In a dramatic revelation, President Donald Trump announced that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, was killed in a joint U.S.-Israeli military operation on Saturday. This statement marks a significant development in international relations and Middle Eastern politics.
President Trump took to social media to express his thoughts on the matter, stating, “This is not only justice for the people of Iran but also for all great Americans and individuals from many nations worldwide who have suffered or lost their lives due to Khamenei and his band of ruthless thugs.”
As of now, there has been no official confirmation from Iranian authorities regarding the death of Khamenei. The absence of an official statement leaves room for speculation and uncertainty about the situation’s authenticity and its potential repercussions.
Ayatollah Khamenei, aged 86 at the time of his reported death, had been at the helm of Iran’s leadership since 1989, following the death of the country’s founding supreme leader, Ruhollah Khomeini. Khomeini had previously led the nation for a decade after the overthrow of the last monarch, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Throughout his tenure, Khamenei was known for his staunch stance against foreign intervention in Iran’s affairs. During the 2025 Iran-Israel conflict, he had declared that Iran would never capitulate. “War will be met with war, bombing with bombing, and strike with strike. Iran will not submit to any demands or dictates,” Khamenei asserted in a statement released by Tasnim, Iran’s semiofficial state news agency, on June 17, 2025.
“War will be met with war, bombing with bombing, and strike with strike. Iran will not submit to any demands or dictates,” Khamenei said in comments published on June 17, 2025, by Tasnim, Iran’s semiofficial state news agency.
Iran live updates: Trump confirms Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is dead
Before his decades-long rule as Iran’s supreme leader, Khamenei served as the country’s president from 1981 to 1989.
He was hand-picked by Khomeini to succeed him.
The supreme leader is “effectively Iran’s leader for life, per the constitution,” according to the D.C.-based think tank Council on Foreign Relations.
It is unclear who will succeed Khamenei, as no successor has been publicly named.
Trump has also indicated he expects his administration will have say over installing new leadership in Iran, but he has not publicly shared a plan for what should happen next and the situation in the country remains volatile.
Born in Najaf, Iraq, to an ethnic Azerbaijani father and an ethnic Persian mother, Khamenei studied to be a cleric before becoming a key figure in the Iranian revolution. He was arrested and exiled for three years during the reign of Pahlavi, the last shah of Iran, who was deposed and exiled in 1979.
ABC News’ Shannon Kingston contributed to this story.
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