[Editor’s Note: Follow Khaleej Times live blog amid Israeli, US strikes on Iran for the latest regional developments.]
Thousands of mourners gathered on Sunday in the centre of Iran’s capital after the death of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to AFP journalists.
The mourners, dressed mostly in black and some crying, chanted “death to America” and “death to Israel” in Enghelab (Revolution) Square, with many waving Iran’s flags and holding photos of Khamenei.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed on Saturday, state media confirmed, after the United States and Israel launched the most ambitious attack on Iranian targets in decades.
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Iranian state media announced Khamenei’s death early on Sunday. A senior Israeli official told Reuters earlier that the Iranian leader’s body had been found after a strike and US President Donald Trump said the United States worked closely with Israel to target the man who led Iran since 1989.
Iran has called the strikes unprovoked and illegal and responded with missiles fired at Israel and at least seven other countries, including Gulf states that host US bases.
Trump, making the biggest foreign-policy gamble of his presidency after campaigning for reelection as a “peace president,” said the strikes were aimed at ending a decades-long threat from Iran and ensuring it could not develop a nuclear weapon.
Intelligence and tracking systems monitored Khamenei’s whereabouts, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post, adding that “there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do.”
Trump reiterated calls for Iranians to topple the government but warned: “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!”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Khamenei’s compound had been destroyed.
Three sources familiar with the matter said Iranian Defence Minister Amir Nasirzadeh and Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammed Pakpour were among those killed in the attacks.
Israel’s military said it had confirmed that five other senior military commanders were also dead, including Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader. Iranian media had said Khamenei’s daughter, grandchild, son-in-law and daughter-in-law were also killed.
