On Saturday, President Donald Trump announced that the United States had launched military strikes and «major combat operations» against Iran, with the aim of targeting the country’s missile capabilities.
An Israeli source has confirmed that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in joint strikes on Iran by Israel.
Reuters and CNN also reported that Khamenei had been killed during the operation.
«Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people,» Trump said, calling the strikes «a massive and ongoing operation.»More: US, Israel launch strikes on Iran. What we know so far.
Iran launched retaliatory drone and missile strikes against American and Israeli targets following the joint U.S.-Israeli attack, hitting a U.S. Navy base in Bahrain. Although no American service members were wounded or killed in the attacks, Iran said its enemies would be «decisively defeated».
Early on Saturday, images from Tehran showed smoke rising from the Iranian capital as residents ran for cover. Iran announced that at least 40 people had been killed in an attack on a girls’ school in the south of the country.
The conflict follows weeks of rising tensions, during which Trump repeatedly threatened to attack Iran if negotiations over its nuclear and missile development programmes were to fail.
Trump announces attack on Iran, tells US will ‘destroy’ its missiles
- «Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime,» President Trump said in a recorded message announcing the attack.
- In retaliation, Iran launched missiles and drones towards Israel, U.S. targets in the region, and U.S. allies.
- Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei was killed in the strikes, Israeli sources told USA TODAY, CNN and Reuters.
Ayatollah Khamenei killed in strike
According to Israeli sources cited by USA TODAY, CNN and Reuters, the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Saturday.
A Middle Eastern official familiar with the matter previously told us that Khamenei was specifically targeted in the attack. The country’s missile capabilities were also targeted.
Khamenei, aged 86, has led Iran since 1989. A close ally of Iran’s first supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, he previously served as president from 1981 to 1989. Khomeini led the 1979 revolution that overthrew the government and founded Iran’s Islamic Republic.
Earlier in the day, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told NBC News that Khamenei was still alive, «as far as I know».
