Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed after a massive US and Israeli military operation, President Trump said, joining multiple Israeli officials and a senior US intelligence official who confirmed the news to CBS News.
Mr. Trump posted on social media that Khamenei was "one of the most evil people in History" and said heavy and pinpoint bombing would continue until US objectives were met, according to his posts and comments reported by news outlets.
Iranian state media reported the leader's death, with the state run IRNA agency and the semi official Tasmin agency, associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, saying Khamenei had been killed in the attack.
An Israeli broadcaster said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been shown a photo of Khamenei's body, and a CBS News producer in Tehran reported people cheering in the streets, according to media reports.
The Israel Defense Forces said seven Iranian officials and commanders were killed, and named Ali Shamkhani among those killed, according to an IDF press conference reported in media accounts.
CBS News and other reporting noted uncertainty over succession and the immediate power implications inside Iran, where Khamenei had served as supreme leader for more than three decades and held ultimate authority over the state, the military and religious institutions.
Legacy Institutions Repression And Regional Policy
Khamenei built and relied on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a praetorian force, handpicking and rotating senior commanders, a pattern described in Karim Sadjadpour's work and cited in reporting on the leader's consolidation of power.
Analysts and reporting said the Guards rose to become Iran's most powerful political and economic institution, while a parallel network known as the Bayt or Office of the Supreme Leader extended influence across the military, economy and bureaucracy.
Behnam Ben Taleblu told Fox News Digital that Khamenei institutionalized his power and that the Islamic Republic today is more a product of Khamenei than of the revolution's founder, according to the interview.
A report by United Against Nuclear Iran, authored by Saeid Golkar and Kasra Aarabi, described the Bayt as a hidden nerve center. Aarabi told Fox News Digital that removing Khamenei alone would not dismantle the wider apparatus and called for a broader strategy.
Reporting also documented repeated domestic crackdowns under Khamenei, including mass demonstrations after Mahsa Amini's death and other large protests. An Iran International investigation said as many as 30,000 people may have been killed over two days during one episode, according to that outlet.
Human rights groups reported high execution numbers under the regime, with Amnesty International saying more than 1,000 people were executed in 2025, and a UN report citing at least 975 executions in 2024, as reported in news coverage.
Across the region, reporting said Khamenei invested in allied militias and armed groups, backing organizations in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq, while analysts noted that Israeli strikes in recent conflicts had targeted close aides and security figures, weakening the leader's network.
