Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, was killed, Iranian state media has confirmed, in the opening salvo of a war the US and Israel launched with the aim of regime change.
Khamenei had not been heard from since the strikes began, and satellite imagery showed that his secure compound was heavily damaged in the initial barrage on Saturday.
The confirmation came early on Sunday, hours after Donald Trump announced the death of the ayatollah, who has ruled Iran as supreme leader since 1989, in a post on Truth Social.https://interactive.guim.co.uk/uploader/embed/2026/03/archive-zip/giv-32554ZJLgOoNxBuRp/?dark=false
“Khamenei, one of the most evil people in history, is dead,” Trump wrote. “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.”
Trump said that the goal of the military campaign, which began on Saturday morning with a barrage of missiles and airstrikes, was regime change.
“This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country,” he wrote.
“We are hearing that many of their IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps], Military, and other Security and Police Forces, no longer want to fight, and are looking for Immunity from us.”
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, had earlier said there were “many signs” Khamenei was “no longer alive”, and Israeli officials briefed media that his body had been recovered.
Iranian media reported on Sunday that the daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter of Khamenei had also been killed in Saturday’s strikes. The semi-official Fars news agency, which has links to the IRGC, reported: “After establishing contact with informed sources in the supreme leader’s household, the news of the martyrdom of the daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter of the revolutionary leader has unfortunately been confirmed.”
Early on Sunday, Israel’s military said it had launched another wave of strikes against Iran’s ballistic missile and air defence systems. US Central Command said on Sunday it was “now delivering swift and decisive action as directed”.
In Israel, alerts sounded repeatedly overnight to warn of incoming Iranian attacks. A 50-year-old woman was killed on Saturday night when a missile struck Tel Aviv, the first fatality in Israel since the war began, media reported. Around 120 people have been injured.
Iran also launched new strikes targeting US military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, while there were reports of explosions in the UAE. Shrapnel from an Iranian missile attack killed one person in Abu Dhabi, state media said, and debris from aerial interceptions caused fires at Dubai’s main port and on the facade of the iconic Burj Al Arab hotel.
The death of Iran’s supreme leader is a significant early success in the joint US-Israeli operation, which began with waves of air attacks across the country and have plunged the Middle East into a new regional conflict with no certain timeline or outcome.
Khamenei has carried a political heft unmatched by any other serving Iranian official, military or religious leader.
Iran’s assembly of experts, a council of religious leaders, should convene to select a new supreme leader when Khamenei has died, although analysts indicated that the ultraconservative IRGC may be better positioned to consolidate power.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei and another top official will lead Iran in the transitional period following Khamenei’s death, state media reported.
Iran’s also confirmed on Sunday that the chief of the Revolutionary Guards – Gen Mohammad Pakpour – and another top security adviser – were killed in Saturday’s attacks.
Netanyahu said that Israeli strikes had also killed “several leaders” involved in the Iranian nuclear programme and that strikes against sites linked to the programme would continue in the coming days.
