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Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is dead and his body has been found, a senior Israeli official told Reuters on Saturday, as two Israeli television networks independently reported his death following a massive joint Israeli-American military assault that struck approximately 500 targets across Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a televised statement, said the strikes destroyed Khamenei's compound in Tehran and killed senior regime officials, Revolutionary Guards commanders, and key figures in Iran's nuclear program. He stopped short of explicitly confirming Khamenei's death but said "there are many signs that this tyrant is no longer."
Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported on its X account that "Ali Khamenei is dead," while Channel 12, citing a source, confirmed the same. A senior Israeli official subsequently told Reuters that Khamenei was dead and his body had been located.
Israel's ambassador to Washington told U.S. officials that Khamenei was killed in an Israeli strike as part of the joint operation, Axios reported. A separate Israeli official confirmed to Axios that Khamenei is dead, according to Israeli intelligence. Israeli officials also assessed that Iran's minister of defense and the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were among those killed in targeted strikes on Saturday.
The Israeli Air Force launched what it internally dubbed "Operation Genesis," deploying approximately 200 fighter jets that struck around 500 targets across western and central Iran beginning in the early morning hours of Saturday. The operation involved hundreds of munitions dropped on Iran's missile infrastructure, air defense systems, and regime command centers.
"This morning we eliminated senior figures' in Iranian regime, commanders in the Revolutionary Guards and senior officials in the nuclear programme, and we will continue," Netanyahu said. "In the coming days, we will strike thousands of targets of the terror regime."
A senior Israeli diplomatic source said the goal was "to create the conditions for the fall of the regime, and not to be dragged into a long and exhausting campaign." The source said three gathering points identified as regime power centers were bombed as part of a deception operation and that "it is hard to see how the Supreme Leader survived."
Israeli officials said Israel targeted Khamenei's sons, but intelligence assessments suggest they survived the strikes. Mojtaba Khamenei, one of the supreme leader's sons, had been widely discussed as a possible successor. Iranian media reported that Khamenei's son-in-law and daughter-in-law were killed. Iran's state media said at least 201 people had been killed and 747 wounded since the strikes began.
The Israeli military issued an urgent evacuation warning to civilians near an industrial complex in Isfahan, saying it would strike military infrastructure in the area within minutes. According to the Wall Street Journal, Israeli hackers breached a popular prayer app in Iran, gaining access to millions of phones and sending messages to military personnel and Revolutionary Guards members urging them to defect.
The 86-year-old Khamenei led Iran for 35 years after taking power in 1989 following the death of revolutionary founder Ruhollah Khomeini. As supreme leader, he held authority over the judiciary, state media, and all security forces, including the IRGC.
His killing sets off an immediate succession crisis. Under Iran's constitution, a council of clerics is meant to select a new supreme leader, but Israel's strikes also targeted senior IRGC commanders and political leaders, leaving the regime's command structure in disarray.
Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and the country's acting leader, wrote on X: "Our brave soldiers will teach the shameless Zionist and American criminals an unforgettable lesson."
Netanyahu called on Iranian citizens to "flood the streets and finish the job." Iran's exiled former crown prince Reza Pahlavi also called for Iranians to take to the streets. Pahlavi urged Iranian security forces: "Join the nation and help ensure a stable and secure transition. Otherwise, you will sink with Khamenei's ship and his crumbling regime."
President Donald Trump told Israel's Channel 12 news that Iran's refusal to negotiate drove the decision to attack. "The Iranians got close to a deal and then pulled back, got close and then pulled back, and I understood from that that they don't really want a deal," Trump said. He said he had asked his staff to compile a record of Iranian attacks over the past 25 years: "I saw that every month they did something bad. Blew something up and killed someone."
Trump referenced a previous operation, saying that "if we hadn't attacked them in June in Operation 'Midnight Hammer,' they would already have nuclear weapons by now." He said he had "many exit points from this campaign," adding, "I can make this long and take over everything, or finish in a few more days and tell the Iranians we'll see you again in a few years if you start rebuilding. Either way, it will take them years to recover from this attack."
Trump said he had "a good conversation with Bibi, we are on the same wavelength." White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt confirmed Trump had spoken with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
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