A man holds a picture of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a joint US and Israeli strike, as people mourn in a square in Tehran, March 1, 2026.
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Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, was killed in a joint US-Israeli operation targeting Iran on Saturday, Iranian state media confirmed.
The Iranian government has announced 40 days of mourning. The country’s supreme leader was killed after the US and Israel launched an attack on Iran on Saturday as part of a major military operation aimed at toppling the Islamic regime.
Israel’s military said top Iranian security officials were among those killed, including the country’s defense minister, the commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps and the secretary of Iran’s Security Council, a close adviser to Khamenei. His death was confirmed by Iranian state media.
Khamenei was killed by an Israeli strike, a person briefed on the strike told NPR. The NPR source requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. Trump has not confirmed that Israel carried out the attack.
Trump had posted on Truth Social that Israel had killed Khamenei with the support of America.
“He was unable to evade our intelligence and sophisticated tracking systems and work closely with Israel, which he or the other leaders killed with him were unable to do,” Trump said. Hours later he warned Iran against further retaliation, saying, “It’s better not to do it, anyway, if they do, we’ll hit them with a force never seen before!”
The initial wave of US and Israeli airstrikes in Iran began just after sunrise on Saturday, with huge explosions ringing in the capital, Tehran. Early videos showed large plumes of thick smoke.
Iran’s foreign ministry called the attack a “total violation” of its national sovereignty. The airstrikes hit both military and civilian targets, a statement said.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society relief group said more than 200 people were killed in the attacks across Iran.
Iran’s parliament speaker on Sunday called the leaders of the United States and Israel “filthy criminals” who would face “devastating blows” for the attacks.
“They hit many targets around me and we hear fighter jets and missiles exploding,” said a resident of western Tehran reached by phone before communications in Iran were cut. Like other Iranian residents interviewed by NPR, he did not want his name used for fear of arrest. “People were panicking and trying to get to their homes. Children were running out of school.”
An airstrike on a girls’ primary school in southern Iran has killed at least 85 children, according to local prosecutors’ office, according to Iranian state media. Prosecutors said more girls were buried under the rubble. Saturday marks the start of the Iranian school and work week. NPR is seeking comment from Israeli officials on reports of a school shooting.
Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, told NPR on Saturday that he was aware of reports of civilian casualties.
“We take these reports seriously and are looking into them,” Hawkins said. “The protection of civilians is paramount and we will continue to take all available precautions to minimize the risk of unintended harm. We have never — and will never — target civilians as Iran has.”
Iran continues to respond with missile and drone launches of its own, spreading the conflict to a wider region. Air raid sirens wailed in Israel early Sunday morning as multiple missiles targeted Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. According to Israeli rescue services, one person was killed and 121 injured in the first 24 hours of the latest conflict.
Several countries in the Gulf, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, have reported Iranian attacks. The Jordanian government, which also hosts major US military bases, reported that it shot down 49 drones and ballistic missiles threatening its territory.
In Dubai, smoke rose visibly from the world’s busiest international airport and its main port, while debris from air defense systems colliding with Iranian drones caused several injuries in a residential area.
“Our mission is to protect the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a very tough, terrible group of people,” Trump said in an eight-minute video posted on Satya Social on Saturday.
A tense lead-up to the strikes
The joint US-Israeli attack, dubbed “Epic Fury” by the Pentagon and “Roaring Lion” by Israel, came after weeks of tension and a major US military build-up in the region. The US said on Thursday it was in the latest round of talks in Geneva to try to reach a deal with Iran to limit its nuclear program. But Trump says those efforts have failed.
Ahead of the military strike, analysts speculated whether Trump would opt for a brief, limited strike — as he has done in the past in Iran and on many other occasions in the past year — or whether he would opt for a more expansive operation. The initial impression — and the president’s own words — suggested a large-scale, open-ended bombing.
“We’re going to destroy their missiles and destroy their missile industry. It’s going to be completely destroyed again,” Trump said, adding, “We’re going to destroy their navy.”
