Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who led the Islamic Republic for nearly four decades, has been killed in a coordinated military strike by the United States and Israel, Iranian state media and global news agencies reported.
Iran’s official broadcasters confirmed that the 86-year-old cleric died after the joint US–Israeli air and missile assault hit key leadership targets in Tehran early Saturday, prompting 40 days of national mourning.
Israeli forces said their strikes reduced Khamenei’s compound and associated offices to rubble in downtown Tehran, and a senior Israeli official told Reuters that his body was later recovered under the debris.
Khamenei, who succeeded Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989, spent more than three decades consolidating power over Iran’s political, military and security institutions. Under his leadership, the Islamic Republic maintained a hardline posture toward the United States and Israel and expanded its influence through proxy groups across the Middle East.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Iran program, described Khamenei as a relentless ideologue whose worldview was shaped by “militant anti-Americanism and antisemitism.”
Born on April 19, 1939, in Mashhad, Iran, Khamenei was among the activists who played a central role in the 1979 revolution that overthrew the U.S-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. He later served as Iran’s president from 1981 to 1989 before becoming supreme leader after Khomeini’s death.
Throughout his rule, Khamenei oversaw repeated crackdowns on dissent at home and confrontations with Western powers abroad. Recent years saw Iranian proxies weaken under sustained military pressure and internal unrest intensify, especially after the October 2023 attacks and the 2025 war with Israel.
His death marks a dramatic turning point for Iran, potentially reshaping its political future and regional dynamics as top officials and family members were also reported killed in the strikes.
• Source: FOX News
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