Updated Feb. 28, 2026 — By Elizabeth Palmer
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was reported killed after a large-scale U.S. and Israeli military operation on Saturday, U.S. and Israeli officials said, and Iranian state media later confirmed. President Trump announced the development on social media, calling Khamenei “one of the most evil people in History” and saying heavy, pinpoint bombing would continue as needed to secure “peace throughout the Middle East and, indeed, the world.” He added that U.S. officials were 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 died in the operation, 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, an agency associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the state-run IRNA also reported that Khamenei died in the attack. An Israeli broadcaster said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been shown a photo of Khamenei’s body. Reports said people were celebrating in parts of Tehran.
Khamenei, 86, had led Iran since 1989, succeeding Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. As supreme leader he served as commander-in-chief, the highest religious authority and the most powerful figure across Iran’s political and military establishments. He controlled senior appointments across the executive, legislative and judicial branches and depended heavily on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to enforce the regime’s authority. Who will succeed him is unclear.
Born in Mashhad, Khamenei trained in religious seminaries and was a disciple of Khomeini. He joined the 1979 Islamic Revolution, served briefly as deputy defense minister and was president of Iran from 1981 to 1989. On June 4, 1989, the Guardian Council elected him supreme leader. Lacking Khomeini’s singular religious stature, he consolidated power by building a network of loyalists, particularly within the Revolutionary Guard.
Analysts long described Khamenei as a pragmatic operator who managed competing political factions to maintain control. Critics accused his government of corruption and suppressing dissent. Sanam Vakil of Chatham House has said Khamenei relied on loyalty and loyalists to preserve the system and that public support for the revolutionary clergy declined during his tenure.
In 2003 Khamenei issued a fatwa forbidding the production, stockpiling or use of weapons of mass destruction, while also permitting expansion of Iran’s nuclear program for what Iranian leaders insisted were peaceful purposes. A U.S. intelligence assessment in May 2025 said Iran was “almost certainly is not producing nuclear weapons,” though it had taken steps that would position it to build them if it chose. Israeli officials, including Mr. Netanyahu, had long warned that Iran could be months to a year away from the capability to build a bomb.
Khamenei’s relationship with the United States was shaped by decades of mutual distrust dating back to the 1953 CIA-backed coup and the 1979 hostage crisis. He supported the hostage-taking and repeatedly called America the regime’s principal adversary. After the U.S. withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement in 2018, Khamenei used the move to argue that Western powers could not be trusted. In the months before his reported death, U.S. leaders sought talks to limit Iran’s nuclear program, but negotiations faltered over Iran’s refusal to stop enrichment.
The later years of Khamenei’s rule were marked by domestic unrest. Economic decline and allegations of corruption fueled repeated protests; some demonstrators chanted slogans that once would have been unthinkable, including calls against the supreme leader. Authorities repeatedly used force to disperse demonstrations, and analysts say Khamenei’s legitimacy eroded as public loyalty to revolutionary ideals weakened amid economic and social change.
Khamenei rarely traveled abroad, gave no interviews and maintained a tightly controlled public profile. Periodic health concerns, including a 2014 prostate operation, prompted speculation about his vitality, but he remained the central overseer of Iran’s clerical state until the events of the strike.
The reported killing of Khamenei and senior figures in the attack represents an unprecedented rupture in Iran’s post-revolutionary history, removing the central figure who shaped the country’s domestic and foreign policy for more than three decades. The immediate aftermath is likely to be volatile: Iran’s political system will face contested succession dynamics; security forces and regional proxies may respond; and international tensions—already elevated—could intensify. Domestic reactions are likely to range from public celebration in some quarters to mourning and mobilization among hard-line elements and the Revolutionary Guard.
Beyond succession, the strike has broader regional implications: potential retaliation by Iran or its allies, shifts in the balance of power among Iranian factions, and altered calculations in global diplomacy and security over Iran’s nuclear program and military posture. International observers will be watching Iran’s key institutions—the Supreme Leader’s office, the Guardian Council, the Assembly of Experts, the presidency and the Revolutionary Guard—to see who consolidates control and how Tehran handles internal dissent and external pressure.