Trump & Iran confirm supreme leader Khamenei is dead after US-Israel airstrikes

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, has been confirmed dead by U.S. President Donald Trump and Iranian state media after the airstrikes.

The Washington Post reported that four Israeli security officials said Khamenei was killed in his Tehran compound by an airstrike aimed at Iran's top military and civilian leaders. 

Khamenei's death was first confirmed by Trump in a Truth Social post on Mar. 1, 2026.

Trump called Khamenei "one of the most evil people in history", and urged Iranians "to take back their country", calling this their "single greatest chance".  

According to Reuters, Iranian state media reported that Khamenei was carrying out his assigned duties and was present at his office and that the attack happened in the early hours of Saturday morning.

40 days of public mourning have been announced, and Iran's state media has said that they will launch an offensive operation towards Israel and the U.S. bases.

Embodied anti-Western rule

Before the confirmation of his death, Reuters also reported that Khamenei's daughter, grandchild, daughter-in-law and son-in-law were killed in the U.S. airstrikes.

Khamenei took part in the street protests that eventually led to the Shah's exile on Jan. 16, 1979, and he began his political journey after winning a seat in the Iranian parliament in 1980 as a founding member of the Islamic Republican Party.

He ran for president in an October 1981 special election, which he won in a landslide.

After his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, died in June 1989, Khamenei led the Islamic Republic of Iran since 1989, opposed the U.S. and Israel and rejected Western "liberalism", according to The Washington Post.

He also had the final say in Iran's July 2015 nuclear accord that restricted Iran's nuclear program in exchange for the easing of economic sanctions.

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Top image via AFP and Wikipedia.