Ayatollah Killed After Strikes on Iran, Israel Claims

Iranians vow to keep retaliating...

This article originally appeared on ZeroHedge and was republished with permission.

Guest post by Tyler Durden

Summary: Currently, the biggest question is where’s the Ayatollah? Iran state TV teased an imminent speech to address the nation after the major US-Israeli attack, and in the wake of Iran’s retaliation on US regional bases - and the Gulf countries hosting them. There were earlier rumors that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed, but nothing is verifiable. He could be deep in a hidden underground bunker, at a command post, known only by his closest IRGC associates. There are also unverified reports that members of his own family may have been killed. Meanwhile in the US some Democratic Congressional leaders are demanding an immediate War Powers vote, and condemn the Trump-ordered attack as an unconstitutional war on a foreign nation which has not directly attacked the US.

• No U.S. casualties reported, 12 hours after Washington launched Operation Epic Fury alongside Israel, targeting Iran’s security and military infrastructure, CENTCOM says. Al Jazeera reporting over 200 killed in Iran. Likely the death toll will climb.

• AFP: Two Israeli TV networks report photo of Khamenei’s body shown to Trump, Netanyahu

• Israeli ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter told U.S. officials that Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei has been killed in the Israeli strike on his compound, a source with knowledge said (Axios).

• Jerusalem Post (unconfirmed): Israeli officials informed Khamenei assassinated in Iran strike, body said to be found in rubble. Iranian authorities themselves have not said this, and an information block/fog of war inside Iran persists.

• Israeli official says Khamenei killed; Trump: Regime really didn’t want a deal

• PressTV: The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has announced that it destroyed a sophisticated American radar system stationed in Qatar as part of its retaliatory attacks targeting US bases and assets in the region.

• “I can go long and take over the whole thing, or end it in two or three days and tell the Iranians: ‘See you again in a few years if you start rebuilding [your nuclear and missile programs],” Trump said in a five-minute phone interview from Mar-a-Lago (Axios).

• Trump calls for regime change. Will he commit ground troops to do it? Meanwhile Netanyahu addresses Iranian people, claiming “help has arrived.”

• Iran signals could be ready for de-escalation after regional missile barrage: Tehran indicates it does not want further escalation following retaliatory missile strikes on at least five countries, including Israel. Iranian state TV cancels a long-promised speech by Ayatollah Khamenei. An Israeli official says regime leaders cannot currently locate him. US strikes appear to have continued in waves on Saturday.

• Iran targets US military sites, not US mainland: Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi tells NBC News that Iran is striking US military facilities in the region, not “Americans in their land,” and says Tehran is ready to talk once US-Israeli strikes stop. He states Khamenei is alive “as far as I know” and confirms two commanders were killed but senior leadership remains in place.

• Senior Iranian commanders reported killed: Reuters cites sources saying Defense Minister Amir Nasirzadeh and IRGC commander Mohammed Pakpour were killed in Israeli strikes.

• Israeli strike allegedly hit girls’ elementary school in southern Iran: An airstrike in Minab, Hormozgan province, struck a primary school for girls, killing dozens, according to state media, underscoring the likely mounting civilian toll from the large-scale US-Israeli bombardment of Iran.

• Regional panic and military buildup: Gulf residents rush to stockpile supplies; the UAE reassures the public about reserves. The UK confirms aircraft are supporting US-Israeli operations.

• Operation Epic Fury expands: The US-Israeli campaign continues striking Iranian military infrastructure, senior leaders, and high-value targets across multiple cities. Satellite imagery shows severe damage to Khamenei’s compound in Tehran; his whereabouts remain unclear.

• Trump announced start of “major combat operations”: In an eight-minute address, President Trump says the US is conducting a “massive and ongoing operation” to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities and demands Iranian forces surrender or face “certain death.”

• Iran further threatens regional bases: Iranian Armed Forces spokesman Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi warns that any regional base used by the US or Israel will be targeted. Reports emerge of Iranian retaliatory strikes across the Middle East.

• Iran launches regional retaliation: Tehran fires missiles at Israel and US-linked assets in Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq. Explosions hit Tehran and other Iranian cities. Multiple countries close their airspace.

• Coordinated US-Israel strikes dubbed ‘Operation Epic Fury’: Washington and Tel Aviv launch joint attacks on Iranian targets after months of planning, following failed indirect nuclear talks. Trump frames the operation as eliminating “imminent threats” and calls on Iranians to “take over your government.”

* * *

Update (10:00ET): Will the chaos be contained, after Iran unleashed retaliatory missiles on at least five regional countries, including Israel? Iran is quickly signaling that it’s not willing to escalate this further, hoping for a halt in the US-Israeli operation:

Iran is attacking U.S. military facilities in the Middle East region and not “Americans in their land,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in his exclusive interview with NBC News.

He added that Tehran was interested in de-escalation and ready to talk once the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes end.

Amid rumors that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could be dead, after direct strikes on his main headquarters in the capital, Araghchi said that he is still alive “as far as I know.”

Araghchi is directly signaling the American side via an exclusive interview with NBC News. He spoke live from Tehran Saturday morning. He acknowledged that “two commanders had died but senior officials in the regime had survived including the head of the judiciary and the parliament speaker.”

“All high ranking officials are alive,” he said. “So everybody is now in its position, and we are handling this situation, and everything is fine.”

Iranian Defense Minister Amir Nasirzadeh and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Mohammed Pakpour were killed in Israeli strikes, according to two sources briefed on Israel’s military operations and one regional source, cited in Reuters.

