The 86-year-old has ruled Iran since 1989
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been killed in US-Israeli strikes on Iran, Israeli officials have said. The assassination of the 86-year-old leader of the Islamic Republic, who had no designated successor, would throw its future into doubt and raise the prospect of a protracted conflict given Iranian threats of retaliation.
In a nationally televised address, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this evening there were ‘growing signs’ that Mr Khamenei had been killed when Israel struck his compound early on Saturday. Shortly after the address, two officials told the Associated Press that Israel had confirmed his death.
Mr Khamenei succeeded Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, in 1989. He had the final say on all major policies, leading Iran’s clerical establishment and its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard – the two main centres of power in the country’s theocracy.
Click here to prioritise Manchester news in Google from the MEN
Asked about reports that Mr Khamenei was killed in air strikes on Saturday, US President Donald Trump said: “We feel that that is a correct story.” In a brief phone interview with NBC News, he said “a large amount of leadership” of Iran had been killed, adding: “I don’t mean like two people.”
He also said “most” of Iran’s senior leadership is “gone”, including many people who make decisions. Asked who might become Iran’s new supreme leader, Mr Trump said “I don’t know but at some point they’ll be calling me to ask who I’d like” before noting he was being “only being a little sarcastic” in suggesting that.
The Israeli military said the strikes also killed Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and defence minister Aziz Nasirzadeh. Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the Iranian Security Council and a close adviser to Mr Khamenei, and Mohammad Shirazi, the head of Mr Khamenei’s military bureau, were also said to have been killed.
Iranian state media, citing the Red Crescent, said at least 201 people had been killed. The first strikes appeared to target the Supreme Leader’s compound in central Tehran.
But there are conflicting reports coming out of Iran about Mr Khamenei’s death. Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told NBC News that Mr Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian are alive “as far as I know”. Al Jazeera has also reported that Iran’s semi-official news agencies Tasnim and Mehr are reporting that the supreme leader is ‘steadfast and firm in commanding the field’.