Trump, Netanyahu say Iran’s Ayatollah killed in attack

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The United States and Israel say Saturday’s attack on Iran has killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior officials.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there is growing evidence that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the daytime military operation.

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Netanyahu said during a televised address to his nation that strikes had targeted Khamenei’s compound.

“There are growing signs that the tyrant is no longer alive,” he saidurged Iranians to “take to the streets and finish the job.”

Both countries launched the preemptive strike after President Donald Trump warned Iran’s leadership to stop its nuclear weapons program and encouraged their citizens to topple the government.

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Khamenei’s body found, official said

Khamenei has not been seen in public since the bombings began and his whereabouts are unknown, but a senior Israeli official told Reuters that his body has been found.

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Trump told NBC News that Khamenei died in the airstrikes and “a large amount of leadership” had been killed, calling it “a success.”

He didn’t specify a number of Iranian officials who were targeted and killed but said “most” of the country’s senior leadership is “gone.”

“The people that make all the decisions, most of them are gone,” he said.

Trump also posted to his Truth Social platform that Khamenei had been killed.

“This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS,” the President wrote.

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Still alive, Iran’s Foreign Minister claims

However, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told NBC News that Khamenei, as well as President Masoud Pezeshkian, are alive “as far as I know.”

Araghchi said other high-level officials, including the head of the judiciary and the parliament speaker, also survived the bombings.

He called the attack “unprovoked, illegal and absolutely illegitimate.”

Reports from Israeli media suggest political officials and commanders were killed in the operation that also saw bombs targeted at military installations.

Multiple sources familiar with Israel’s military operation told the Jerusalem Post that Khamenei was killed during the bombings along with Defence Minister Amir Nasirzadeh and Islamic Revolutionary Guard commander Mohammad Pakpour.

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The report also said Khamenei’s son-in-law and daughter-in-law were both killed in strikes, according to a Tehran City Council member.

Attack announced overnight

Trump announced the operation in an eight-minute video shared to social media in the middle of the night, telling Iranian citizens that “when we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.”

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The U.S. dubbed the mission “Operation Epic Fury” while Israel called the campaign “Lion’s Roar.”

During his State of the Union address to members of Congress, Trump said he was seeking regime change in Iran and an end to its nuclear program.

“We haven’t heard from them those secret words: ‘We do not want nuclear weapons ever,’” Trump said during the speech.

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Senior officials killed

Iran Internationala Persian-language news outlet based in London, reported a list of senior officials targeted and killed by Israel’s military.

Ali Shamkhani, a close personal security adviser to Khamenei, was the secretary of Iran’s Defence Council.

Salah Asadi, who helped shape Iran’s policy toward Israel and the U.S., was the head of intelligence for the emergency command and a senior intelligence officer.

Mohammad Shirazi, a longtime member of Khamenei’s military office, served as a key figure by coordinating between senior armed forces commanders and the supreme leader.

More than 200 dead

Meanwhile, Iran’s state television reported more than 200 people killed in the strikes.

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Iran’s Red Crescent said attacks across the country have killed 201 people and injured 747, according to comments on Iranian state TV, reports The Associated Press.

The spokesperson for the Red Crescent said the strikes have hit 24 of Iran’s 31 provinces and added relief operations are ongoing, and that 220 teams were deployed to different sites to respond to the strikes.

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Girls school hit, Iran’s judiciary says

Meanwhile, Iran’s judiciary said an all-girls school was hit by airstrikes in the country’s south, killing at least 85 people.

France 24citing the official state-run news agency, reported the strike occurred in Minab in Hormozgan province, which has a Islamic Revolutionary Guard base.

Video shared to social media shows a partially-damaged building as residents mill about.

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“Dozens of innocent children have been murdered at this site alone,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Araghchi wrote on X. “These crimes against the Iranian People will not go unanswered.”

It hasn’t been confirmed if the airstrike was from U.S. or Israel, or if it was a failed missile launch from within Iran.

The White House and Israeli officials have yet to comment.

Iran retaliates across region

In response to the attacks, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard retaliated by targeting U.S. military bases in the region, including an airstrike that saw a missile hit a luxury hotel in Dubai.

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The BBC reports a video shows flames coming from the Fairmont The Palm Hotel as smoke pours out of the building.

Authorities in Dubai said four people were injured as the blaze was eventually brought under control.

In Bahrain, black smoke was seen rising from an area near the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters.

Officials with Qatar’s defence ministry said several missiles targeted the largest U.S. base in the region in al-Udeid, but were intercepted.

The United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Defence said on social media that a number of drones and missiles were shot down and reported no casualties.

“The Ministry stressed that this targeting constitutes a blatant violation of national sovereignty and international law, reserving its full right to take all necessary measures to protect its territories and citizens, ensuring the preservation of its sovereignty, security, and stability,” it said, according to a translation.

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