Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme chief of Iran, was killed within the U.S.-Israeli assault on the nation Saturday, President Donald Trump stated.
“This isn’t solely Justice for the folks of Iran, however for all Nice People, and people folks from many Nations all through the World, which were killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS,” Trump stated in a social media put up.
Iranian state TV confirmed Khamenei’s loss of life Saturday night time.
Khamenei, 86, had led Iran for the reason that 1989 loss of life of its founding supreme chief, Ruhollah Khomeini, who dominated the nation for 10 years after toppling the nation’s final shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
An image launched by the workplace of Iran’s supreme chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on March 20, 2014, exhibits him addressing the nation on the event of Noruz, the Iranian New 12 months, in Tehran. Witnesses stated on Feb. 28, 2026, that loud cheers echoed throughout components of Tehran and residents took to their home windows to applaud and play celebratory music after reviews of Iranian supreme chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s loss of life.
KHAMENEI.IR by way of AFP by way of Getty Photographs
Khamenei had vowed in the course of the Iran-Israel battle of 2025 that Iran wouldn’t give up.
“Battle can be met with conflict, bombing with bombing, and strike with strike. Iran is not going to undergo any calls for or dictates,” Khamenei stated in feedback printed on June 17, 2025, by Tasnim, Iran’s semiofficial state information company.
Earlier than his decades-long rule as Iran’s supreme chief, Khamenei served because the nation’s president from 1981 to 1989.
He was hand-picked by Khomeini to succeed him.
On this June 26, 2025, handout picture, Iranian Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei seems amongst his supporters for the primary time for the reason that Iran-Israel conflict, in Tehran, Iran.
Workplace of the Supreme Chief of Iran by way of Getty Photographs
The supreme chief is “successfully Iran’s chief for all times, per the structure,” in line with the D.C.-based assume tank Council on Overseas Relations.
It’s unclear who will succeed Khamenei, as no successor has been publicly named.
Trump has additionally indicated he expects his administration could have say over putting in new management in Iran, however he has not publicly shared a plan for what ought to occur subsequent and the state of affairs within the nation stays unstable.
Born in Mashhad, Iran, Khamenei studied to be a cleric earlier than changing into a key determine within the Iranian revolution. He was arrested and exiled for 3 years in the course of the reign of Pahlavi, the final shah of Iran, who was deposed and exiled in 1979.
ABC Information’ Shannon Kingston contributed to this story.
Editor’s be aware: This story has corrected that Khamenei was born in in Iran, not Iraq.
