Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei passed away, and Iran's official television has declared 40 days of public mourning and seven days of public holidays.
Currently, images of Khamenei with a Quranic recital in the backdrop and a black banner in the upper left corner are displayed on Iran's national TV news channel, IRINN.
The host had earlier read a statement from Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) formally confirming Khamenei's death and accusing Israel and the United States of being responsible. Khamenei's "martyrdom" will mark the start of "an uprising in the fight against the oppressors," according to the statement.
President Trump had earlier declared the death of Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei. His entire post on his Truth Social Platform may be seen here:
Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead. This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS. 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. This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country. We are hearing that many of their IRGC, Military, and other Security and Police Forces, no longer want to fight, and are looking for Immunity from us. As I said last night, “Now they can have Immunity, later they only get Death!” Hopefully, the IRGC and Police will peacefully merge with the Iranian Patriots, and work together as a unit to bring back the Country to the Greatness it deserves. That process should soon be starting in that, not only the death of Khamenei but the Country has been, in only one day, very much destroyed and, even, obliterated. The heavy and pinpoint bombing, however, will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Here's more on US President Donald Trump's Truth Social post. He claims that this is justice for all Great Americans, not just the Iranian people. Working closely with Israel, he was unable to evade our highly sophisticated tracking systems and intelligence, and neither he nor the other commanders who were slain with him could do anything."He continues, "This is the Iranian people's best opportunity to reclaim their country."
The 86-year-old was murdered in an airstrike that targeted his compound in downtown Tehran, according to state media. Airbus's satellite images revealed the site was extensively bombarded.
According to state TV, his passing at work "showed that he consistently stood among the people and at the forefront of his responsibilities, confronting what officials call global arrogance."
This "great crime will never go unanswered," the Iranian Cabinet cautioned.
When news of Khamenei's passing first began to circulate late on Saturday, Iranians in Tehran, the country's capital, applauded from rooftops and their homes.
Trump posted on social media, saying, "Khamenei, one of the most evil people in history, is dead." He issued a warning of "heavy and pinpoint bombing," which he claimed would go on for the duration of the week and possibly longer, as part of a deadly assault that the United States has defended as being required to neutralize the nation's nuclear weapons.
The attack marked a startling display of military power for an American president who swept into office on a platform of "America First" and pledged to stay out of "forever wars." It also opened a stunning new chapter in U.S. intervention in Iran and carried the risk of retaliatory violence and a wider war.
Since there was no recognized successor and the 86-year-old supreme leader had the last word on all significant matters throughout his decades in office, Khamenei's death in the second Trump administration attack on Iran in eight months seemed set to leave a leadership void. He was in charge of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary group, and the country's religious establishment, which were the two primary hubs of the country's theocracy.
US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has described the US and Israeli strikes on Iran as “the most lethal, most complex, and most-precision aerial operation in history”.
In a post on X, he repeated Trump’s warnings that Iran’s missile production capabilities and its navy will be destroyed, and that “Iran will never have a nuclear weapon”.
“The Iranian regime had refused to make a deal — and now they are suffering the consequences,” he said, adding:
The United States did not start this conflict, but we will finish it. If you kill or threaten Americans anywhere in the world — as Iran has — then we will hunt you down, and we will kill you.”
Throughout his 36-year reign, Khamenei remained staunch in his hatred of Israel and the United States as well as any attempts to modernize Iran and bring it into the twenty-first century.
In the northeastern Iranian Shia Muslim holy city of Mashhad, Khamenei was born in July 1939 into a devout family and went to theological school. Khamenei, a vocal opponent of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was supported by the United States, was incarcerated multiple times.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who became Iran's first supreme leader after the country's Islamic Revolution in the late 1970s, was among the other Iranian militants who surrounded him.
