By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Caption: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Trump of having the blood of Iranians on his hands File Photo by Arif Ali.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, on Saturday that there were “many signs” Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was dead after Israel and the US launched an attack.
The strikes prompted Tehran to fire off a missile barrage that sent people running for cover in cities across the Middle East.
“This morning, in a powerful surprise strike, the compound of the tyrant Ali Khamenei was destroyed in the heart of Tehran… and there are many signs that this tyrant is no longer alive,” Netanyahu said in a televised statement.
Plumes of black smoke had been seen over Tehran’s Pasteur district, where Khamenei usually resides, with Israel’s Channel 12 network reporting 30 bombs were dropped on the compound.
US President Donald Trump has indicated the ongoing military operation is aimed overturning Tehran’s government. More than 200 people have been killed in Iran, according to state media.
Trump addressed reports that Khamenei was killed, telling NBC News, “We feel that is a correct story.”
“Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” the Republican president wrote on Truth Social on Saturday adding: “This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country.”
He added that “most” of Iran’s senior leadership is “gone”. The people that make all the decisions, most of them are gone.
Born April 19, 1939, in Mashhad, eastern Iran, Khamenei was among the Islamist activists who played a central role in the 1979 revolution that overthrew the U.S.-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
A close ally of Iran’s first supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Khamenei rose through the new system and served as president from 1981 to 1989 before becoming supreme leader after Khomeini’s death that same year.
Khamenei, 86, has ruled Iran since 1989. As Supreme Leader, he holds ultimate authority over all branches of government, the military and the judiciary in the Shi’ite Islamic republic.
Over almost four decades, Khamenei built a regional power to rival the Sunni Muslim states across the Gulf while promoting nuclear technology that unnerved the surrounding region.
Iran has been implacably hostile to the U.S. and Israel — while crushing repeated unrest at home.
But Saturday’s strikes on Iran come amid a cascade of crises.
Khamenei was forced into hiding last June by strikes that killed several close associates and Revolutionary Guard commanders. The June 2025 strikes by Israel and the U.S. smashed prized nuclear and missile facilities.
*This story has been updated with Trump official statement on Iran Supreme leader’s death.