ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Following hours of uncertainty, Iranian state media confirmed US President Donald Trump's assertion that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a US-Israeli strike on his Tehran compound.

The United States and Israel on Saturday morning launched a large-scale military offensive across Iran, following months of escalating tensions between the two sides. The attacks targeted many of Iran’s political and military leaders, including Khamenei’s residence.

Iran has declared 40 days of mourning for the late leader, while in Iraq, promonent Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr offered his condolences to the Muslim world and called on his supporters to observe three days of mourning.

Iraq's ruling Shiite Coordination Framework also offered condolences on the occasion, calling the late ayatollah "a beacon for all generations and a constant cry against tyranny and oppressors"

Iranian semi-official media further reported that Khamenei's daughter, son-in-law, and grandchild were also killed during the stikes.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) issued a statement marking the assassination, calling his killing a "criminal and terrorist act of the wicked governments of America and the Zionist regime."

The moment Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB confirmed the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pic.twitter.com/vZLhUf31r0

— The New Region (@thenewregion) March 1, 2026

"The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic, and the great popular Basij ... will stand firm against internal and external conspiracies," the statement read.

"Khamenei, one of the most evil people in history, is dead," Trump wrote on Truth Social when he announced the 

"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 US president continued.

"He was unable to avoid our intelligence and highly sophisticated tracking systems and, working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier in the day said that the strikes have destroyed Khamenei’s compound in Tehran, and that there are “many signs” that he is no longer alive.

"This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their country," Trump continued on Truth Social. "We are hearing that many of their IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps], military, and other security and police forces, no longer want to fight, and are looking for immunity from us.

Khamenei, 86, from Mashhad, was Iran’s highest political and religious authority for nearly 37 years, marking the longest-serving leader since the Islamic Revolution.

He was a leading opponent of the US and Israel, advancing the Islamic Republic’s ideology by supporting regional proxies against both countries, and calling for their elimination.

During the June war with Israel, Trump said Washington knew Khamenei’s location and urged Iran to surrender, while Israeli officials suggested he could be targeted.

Khamenei was elected supreme leader on June 4, 1989, following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.