Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, Is Dead, Trump and Israeli Officials Say; New Government Emerges as a Key War Aim

President Trump is confirming that the Iranian regime’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, was killed in the first salvo of the current war. The attack on the extremist 86-year-old leader, who ruled the country since 1989, is meant to promote regime change in Iran.“Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” Mr. Trump wrote Saturday evening on this Truth Social site. “This is not only justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans.”Mr. Trump said the ayatollah, who had ruled Iran since June 1989, “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.“This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country,” Trump said.An Israeli official, speaking on condition of not being identified, confirmed the death earlier Saturday to The New York Sun.“In this early morning’s forceful attack, we destroyed the compound of the dictator Khamanei at the heart of Tehran,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address just before the official confirmation. “For three and a half decades, that cruel dictator terrorized the world, brutalized his own people and constantly worked on a plan to destroy Israel. That plan is gone. And signs are growing that the dictator is gone too.”Mr. Netanyahu’s statement came as Israeli intelligence reportedly managed to locate the ayatollah’s body. Several Israeli press reports earlier expressed growing confidence about the death of the ayatollah, along with the top echelon of the Islamic Republic’s leadership. According to some reports, Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, long groomed to be his heir, also perished in the morning attack. The 8 a.m. attack was unusual for two air forces that normally launch wars at night. It relied on intelligence reports that the top Iranian leadership was gathering at the compound at that time. In addition to the top ayatollah, the targets included President Massoud Pezeshkian; the closest adviser to Khamenei, Ali Shamkhani; and the secretary of the National Security Council, Ali Larijani. The commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Mohammad Pakpour, and the defense minister, Amir Nasirzadeh, are believed dead, Reuters reports. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi tried to present a brave face in a marathon of interviews to Western news outlets. Several military commanders might have been killed, he acknowledged, but “almost all officials are safe and sound and alive.” Mr. Khamenei is alive and well “as far as I know,” he told NBC News. The Israeli and American choice of targeting the top Tehran leadership indicates that replacing the Islamic Republic regime with a new government is a top war aim. “Help has arrived,” Mr. Netanyahu said in his speech, echoing Mr. Trump’s vow last month that “help is on its way.”Mr. Netanyahu called on Iranians, including the country’s minorities, to not miss “a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” and said that soon a moment will come “when you must take to the streets in your masses, to take to the streets to complete the work to bring down the regime of horrors that embitters your lives.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, Is Dead, Trump and Israeli Officials Say; New Government Emerges as a Key War Aim

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