The president claimed Iran was rebuilding its nuclear program before the attack — a program Trump has often said was “totally wiped out” in the US and Israeli strikes last June.
Trump told the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps to surrender: “Put down your weapons. You will be treated fairly with absolute immunity, or you will face certain death.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency and other nuclear experts, which have monitored Iran’s program for years, have said there is no evidence that Iran has resumed enriching uranium, the centerpiece of the program.
Before launching the attack, Trump said he preferred a negotiated deal, but would welcome regime change. Otherwise, he offered little insight into his ultimate goal in Iran.
But he made it clear in his video that Iran’s religious leadership, which ruled for 47 years, should fall.
Addressing the people of Iran directly, he asked them to take shelter for the time being while the bombing is going on. Then, “When we’re done, take over your government. It’s yours. It’s probably your only chance for generations.”
However, Iranian security forces brutally cracked down on mass street protests last month. More than 7,000 people have died, according to a US-based human rights activist news agency. Trump put the death toll at 32,000 without citing his source.
A Tehran resident reached by NPR said Saturday that internal security forces were flooding the streets in some residential neighborhoods.
“Many of them are on motorbikes in the streets pointing their guns,” he said. “They want to create fear.”
There is no sign of the US sending ground troops to Iran, and military analysts say it would be very difficult to topple the government with air power alone.
Therefore, it is impossible to say whether Iran’s leadership will be vulnerable to a domestic coup or will be able to crack down on protests as it did earlier this year.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday condemned the US and Israeli attacks and Iran’s retaliatory attacks.
“We are seeing a serious threat to international peace and security. Military action risks igniting a chain of events that no one can control in the world’s most volatile region,” Guterres told an emergency UN Security Council meeting. “Let me be clear: there is no viable alternative to the peaceful settlement of international disputes. Lasting peace can only be achieved through peaceful means, including genuine dialogue and negotiations.”
Hundreds of targets were hit
Israel’s military said about 200 fighter jets hit nearly 500 targets in western and central Iran, including air defense systems and missile launchers, extending Israel’s air superiority over Iran and completing its biggest air force operation in the country’s history.
The US and Israeli militaries have spent months building a wide range of targets in Iran and are looking for the right moment to strike when senior Iranian officials meet, an Israeli military official told reporters. Three separate meetings of senior officials were struck simultaneously on Saturday morning, the official said.
Hours before Trump announced the supreme leader’s death, a person briefed on the strikes told NPR that Israel’s assessment of Supreme Leader Khamenei hit him and then he was killed by an Israeli strike, another source with knowledge of the strikes said.
That account contradicts what Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi previously told NBC News — that Khamenei and Iran’s president are still alive “as far as I know,” as are other top officials.
The military said the operation was carried out with “full synchronization and coordination” between the Israeli and US militaries.
Prime Minister Netanyahu said the goal of the joint US-Israeli strike was to “eliminate the existential threat posed by the terrorist regime in Iran”.
“Our joint action will create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their destiny into their own hands,” Netanyahu said in the video.
A person briefed on the operation told NPR that it would last several days, with Israel’s military focused on targeting Iran’s missile program.
Israel has closed its airspace to all passenger flights and civil defense protocols have been activated. Regional military forces are on high alert.
A 48-hour state of emergency was declared across the country. Air raid sirens blared across Israel as officials warned civilians to enter bomb shelters.
Trails of smoke covered the sky above Tel Aviv as Israeli anti-missile systems fired on incoming missiles. A hospital in central Israel began operations in an underground fortified compound.
In the Gulf, several countries gave details of the Iranian attack.
The government of Bahrain said Iran had carried out an airstrike on a US naval base that is home to the US Fifth Fleet.
The United Arab Emirates, another US ally, said it intercepted Iranian missiles. Shrapnel from one of the missiles killed a national of an unspecified Asian country in Abu Dhabi, it said.
White House Press Secretary Carolyn Leavitt He said On Saturday afternoon the President spoke with the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
