Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead, Iranian state media confirmed on Sunday.
He was killed as a “martyr,” the IRNA and Fars news agencies reported. In response, the Iranian leadership declared 40 days of national mourning, according to Iran’s state television.
Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump had declared Khamenei dead after the United States and Israel launched wide-ranging strikes on Iran on Saturday.
“Khamenei, one of the most evil people in history, is dead,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding: “This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their country.”
The religious leader had a key role in shaping Iran’s domestic and foreign policy over the last decades, developing the Islamic Republic into a powerful regional player.
Saturday’s attacks targeted key locations where the Iranian leadership was meeting, killing top officials including the defense minister and the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Israeli military said earlier.
The assault, which killed more than 200 people according to the Red Crescent, triggered retaliatory strikes at Israel and US military forces based in the Middle East.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said in a statement the “martyrdom of Imam Ali Khamenei will mark the beginning of a great uprising against the tyrants of the world.”
The council was set up in August to centralize military strategy following the 12-day war in which Israel and the US attacked Iran.
Earlier, reports that Khamenei had died sparked spontaneous celebrations in Tehran.
People in the Iranian capital were reported to have shouted with joy from their windows as news circulated via Iranian exile media that can be received in the country.
