Updated Feb. 28, 2026 — By Elizabeth Palmer
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed after a massive U.S. and Israeli military operation Saturday, U.S. and Israeli officials confirmed and Iranian state media later reported. President Trump announced the news on social media, calling Khamenei “one of the most evil people in History,” and said heavy, pinpoint bombing would continue as necessary to achieve “peace throughout the Middle East and, indeed, the world.” He added the U.S. was hearing that many IRGC, military and security forces no longer wanted to fight and were seeking immunity.
Israel’s military said seven Iranian officials and commanders were killed, including Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Khamenei. A senior U.S. intelligence official and multiple Israeli sources confirmed Khamenei’s death to CBS News. Tasnim, a semi-official agency associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the state-run IRNA news agency reported Khamenei died in the attack. An Israeli broadcaster said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been shown a photo of Khamenei’s body. People were reported cheering in the streets of Tehran.
Khamenei, 86, had been Iran’s supreme leader since 1989, succeeding Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. As supreme leader he was commander-in-chief, the ultimate religious authority and the most powerful figure in Iran’s political and military establishments. He controlled senior appointments across the executive, legislative and judicial branches, and relied heavily on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to enforce the regime’s authority. It is unclear who will succeed him.
Born in Mashhad, Khamenei studied in religious seminaries and was a pupil of Khomeini. He joined the 1979 Islamic Revolution, served briefly as deputy defense minister and was Iran’s president from 1981 to 1989. On June 4, 1989, Iran’s Guardian Council elected him supreme leader. Lacking the singular religious stature of Khomeini, he built a network of loyalists and cronies, especially within the Revolutionary Guard, to consolidate his power.
Analysts describe Khamenei as a pragmatic operator who balanced competing political factions to maintain control. Critics and observers long accused his government of corruption and of suppressing dissent. Sanam Vakil of Chatham House said the leader needed loyalty and loyalists for the system to survive, and that public support for the revolutionary clergy declined under his rule.
In 2003 Khamenei issued a fatwa forbidding the production, stockpiling or use of weapons of mass destruction. At the same time, he gave tacit backing to the expansion of Iran’s nuclear program, which Iranian leaders have insisted was for peaceful purposes. A U.S. intelligence assessment in May 2025 said Iran was “almost certainly is not producing nuclear weapons,” but had taken steps that would better position it to produce them if it chose to do so. Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, long warned Iran could be months to a year away from capability to build a bomb.
Khamenei’s relationship with the United States was defined by deep distrust dating back to the 1953 CIA-backed coup and the shah’s overthrow. He supported the 1979 hostage-taking of U.S. diplomats and later called America “the number one enemy” of Iran. After the U.S. withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018, Khamenei used the move to argue Western powers could not be trusted. In the months before his death, U.S. leaders sought negotiations to limit Iran’s nuclear program, but talks faltered over Iran’s refusal to halt enrichment.
Domestic unrest marked the latter years of Khamenei’s rule. Economic decline and corruption fueled protests, with young Iranians often chanting slogans once unthinkable, including “Death to the supreme leader.” Authorities repeatedly used force to suppress demonstrations. Analysts say Khamenei’s legitimacy eroded as public loyalty to revolutionary ideals declined and the country modernized.
Khamenei rarely traveled abroad, gave no interviews and kept a guarded public profile. Health scares over the years, including a 2014 prostate operation, fueled rumors about his vitality, but he remained the unflinching overseer of Iran’s clerical state until his death.
The killings in the strike and Khamenei’s death mark an unprecedented moment in Iran’s post-revolutionary history, removing the central figure who shaped its domestic and foreign policy for more than three decades. The immediate aftermath is likely to be volatile: Iran’s political system will confront a contested succession, security forces and regional proxies may react, and international tensions—already high—could escalate. Domestic reactions in Iran ranged from public celebrations reported in Tehran to likely mourning and mobilization among hard-line elements and the Revolutionary Guard.
In addition to leadership questions, the strike’s broader regional implications include potential retaliation by Iran or its regional allies, shifts in the balance of influence among Iranian factions, and new dynamics in global diplomatic and security calculations concerning Iran’s nuclear program and military posture. International observers will be watching Iran’s domestic power centers—the Supreme Leader’s office, the Guardian Council, the Assembly of Experts, the president, and the Revolutionary Guard—to see who consolidates control and how the state responds to both internal dissent and external pressure.