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The United States and Israel launched the most ambitious attack on Iran in decades on Saturday, and U.S. President Donald Trump said Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been killed in the operation.
A senior Israeli official told Reuters earlier that the Iranian leader's body had been found after a strike and Trump said the U.S. worked closely with Israel to target the man who led Iran since 1989. Iranian news agencies Tasnim and Mehr, however, reported that the supreme leader was "steadfast and firm in commanding the field."
Iran called the strikes unprovoked and illegal and responded with missiles fired at Israel and at least seven other countries, including Gulf states that host U.S. bases.
Trump, who made the biggest foreign-policy gamble of his presidency after campaigning for reelection as a "peace president," said the strikes were aimed at ending a decades-long threat from Iran and ensuring it could not develop a nuclear weapon.
Intelligence and tracking systems kept track of Khamenei's whereabouts, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post, adding that "there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do."
Trump reiterated calls for Iranians to topple the government but warned: "The heavy and pinpoint bombing, however, will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!"
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier said Khamenei's compound had been destroyed.
Three sources familiar with the matter said Iranian Defence Minister Amir Nasirzadeh and Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammed Pakpour were killed in the Israeli attacks. Israel's military said it had confirmed that five other senior military commanders were among the dead, including Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader. Iranian media had said Khamenei's son-in-law and daughter-in-law were also killed.