Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the United States, throwing the future of the Islamic Republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability.
Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news announced the 86-year-old's death early Sunday. President Donald Trump had announced his death hours earlier, saying it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back”
their country.
The announcements came after a joint U.S. and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” was to continue through the week or as long as necessary.
The strikes opened a stunning new chapter in U.S. intervention in Iran, marking the second time in eight months that the Trump administration has attacked the country during talks over its nuclear program. The reported killing of Khamenei after decades in power appeared certain to create a significant leadership vacuum given the absence of a known successor and because the Supreme Leader had final say on all major policies.
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A global shipping firm has instructed its vessels inside the Persian Gulf, and bound to the Persian Gulf, to shelter, citing the rapid military escalation between the U.S., Israel and Iran, and restrictions on traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The company, CMA CGM, said on its website that it has suspended the passage of its vessels through the Suez Canal, a crucial waterway connecting the Red and Mediterranean seas.
“Vessels will be rerouted via the Cape of Good Hope,” it said.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard warned Sunday that a “severe, decisive and regret-inducing punishment” would be coming over Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s killing.
The Guard, which answered only to Khamenei, issued the statement after state media acknowledged the 86-year-old leader’s killing.
“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and what it called the vast popular Basij forces will powerfully continue the path of their leader in defending his legacy, standing firm against internal and external plots and delivering what it described as a lesson-giving punishment to aggressors against the Islamic homeland,” it added.
Iran’s Cabinet warned early Sunday that this “great crime will never go unanswered” after a U.S.-Israeli campaign killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The statement came after Iranian state media reported Khamenei, 86, had been killed in an airstrike targeting his compound in downtown Tehran.
On Iranian state television, an anchor broke in to read the announcement of Khamenei’s death.
“To the noble and proud people of Iran: With the ultimate grief and sorrow this is to inform you that following the barbaric attack by the criminal governments of America and the evil Zionist regime, the true example of faith, jihad and resistance, the Supreme Leader of the Revolution Grand Ayatollah Khamenei achieved the blessing of martyrdom,” the anchor said.
The daughter and son-in-law of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei were killed in the U.S.-Israeli attacks in Iran, according to semi-official news agency.
Also killed in Saturday's attacks were a grandchild and a daughter-in-law, Fars News Agency, citing unidentified sources. The agency didn’t provide further details.
Iran’s government declared 40 days of public mourning and a seven-day nationwide public holiday to commemorate Khamenei’s death.
Iranian state television described Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as being at his compound in downtown Tehran when the initial attack began. Satellite photos from Airbus showed the site heavily bombed.
The death of Iran's Supreme Leader at his office “showed that he consistently stood among the people and at the forefront of his responsibilities, confronting what officials call global arrogance,” state TV said.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, is dead, Iranian state media reported.
State television and the state-run IRNA news agency reported his death, without elaborating on a cause of death.
U.S. President Donald Trump had said he’d been killed in a joint American-Israeli operation targeting Iran.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he supports U.S. actions to prevent Iran threatening international peace and security.
"We support the United States acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent Iran continuing to threaten international peace and security,” Albanese posted on social media on Saturday.
The Arab League said the Israeli-US airstrikes on Iran are “a moment when the Arab-Israeli conflict has expanded into a full-scale regional war.”
Maged Abdelaziz, the 22-nation league’s U.N. observer, accused Israel of using the Iran war to evade ending its occupation of Palestinian territories and prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state – and to impose its “hegemony on the Middle East by using military means.”
Despite the announcement of some progress in U.S.-Iranian talks in Geneva two days ago, he told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council Saturday that Israel launched “a wanton military attack” claiming it “was intended to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.”
“At the same time, Israel itself refuses to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” he said., and it refuses to subject its nuclear facilities to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s nuclear safeguards regime.
The Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency will convene a special session at its headquarters in Vienna on Monday morning following a request from the Russian Federation, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said in a press release.
In a diplomatic note dated Feb. 28 and seen by the Associated Press, Russia’s Permanent Mission to the International Organizations in Vienna requested the convening of the special session “on matters related to military strikes of the United States and Israel against the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran that started in the morning of 28 February 2026, preceded by repeated open threats of such action, including against nuclear facilities under the IAEA safeguards.”
The special session of the Board of Governors will take place before the already scheduled regular session of the Board on Monday, the IAEA said.
In a rare and colorful exchange, the representatives of the United States and Iran exchanged warnings and direct rebuffs toward the end of the emergency session on Iran as military aggression between their countries risked spilling into a regional war.
After U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz responded to Iranian claims that America had violated international law, Tehran’s diplomat to the U.N. asked to speak again to issue a warning: “I advise to the representative of the United States to be polite. It will be better for yourself and the country you represent.”
Waltz responded immediately, saying, “This representative sits here, in this body, representing a regime that has killed tens of thousands of its own people, and imprisoned many more, simply for wanting freedom from your entire tyranny.”
Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon told an emergency meeting of the Security Council that Iranian chants of “Death to Israel, Death to America” and the burning of both countries’ flags were acts of “state-sanctioned hatred” and preparation for action.
“But today, alongside our ally the United States, we acted to stop … an existential threat before it became irreversible,” he said, stressing that Israel didn’t act on impulse or for aggression. “We acted out of necessity,” he said.
Danon said “diplomacy was exhausted.”
Addressing the Iranian people, he said the operation is directed “at a regime that has silenced you” and Israel stands “with you.”
Syria’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it “strongly condemns the Iranian attacks that targeted the sovereignty and security” of Gulf monarchies hit by barrages of Iranian missiles.
Under Bashar Assad, Syria was among Iran’s closest regional allies and a staunch critic of Israel, yet the statement made no mention of the Israeli or U.S. strikes that began the day, reflecting the new government's efforts to rebuild ties with regional economic heavyweights and the United States.
Amir Saeid Iravani, Iranian ambassador to the U.N., said hundreds of civilians have been killed or injured on the first day of the United States and Israel’s “unprovoked and premeditated aggression against Iran.”
“The aggression and atrocious crimes of the United States regime and the Israeli regime, and their deliberate and persistent targeting of civilian infrastructure, are ongoing,” he said during the emergency Security Council session. “This is not only an act of aggression; it is a war crime and a crime against humanity.”
Israel’s rescue services, Magen David Adom, said Saturday night that a woman in the Tel Aviv area had died after being injured in an Iranian missile attack.
It was the first death announced in Israel since the exchange of missiles began Saturday morning. It came after a heavy barrage of Iranian missiles targeted central Israel, damaging buildings and setting fires.
The service did not immediately identify the woman or give more details on what happened.
Magen David Adom says it has so far treated at least 90 people lightly injured in Israel and one man who was seriously injured.
Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, said Saturday that Israel and America will “regret their actions.”
“The brave soldiers and the great nation of Iran will deliver an unforgettable lesson to the hellish international oppressors,” Larijani posted on X.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has canceled a planned trip to Israel early next week following US and Israeli military strikes on Iran.
The State Department said the trip that had been set for Monday and Tuesday was now off. There was no indication if it would be rescheduled.
“Due to current circumstances, Secretary Rubio will no longer travel to Israel on March 2,” said Dylan Johnson, the assistant Secretary of State for public affairs.
Dubai International Airport — the largest in the United Arab Emirates and one of the busiest in the world — said Saturday that four people were injured as the Emirates condemned what it called a “blatant attack involving Iranian ballistic missiles.”
Strikes were also reported at other commercial airports in the region, including Kuwait International. Other airports closed and canceled flights.
U.S. President Donald Trump in his social media post said the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would not bring an end to the joint airstrikes by the U.S. and Israel.
“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!” Trump said.
The president stresses that his hope was for the Iranian government to join with the opposition.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on social media that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is dead, saying his passing is “the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country.”
The death occurred after a joint U.S. and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites.
Trump in his post called Khamenei “one of the most evil people in history.”
Trump said that Khamenei “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.”
U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview with ABC News he believes Iran’s supreme leader is dead.
The president was asked if Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in the Isreal-U.S. attack and he said, “We believe so.” But he also said: “I don’t want to say anything definitively until I see things but we believe he is. And much of their leaders are gone.”
Trump said the U.S. had “great intelligence” and that it believes much of the Iranian leadership “is gone.”
ABC News did not release audio of the interview.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the U.S. and Israeli airstrikes that “everything must be done to prevent a further escalation.”
“The alternative,” he warned, “is a potential wider conflict with grave consequences for civilians and regional stability.”
Guterres reiterated his earlier condemnation of the U.S. and Israeli airstrikes for violating Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and international law, including the U.N. Charter – and he also condemned Iran’s retaliatory attacks for violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service says rocket shrapnel from the latest Iranian missile attack has seriously injured a man in the Tel Aviv area. It marks the first serious injury to be reported in Israel since the exchange of missiles began. Magen David Adom says it has also treated 90 casualties, all in mild condition.
No one has been killed in Israel.
Danny Danon told reporters ahead of an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that Iran is responsible for escalating actions by its proxies and its nuclear and missile programs, and “now Israel and the U.S. act to prevent an irreversible and immediate threat.”
He did not respond to a question asking whether he could confirm the death of Iran’s supreme leader. But he said: “We will continue to target the leadership of the radical regime and we will do whatever necessary to enable the right conditions for the people of Iran and stability for the region.”
How long will it take? “As long as it will take to achieve the goals,” Danon replied.
Everyone is watching the situation on the ground, he said, and “the time for the Iranian people to take control of the future is very soon.
Asked about reports that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in airstrikes on Saturday, President Donald Trump said: “We feel that that is a correct story.”
In a brief phone interview with NBC News, Trump said “a large amount of leadership” of Iran had been killed, adding: “I don’t mean like two people.”
