Iranian state media confirm death of Ayatollah Khamenei

Iranian state media have confirmed that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed during large-scale US and Israeli missile strikes. The government has announced a 40-day mourning period and a non-working week in connection with his death.

Source: Reuters; IRNA; The Times of Israel

Details: It is reported that several of Khamenei's key associates were also killed. Among those named are Ali Shamkhani, former secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, and Mohammad Pakpour, Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Ground Forces.

Reuters sources in Iran said that shortly before the airstrikes began, Khamenei had been meeting Shamkhani and Ali Larijani, current Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, at a classified location.

According to US intelligence, the meeting had originally been scheduled for Saturday evening in Tehran. However, Israeli intelligence services discovered that it had been moved to Saturday morning.

This prompted the United States and Israel to accelerate the launch of the operation in order to preserve the element of surprise and prevent the Iranian leader from taking cover.

Iranian state media also reported that Khamenei's daughter, granddaughter, daughter-in-law and son-in-law were killed in the Israeli-American strikes as well.

Background: On 28 February, US President Donald Trump announced that Khamenei was killed.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!