As for finding the Ayatollah, he is probably deep in a hidden underground bunker that no one but his closest IRGC advisers know about. Americans need to be reminded that this is a country of over 90 million people and geographically is the size of half the European continent.

Bloomberg writes on the prospect of full regime change, which would likely require US boots on the ground:

Conflicting reports are circulating about who in Iran was targeted and whether the attacks were successful. If senior Iranian officials were indeed killed, that would be significant. But it doesn’t mean the end of the Islamic Republic.

While the Supreme Leader is the ultimate decision-maker, he isn’t the only one, and succession planning has been underway for years. Similarly, the Revolutionary Guards are deeply embedded across political, economic, and security sectors. Targeting their leadership would weaken them, but it wouldn’t dismantle the organization altogether.

Gulf populations in panic mode, via Bloomberg:

In Dubai, some delivery services have been suspended as people flood supermarkets to buy water and other food essentials. Stockpiling prompted UAE authorities to issue a statement to reassure residents and the millions of expatriates that there is ample supply.

The UAE said its strategic reserve of essential commodities is “robust, comprehensive and diversified and asked people to refrain from stockpiling.

The UK has meanwhile confirmed that it has planes in the air supporting the US-Israeli operation.

* * *

Watch: Gulf High-Rises, Tourist Spots Get Pummeled by Iranian Ballistic Missiles

Update (0845ET):

Iranian military officials said they would deliver a “historic lesson” to Israel and the U.S. in response to the strikes, as Operation Epic Fury, the U.S.-Israeli campaign designated by the Department of War, continues to hit military infrastructure, top army leaders, and other high-value targets across multiple Iranian cities.

Earlier footage allegedly showed the Iranian supreme leader’s compound being struck by what appeared to be U.S. or Israeli missiles or air-delivered munitions.

New Airbus satellite imagery reportedly shows the compound in Tehran sustained severe damage; it remains unclear whether Ayatollah Khamenei was inside at the time of the strike.

Shortly after Operation Epic Fury began, President Trump announced in an eight-minute video on Truth Social that “major combat operations” had begun.

“The United States military is undertaking a massive and ongoing operation to prevent this very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests,” the president said. “We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground.”

Trump continued, “To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces, and all of the police, I say tonight that you must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity or, in the alternative, face certain death.”

Operation Epic Fury comes amid the U.S. building a massive military presence in the region (read report). Also, one day after indirect nuclear talks (read here) between the U.S. and Iran did not end so well, according to Trump.

U.S. officials told NBC reporter Courtney Kube that Israel has targeted Iranian leaders, while the U.S. has targeted Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear high-value facilities.

There are reports that IRGC Commander Mohammad Pakpour was killed by Israeli strikes.

Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, the spokesman for Iran’s Armed Forces, told state media that any military base used by the U.S. and Israel in the region will be targeted. There have already been reports of Iranian retaliatory strikes across the region.

Sources tell CNN that Operation Epic Fury was the result of “months of joint planning” and will involve several days of attacks.

* * *

The U.S. and Israel have conducted coordinated strikes on Iranian targets, which President Trump described in an eight-minute video on Truth Social as the start of “major combat operations“ aimed at defending the U.S. by “eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime.”

“The hour for your freedom is at hand,” President Trump told the Iranian people in the video. “When we’re finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.”

President Trump is expected to address the American people on Saturday morning following the second U.S. strike on Iranian soil in less than a year. The first strike took place in June 2025, when U.S. stealth bombers dropped bombs on three nuclear sites inside Iran.

The focus on the Saturday morning strikes (Brent crude futures are closed), the president said, was to ensure Americans “will never be threatened by a nuclear-armed Iran.”

Bloomberg headline: Oil Tankers Avoiding Vital Hormuz Strait After US Bombs Iran

In markets, with Brent crude futures closed, Bitcoin was hammered from the $65k level, down to the $63k level.

US and Israeli strikes on Iran come one day after the latest round of indirect nuclear talks between Iran and the US, about which the president said he was “not happy with the progress,” adding: “They don’t want to say the key words: ‘We’re not going to have a nuclear weapon.’”

A US official told CNN that the US strikes were focused on Iranian military targets but did not comment on the ongoing operation. Another official told the outlet that the objective of the strikes was to address the Iranian military threat. The first official said the US military had put countermeasures in place to protect its personnel in the region.

AP News reports:

The first strikes of the attack appeared to target the compound home to Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in downtown Tehran. It wasn’t immediately clear if he was there at the time. Smoke could be seen rising from the Iranian capital.

Shortly after the strike, the US Department of Defense wrote on X, “Operation Epic Fury.” For context, last year’s strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities was “Operation Midnight Hammer.”

Iranian state-run media outlets Fars and IRNA reported strikes in Isfahan, Qom, Lorestan, Karaj, Kermanshah, and Tabriz, as well as in the capital, Tehran.

Israel described the strikes against Iran as “a broad, coordinated, and joint operation against the regime” that was planned for months.

Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a recorded message that Israeli military action against Iran would be “much more powerful” than Israel’s 12-day operation against Tehran last year.

In response, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard launched a wave of drones and missiles targeting Israel. There were other reports that the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet command center in the host nation, Bahrain, was targeted by Iranian missiles.

Other reports suggest Iran launched projectiles at US bases and targets beyond Bahrain, and also in Kuwait and Qatar.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry wrote on X, “The time has come to defend the homeland and confront the enemy’s military assault. Just as we were prepared for negotiations, we have been even more prepared for defense at all times. The armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will decisively respond to the aggressors with full authority.”

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