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2026.03.01 09:28 GMT+8

Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei killed

Updated 2026.03.01 10:46 GMT+8
CGTN

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei walks to the podium to address the media after casting his ballot during the Islamic republic's presidential election in Tehran on June 28, 2024. /VCG

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed at his office in the early hours of Saturday after U.S.‑Israeli strikes, according to Iran's Fars News Agency on Sunday.

Citing two U.S. sources and one U.S. official familiar with the matter, Reuters reported that Israel and the United States chose to launch strikes on Iran on Saturday while Khamenei was holding a meeting with his senior aides.

Sources from Israel said Khamenei and several of his senior associates were killed in the strikes, including former secretary of the National Security Council Ali Shamkhani and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Chief Commander Mohammad Pakpour.

Two Iranian sources told Reuters that shortly before the strikes began on Saturday, Khamenei had met at a secure location with Shamkhani and Pakpour.

A senior Israeli official also told Reuters that Khamenei's body had been recovered.

U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that intelligence agencies had tracked the movements of Khamenei before he was killed.

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