US President Donald Trump has said that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead following joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the 86-year-old leader was killed in coordinated attacks that began early Saturday.
“He 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,” the US president wrote.
“This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country,” he said. “Hopefully, the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] and Police will peacefully merge with the Iranian Patriots.”
Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there were “growing signs” that Khamenei had been killed. The Reuters news agency, quoting a senior Israeli official, also reported that Khamenei’s body had been located.
However, Iran’s Tasnim and Mehr news agencies said Khamenei remained “steadfast and firm in commanding the field”.
In what appeared to be a rebuttal, the head of public relations at Khamenei’s office accused Iran’s adversaries of engaging in “mental warfare”.
“The enemy is resorting to mental warfare; all should be aware,” the official was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera correspondent Tohid Asadi said there has been no official confirmation from Iranian authorities regarding Khamenei’s death. He noted that Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told NBC News earlier that, “as far as I know”, the supreme leader and other senior officials were in good health.
Khamenei has served as Iran’s Supreme Leader since 1989, succeeding the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the 1979 revolution. The Supreme Leader wields ultimate authority over the government, armed forces and judiciary, and also holds the country’s highest religious position.
Barbara Slavin, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, told Al Jazeera that Iran “has a plan” should Khamenei’s death be verified.
“There will probably be a council that will be set up to run the country. It may already have been running the country, as far as we know,” she said.
Strikes Continue, Casualties Mount
Saturday’s assaults reportedly hit 24 provinces, leaving at least 201 people dead, according to Iranian media citing the Iranian Red Crescent Society.
Among the sites targeted were two schools. Israeli strikes reportedly killed at least 108 people at the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in the southern city of Minab, and two others at a school east of Tehran.
Netanyahu said several “senior figures” had been “eliminated” in attacks targeting top leaders, while Trump urged the overthrow of Iran’s government. Israel had killed “commanders in the Revolutionary Guard and senior officials in the nuclear programme. And we will continue,” Netanyahu said.
Trump wrote that “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would persist “uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary”.
Iran’s retaliatory strikes later triggered air-defence responses in countries hosting US military assets, including Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the third and fourth waves of “retaliatory” attacks were under way, according to IRNA.
UN Urges De-escalation
At a rare emergency session of the UN Security Council, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed regret that a diplomatic opportunity had been “squandered”.
“Military action carries the risk of igniting a chain of events that no one can control in the most volatile region of the world,” he said. “I call for de-escalation and an immediate cessation of hostilities”.
Guterres added he could not confirm Israeli reports of Khamenei’s death.
Iran’s UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, told the council that the US and Israel had “initiated an unprovoked and premeditated aggression”.
“This is not only an act of aggression, it is a war crime, and a crime against humanity,” he said, condemning attacks on populated urban areas.
US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz defended the operation as lawful. “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” he said. “That principle is not a matter of politics. It’s a matter of global security.”
China’s UN envoy Fu Cong voiced concern over “the sudden escalation of regional tensions”, while Russia’s ambassador Vassily Nebenzia condemned the US-Israeli strikes and urged them to “immediately cease their aggressive actions”.