Donald Trump has announced that Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, was killed today following a predawn assault on the country carried out by the United States and Israel.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump declared that Khamenei “is dead,” describing him as “one of the most evil people in history” and calling his death “justice for the people of Iran.”
“Khamenei, one of the most evil people in history, is dead,” Trump wrote. “This is not only justice for the people of Iran, but for all great Americans, and those people from many countries throughout the world, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty thugs.”
Trump said bombing in Iran would continue “as long as necessary” to “achieve peace in the Middle East.” Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had claimed there were “many signs” indicating that Khamenei had been killed.
Trump confirmed that the U.S. had carried out “major combat operations” in Iran. The Israeli military later said that approximately 200 warplanes were involved in the attack.
According to a local governor, at least 108 people were killed in a strike on a girls’ primary school in southern Iran, most of them children. The Iranian Red Crescent Society said, according to Iranian media, that at least 201 people were killed in the U.S.-Israeli strikes.
Iranian forces reportedly retaliated with strikes on U.S. and Israeli military bases across the Middle East after cities, including Tehran, were hit early Saturday.
Khamenei, 86, had led the Islamic Republic since 1989 as Iran’s highest political and religious authority and was a central figure in the country’s military and nuclear strategy.
