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The United States and Israel carried out coordinated strikes that Israeli officials say killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, touching off a dramatic shift in a volatile region and confirming a decisive U.S. policy posture under President Trump known as Operation Epic Fury.
Israeli sources told Reuters that Khamenei was killed during the strikes, a claim that, if true, marks a historic and dangerous turning point. Washington publicly acknowledged the operation early Saturday, and the recovery of Khamenei’s body was reported by international correspondents citing Israeli officials.
President Trump announced the strikes as Operation Epic Fury and posted a video to Truth Social confirming U.S. involvement and framing the action as necessary to protect American interests. The president has made a point of saying the operation targeted the regime’s senior decision makers and hinted that key leadership had been neutralized.
Senior israeli official to Reuters: Khamenei dead, his body has been found.
— Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) February 28, 2026
Video on X appeared to show Khamenei’s residence had been hit during the strikes, with a woman claiming, “They hit the Supreme Leader[‘s] compound.” Reports and footage circulating from the scene added to the immediate sense that Iran’s command structure suffered a significant blow.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu there were increasing indications Khamenei did not survive in earlier remarks to the Israeli people Saturday. “Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed his country with an update saying that the Israelis targeted the compound of Iran’s Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei. And Netanyahu goes on to say there are many signs that he is no longer,” Fox News Chief Foreign Correspondent Trey Yingst reported on air. “Again, not confirmation that he was killed, but the Israelis think they were successful in the strike against Iran’s Supreme Leader.”
During a Saturday interview with NBC News, Trump appeared to concur with the Israeli assessment and stressed that removing threat actors was the aim. “We feel that that is a correct story,” Trump reportedly said, adding, “The people that make all the decisions, most of them are gone.”
Fox News National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin that five to ten other leadership figures in Iran’s theocratic regime were also killed in the strike. That kind of decapitation strike, from a U.S. and allied perspective, is intended to disrupt command-and-control and blunt immediate retaliation capacities.
Khamenei had repeatedly threatened the United States and its leaders, including provocative imagery and rhetoric in recent months that escalated tensions. In January 2026 he published threats against President Trump and even portrayed the president in a coffin, a provocation that Washington said could not be disregarded, and Trump warned Iran in turn he would “wipe [Iran] off the face of this earth.”
Trump had also publicly warned Iran not to execute protesters or otherwise brutalize dissidents, and he raised the prospect of military consequences if the regime crossed certain lines. While some of the specific executions he referenced were not carried out, the regime has been blamed for widespread lethal crackdowns on demonstrators over recent years.
In June 2025 the United States struck multiple Iranian facilities tied to nuclear work, deploying heavy ordnance and long-range bombers in an operation that reportedly inflicted significant damage without American casualties. That operation underscored a new willingness by the U.S. to strike sensitive sites and degrade Tehran’s strategic capabilities when necessary.
Khamenei rose from anti-Shah activism in the 1960s into the inner circles of the Islamic Republic after 1979, serving in several senior posts before becoming president and later Supreme Leader following Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s death. His tenure was defined by strict clerical rule at home, harsh suppression of dissent, and support for proxy actors across the region that carried out attacks against Israel and U.S. allies.
These strikes and the reported deaths of top Iranian figures will reshape regional calculations, provoke immediate diplomatic and security responses, and test the resolve of American and allied commitments. The unfolding aftermath will determine whether the operation achieves strategic gains or escalates into wider conflict.