Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been killed in a large-scale military operation by the United States and Israel, Iranian state media and multiple international sources confirmed, triggering a major escalation in a conflict that has spread across the Middle East.
Iran’s state broadcasters announced early on Sunday that the 86-year-old leader died after an airstrike hit his compound in Tehran during an offensive launched late on Saturday. The joint Israeli–American campaign was presented by both capitals as a coordinated effort to target the country’s senior leadership and strategic military infrastructure, according to statements from Israeli and U.S. officials.
Iran declared 40 days of national mourning following the announcement of Khamenei’s death. The strikes were among the most extensive on Iranian soil in decades, and state media reported that other senior military officials, including commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, were also killed in the initial barrage.
Within hours of the strikes, Iran’s armed forces responded with missile and drone attacks against Israeli territory and U.S. military bases across the Gulf region, including sites in countries such as Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Casualties and damage were reported in several locations as the exchanges continued into Sunday.
The conflict has already exacted a heavy toll. Preliminary figures from emergency services and aid organisations indicate that hundreds of people have been killed and many more injured in Iran alone since the strikes began, with significant infrastructure damage reported across multiple provinces.
In Tehran, officials described the operation as an act of war. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian termed the killing of Khamenei a great crime and said Tehran would pursue its own military response.
World powers reacted sharply. The United States defended the campaign as necessary to counter what it called a range of threats from Tehran, while Russia’s President Vladimir Putin condemned the killing as a cynical murder, saying it violated international law. China also criticised the strikes, calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
Israeli officials have said that strikes would continue as required, with President Donald Trump instructing that heavy and pinpoint bombing of Iranian targets would proceed.
The death of Khamenei — Iran’s second supreme leader since the 1979 Islamic Revolution — leaves the Islamic Republic’s political future uncertain. His authority encompassed all branches of Iran’s government and its military. Tehran’s constitution calls for the Assembly of Experts to select a successor, but analysts say the process is likely to unfold amid heightened tension and ongoing conflict.
The regional impact has been immediate, with airspace closures, disrupted civil aviation and concerns about broader instability as governments and markets around the world respond to the rapidly changing security situation.