the American-Israeli attack on the Islamic Republic that began a day earlier.
The death of Khamenei was first announced by United States President Donald Trump, who described him as “one of the most evil people in history.”
Khamenei — born April 19, 1939, in Mashhad — rose from a modest clerical family and became a key figure in Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution as a close ally of Ayatollah Khomeini; he served as President from 1981 to 1989 — surviving an assassination attempt that paralyzed his right arm — before succeeding Khomeini as Supreme Leader.
His long rule shaped Iran’s foreign policy, nuclear ambitions, and support for regional allies, while facing domestic opposition, international sanctions, and health challenges.
Iranian state television described Khamenei as being at his compound in downtown Tehran when the initial attack began. Satellite photos from Airbus show the site was heavily bombed.
The death of Iran’s Supreme Leader at his office “showed that he consistently stood among the people and at the forefront of his responsibilities, confronting what officials call global arrogance,” state TV said.
State television also announces that 40 days of public mourning over the late leader had been declared across the Islamic Republic.
Thousands rallied in different parts of Iran to call for revenge after the death of Khamenei was confirmed. Protests were also reported near the Green Zone in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, where the U.S. embassy is located, as well as near the U.S. consulate in Pakistan’s Karachi, were clashes broke out and at least six people were killed.
The Wall Street Journal, citing sources with knowledge on the assassination, reported that Israel and the U.S. waited for a rare opportunity to target Khamenei and top advisers in his palace. The report said that three such meetings were identified by intelligence authorities, leading to the unusual broad daylight strike, in which 30 bombs were dropped at the compound.
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 [who] have been killed along with him, could do,” Trump said earlier on Truth Social, confirming the U.S. direct involvement in the assassination.
Soon after the death of the leader was confirmed, it was announced a council was formed to govern the Islamic Republic. Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani, who appears to be in charge now, said that the transition process will begin later in the day.
“An interim leadership council will soon be formed. The president, the head of the judiciary and a jurist from the Guardian Council will assume responsibility until the election of the next leader,” says Larijani, the head of Iran’s top security body, the Supreme National Security Council, who was an adviser to Khamenei.
“This council will be established as soon as possible. We are working to form it as early as today,” he says in an interview broadcast by state TV.
President Masoud Pezeshkian was among the Iranian leaders targeted in the opening strikes of the war on February 28, according to Hebrew media reports.
While Iranian media reports suggest that the president is alive and well, he is yet to be seen since the start of the war. This may be for security reasons, however.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) vowed to punish the “murderers” of Khamenei, promising what it says will be the “most ferocious offensive operation in history” against U.S. bases and Israel.
“The hand of revenge of the Iranian nation for a severe, decisive and regrettable punishment for the murderers of the Imam of the Ummah will not let go of them,” the guards said in a statement.
“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and what it called the vast popular Basij forces will powerfully continue the path of their leader in defending his legacy, standing firm against internal and external plots and delivering what it described as a lesson-giving punishment to aggressors against the Islamic homeland,” it added.
On the other side, U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to hit Iran with unprecedented force if it strikes in the coming hours.
“Iran just stated that they are going to hit very hard today, harder than they have ever hit before. THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The killing of Khamenei was without a doubt a blow to Iran. Nevertheless, it does not appear to have affected the command and control chain in the Islamic Republic.
Besides Khamenei, Iran confirmed the death of: Ali Shamkhani, a former IRGC Navy chief and Iranian army chief, and a top adviser to the Supreme Leader; Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of the IRGC; Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, and Sayyid Abdolrahim Mousavi, chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces.
In total, it is reported that over 40 senior officials and commanders of the Islamic Republic were killed in the opening strikes of the war.
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alawites betrayal of syria is so disgusting, because it also led to the severing of ties between lebanon and iraq, that they deserve to be killed by isis-k that’s why iran has been attacked for the second time in six months, and that’s why i hope that someone will come to power in russia who will extradite everyone who has fled to russia to syria or the hague. iranian drones changed the course of the war in ukraine, and putin would be right to kill all the traitorous alawites.
the time has come to finally destroy all american consulates, property and bases in the middle east. trumpstsein has unleashed forces he cannot control. if he think pulling out of stormy daniels was easy, wait until he try to “pull out” of this one
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after 911 we had every right to go into iraq then into syria and to have complete unimpeded transit and air supremacy all the way to iran. fackyeah. we are the number one chosen ones. and next we’ll get rooskies and the pathetic.chinks after that.fackyeah!