He also said “most” of Iran’s senior leadership is “gone,” including many people who make decisions.
Asked who might now become Iran’s new supreme leader, Trump joked, “I don’t know. But at some point they’ll be calling me to ask who I’d like” before noting he was being “only being a little sarcastic” in suggesting that.
Israel’s military has named some of the top members of Iran’s leadership it says were killed in its first round of Saturday strikes on Iran. Neither Iran nor the U.S. commented on or confirmed the claims.
Israel said the strikes killed Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iran's Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh.
The military also said its strikes took out Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the Iranian Security Council and a close adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and Mohammad Shirazi, the head of Khamenei’s military bureau.
Israeli officials told The Associated Press Saturday that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. or Iran on his status.
The killing of the second leader of the Islamic Republic, who had no designated successor, would throw its future into doubt.
In a nationally televised address, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there were “growing signs” that Khamenei had been killed when Israel struck his compound early Saturday.
Shortly after the address, two Israeli officials said Israel had confirmed his death. The officials both spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement and gave no further details.
A group calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq-Brigades of the Guardians of Blood in a statement claimed that it launched a drone attack on a U.S. base in Irbil, the capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region.
Earlier Saturday, a number of missiles and drones were intercepted over Irbil.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq is an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias that has previously launched attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria.
A senior Trump administration official says Iran’s conventional missile capability presented an “intolerable” risk to the U.S., and that that reality has since been demonstrated by Tehran’s strikes around the region after the U.S.-Israeli attack.
On a call with reporters, the official said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had briefed top leaders in Congress. Rubio made it clear then that Iran was ready to use conventional missiles against U.S. forces in the Middle East, the official said.
The official — who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details about Trump’s decision-making process that have not been publicly disclosed — added that Iran’s unwillingness to discuss ballistic missiles in previous negotiations left Trump no option but to proceed militarily.
Separately, Trump administration officials said on a phone call with reporters that they offered Iran many ways to have a peaceful nuclear program that could be used for civilian purposes.
But the officials said it was clear to them that Iran wanted enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon. The Trump administration officials said that Iran met their offers with “games, tricks, stall tactics.”
The officials requested anonymity to describe the rationale behind the joint military strikes on Iranian targets by the U.S. and Israel.
Hundreds of people demonstrated in Baghdad in support of Iran and against the attacks launched by Israel and the U.S.
Demonstrators carried posters of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, slain Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and the high Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
Demonstrators clashed with anti-riot police several times in the demonstration that was held near the heavily fortified Green Zone in the Iraqi capital.
Aerial footage posted to social media by U.S. Central Command showed U.S. munitions striking what appeared to be a variety of targets from drones to buildings.
The video montage was released Saturday afternoon. It showed black and white aerial footage of what appeared to be a drone on a runway, a radar tower, a missile battery, and a compound of buildings. They were all being struck by what seemed to be bombs or missiles and followed by large explosions.
The footage features the words “unclassified” at the top of the screen and a targeting reticle in the middle.
U.S. Central Command did not provide more details about the video.
European Union foreign ministers will meet virtually on Sunday to discuss the unfurling conflict in the Middle East, the bloc’s top diplomat said.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a social media post that she would hold a meet of the Foreign Affairs Council to work toward a de-escalation.
“It is essential that the war does not spread any further. The Iranian regime has choices to make,” Kallas said. “The Iranian regime’s indiscriminate attacks against its neighbors carry the risk of dragging the region into a broader war and we condemn this.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says there is growing evidence that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the U.S.-Israeli operation.
Speaking in a nationally televised address, Netanyahu said the strikes had targeted Khamenei’s compound. “There are growing signs that the tyrant is no longer alive,” he said.
Khamenei has not been seen in public since the operation began.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on the social media site X that President Donald Trump “has spoken with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, and the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte” after the strikes on Iran.
The president has yet to detail the strikes and the urgency behind them to the broader public.
The Israeli agency responsible for administering aid to Gaza said it has closed all crossings into the territory, preventing the entry of materials and aid workers.
In a post on X, COGAT said there is sufficient stockpiles of food in Gaza to get Palestinians there through an extended period, without providing evidence.
The agency said the crossings were closed for security reasons owing to the current missile exchange with Iran.
Israel’s police said the Dome of the Rock compound will be closed for Ramadan due to concerns over missile strikes with Iran.
All religious sites in Jerusalem’s Old City are closed, according to police.
The Israeli military has raised the alert level across the country and canceled all gatherings in public spaces. Schools and many workplaces are also closed.
Vice President JD Vance monitored the strikes on Iran from the Situation Room at the White House and dialed into a conference line with President Donald Trump and his team at Mar-a-Lago on Friday night into Saturday morning, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.
Vance was joined by Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, as well as the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, the person said.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, was at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday, a second person familiar with the situation said.
Both people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The Pentagon did not answer questions about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s whereabouts for the strike.
