Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed on Saturday in US and Israeli airstrikes, state media confirmed. The Iranian cabinet has also announced seven days of public holiday and 40 days of national mourning.
The confirmation came just hours after US President Donald Trump declared the 86-year-old’s death. “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that US strikes would continue “uninterrupted” for the coming week or until peace is secured in Iran.
Trump also wrote on social media that Khamenei’s death was “not only justice for the people of Iran, but for all great Americans, and those people from many countries throughout the world [who] have been killed or mutilated by [him] and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS.”
He was killed in an Israeli strike on his compound on Saturday morning, according to an Israeli official, who added that his body has also been found. Israel’s Channel 12 reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been shown an image of his body after it was recovered from the compound in Tehran. The Prime Minister added that Khamenei's compound had been destroyed in the attack.
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The airstrike also killed Khamenei's daughter, grandchild, son-in-law, and daughter-in-law was also killed.
Celebrations in Iranian cities
Cheers could be heard on Tehran’s streets after reports of the death. According to Reuters, some Iranians took to the streets in Tehran, the nearby city of Karaj and the central city of Isfahan to celebrate after the reports of Khamenei's death.