Dubai, Mar 1: A major attack launched by Israel and the United States killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Donald Trump announced Saturday, confirming an assassination that he said gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back the country” but that also put the future of the Islamic Republic in doubt and raised the risk of regional instability.
The strikes opened a stunning new chapter in US intervention in Iran, marking the second time in eight months that the Trump administration had attacked the country during talks over its nuclear program. The reported killing of Khameini after decades in power appeared certain to create a significant leadership vacuum given the absence of a known successor and because the Supreme Leader had final say on all major policies. He led Iran’s clerical establishment and its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard – the two main centres of power in the governing theocracy.
In a nationally televised address, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there were “growing signs” that the 86-year-old Khamenei had been killed when Israel struck his compound early Saturday. Shortly after the address, two Israeli officials said Israel had confirmed his death. The officials both spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement and gave no further details.
As reports trickled out about the death, eyewitnesses in Tehran told AP some residents were rejoicing, blowing whistles and letting out ululations.
Strikes followed months of rising tensions
The joint US-Israel operation, which officials say was planned for months, took place Saturday during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan and at the start of the Iranian work week.
As the attack on Iran got underway, Trump urged the Iranian public to “seize control of your destiny” by rising up against the Islamic leadership. In a video announcing the “major combat operations,” Trump told Iranians that “when we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.”
An Iranian diplomat told the United Nations Security Council that hundreds of civilians were killed and wounded in the strikes.
Iranian state media, citing the Red Crescent, on Saturday evening said at least 201 people had been killed and more than 700 wounded. Iran retaliated by firing missiles and drones toward Israel and US military bases in the region, and exchanges of fire continued into the night.
About 12 hours after the attacks began, the US military reported no US casualties and minimal damage at US bases despite “hundreds of Iranian missile and drone attacks.” It said targets in Iran included Revolutionary Guard command facilities, air defense capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields.
Various members of Iran’s leadership were targeted in the attack. Israel said it killed the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the country’s defense minister. The Israeli military also said its strikes killed the secretary of the Iranian Security Council, a close adviser to Khamenei.
Some of the first strikes on Iran appeared to hit near the offices of Khamenei, the second leader of the Islamic Republic who succeeded Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Before Israeli officials confirmed the death, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told NBC News that Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian were alive “as far as I know.” He called the attack “unprovoked, illegal and absolutely illegitimate.”
Democrats decried that Trump had taken action without congressional authorization. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the administration had briefed several Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress in advance.
Unsuccessful nuclear talks
Tensions have soared in recent weeks as American warships moved into the region. Trump said he wanted a deal to constrain Iran’s nuclear program, as the country struggles with growing dissent following nationwide protests.
The trigger for Saturday’s strikes appeared to be the unsuccessful latest round of nuclear talks on Thursday. They also reflected dramatic changes that have left Iran’s leadership in its weakest position since the Islamic Revolution nearly half a century ago.
Though Trump had pronounced the Iranian nuclear program obliterated in strikes last year, the country was rebuilding infrastructure that it had lost, and intelligence showed that Iran had developed the capability to produce its own high-quality centrifuges, an important step in developing the highly enriched uranium needed for weapons. That’s according to a senior US official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss Trump’s decision-making process.
Israeli and American strikes last June greatly weakened Iran’s air defenses, military leadership and nuclear program. A regionwide conflict sparked by Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel has left Iran’s network of proxies across the Middle East greatly weakened. US sanctions and global isolation have decimated Iran’s economy.
Iran responded to the latest strikes by launching missiles and drones targeting Israel and strikes targeting US military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. Israel’s military said Iran fired “dozens” of missiles at Israel, with many intercepted. Emergency responder Magen David Adom noted 89 “lightly injured” people.
At least three explosions were heard Saturday evening near the Intelligence Ministry building in northern Tehran, witnesses said, adding that air defense systems had begun operating there. Israel’s military said it had begun new strikes against missile launchers and aerial defense systems in central Iran.
In southern Iran, at least 85 people were reported killed when a girls’ school was struck, and dozens more were wounded, the local governor told Iranian state TV.
Capt Tim Hawkins, a US Central Command spokesperson, said he was “aware of reports” that a girls’ school was struck and that officials were looking into them.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA said at least 15 people were killed in the southwest, quoting the governor of Lamerd, Ali Alizadeh, as saying a sports hall, two residential areas and a hall near a school were hit.
Flights across the Middle East were disrupted, and air defense fire thudded over Dubai, the United Arab Emirates’ commercial capital. Shrapnel from an Iranian missile attack on the UAE capital killed one person, state media said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio canceled his trip to Israel planned for early next week following the strikes, a State Department official said.
Trump, in seeking to justify the military action, claimed Iran has continued to develop its nuclear programme, despite asserting last year the program had been “obliterated” by an earlier round of strikes.
He acknowledged Saturday that there could be American casualties, saying “that often happens in war.” It was a notable statement from a US leader who swept into office on an “America First” platform and vowed to keep out of “forever wars.”
Trump also said he was aiming to “annihilate” the Iranian navy and destroy regional proxies supported by Tehran. He called on the paramilitary Iranian Revolutionary Guard to lay down arms, saying members would be given immunity or face “certain death” if they didn’t. (AP)