the most evil man on earth should get killed, adolf trump, and the fake ethnicitys of “jews” and “americans”. as long as russia worship the void, the zero, they will avoid to harm the root cause at any cost. it is mr putin, and their silly game of put the mentally insane einstein in charge, that are the traitors. a multipolar world are not allowed by sauron the great, or by any empire.
alawites not to blame. assad was complacent & too comfortable. destructive civil war against a long line of external/neighboring states, wealthy monarchs, wests intelligence services, military occupation, oil fields/wealth theft, israeli drone & airstrikes, armed gangs, islamic terrorist groups, jihadists, covert operations, dirty wars, & us sanctions, poverty, 90% joblessness, infrastructure loss & regional isolation.
matterfact russia even initially began bombing the advancing hts forces, stoping when the outcome was undeniable & assad ask for safe passage. & start strategic negotiations & dialogue to protect its own interests & basing rights. russia saved assad from collapse 8 years. it was hamas fault, launching that border incursion into israel creating the chain of events & conditions for hezbo to be beat, syria lost, iran bombed defense & deterrence lost.
jews and amerikunts will never kill the spirit of resistance. there will be no surrender to child fukkers and child killers. the zionazi empire is clinging on the world that just was…..but it slipped out of their hands. so they had a fit of rage. “operation epic fury” is really operation epstein fury. iran will never surrender
what resistance? just look at the birth rates. collectively we are dysfunctional and are commiting group suicide.
because of the alawite betrayal of syria, the americans and israelis dared to attack iran for the second time. are the iranians really so stupid that they don’t see that the alawites who fled to russia are solely to blame for this? iran supplied drones to russia and russia should punish the traitorous alawites in return. either send them all to the front lines in ukraine or poison them or slaughter them and throw them into the oka river.
wtf u blame alawites? not their fault. it was assads complacency & comfortability. it was widespread poverty, unemployment & endemic hardship, pressure of western sanctions, occupation, israeli drone & airstrikes, deprivation of oil fields/theft. support of armed groups, terror organizations & destructive civil war, destroyed infrastructure & public utilities services.
looks like the emasculated 3,500+ years old persian foggot culture is about to be bent over and be gaped, and be jizzed and completely humiliated by don the senile con trump and big daddy netanyahu . fack ye@h. hehehe. i told you so.
zionists are worse than animals. and you are proof. uncle adolf was wrong on many things, but he got one thing right
russia and china do nothing, only wait for smaller countries to get destroyed by the nazis. “us” should have be flattened to the ground hundreds of years ago. instead “the multipolar world” looks at trick movies about airplanes, and support mass murder in the hospitals. some things are so evil, that they should be erased from earth.
iran supplied russia with drones, but russia is a haven for traitorous alawites who have betrayed everything iran stood for.
russia must kill all alawites from assad to suhail al hass because these people are traitors and are responsible for this horror that has happened to iran for the second time in six months.
are you payed by cia ? as long as russia do not acknowledge the root cause, “us”, this will continue, and all kind of ethnicitys will kill each other, for them without ethnicity. it is russias policy, that are traitorous. pretend that the nazis do not exist. pretend that german nazis exported to palestine are jews.
hopefully they got pezeshikan too. that would be just desert for his pro-western overtures (and a lesson that will go over the head of the moscow manager).
we all swallow hebrew jizz pay shekels to lick jew peniz
strangely, the most exact comment, for all that buy something out of “us” and “israel” 😂 they are one, no ethnicity, only genocide and destruction.
maybe with khamenei gone the iranian military will finally be able to assemble some nuclearwarheads and this whole 30 year drama will make more sense.
the russian army must pay the traitorous alawites and kill all traitors from suhail al hassan to bashar al assad and his brother maher al assad. without these traitors, syria would still provide a link between hezbollah and iraq. iran gave the drones to russia and russia must punish these traitors who committed this horrific betrayal. drones gave russia a huge amount of ukrainian territory and russia must pay iran for it. the only fair payment would be for russia to kill these traitor
the traitorous alawites fled to russia and that is why iran was attacked for the second time in six months. for the second time, they killed the iranian leadership.iran supplied russia with drones with which russia turned the tide of the war in ukraine and that is why putin must pay to iran. iran must demand that putin find and kill all the traitorous alawites in russia. either send them to fight in ukraine or poison them or throw them out of windows.
where is allah to help? it’s a big mess now.
the usual losers declaring victory right at the start of the fight. i predict that quite soon the americans will be crying uncle. but there won’t be any relief this time around.
all of the chain of events & conditions leading to today’s events is the fault of hamas. the large scale attack on israel gave them a chance & justification for mass retaliation, destruction, dismantling & displacement of the entire gaza strips population. the escalation of war on hezbo, syria, & the attacks on iran when it lost its deterrence capability.