Iranian state media on Sunday confirmed that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed following coordinated strikes by Israeli and United States forces.
The development comes after reports of a major military offensive launched against Iran on Saturday by Israel and the US.
Khamenei, born on April 19, 1939, in Mashhad, eastern Iran, was a prominent Islamist cleric who played a central role in the 1979 Islamic Revolution that overthrew the US-backed Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Reacting to the development, US President Donald Trump stated that Khamenei was unable to evade American intelligence and tracking systems.
“The supreme leader 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,” Trump said.
The reported killing marks a dramatic escalation in tensions in the Middle East and is expected to have significant geopolitical implications across the region and beyond.
