Explainer
Supreme
leader killed as US and Israel wage war on Iran: what we know so far on day two
Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei’s death confirmed by state media in Iran as Trump urges citizens
to ‘take back’ their country
Guardian
staff
Sun 1 Mar
2026 04.19 GMT
- Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack by Israel and the US, Iranian state media confirmed early on Sunday, throwing the future of the Islamic Republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability.
- President Donald Trump announced the death hours earlier, saying it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country.
- State media reported that Khamenei, 86, was killed in an airstrike targeting his compound in downtown Tehran. Satellite photos from Airbus showed that the site was heavily bombed. His death at his office “showed that he consistently stood among the people and at the forefront of his responsibilities, confronting what officials call global arrogance”, state TV said.
- Iran, which responded to the strikes with its own counterassault, warned of retribution, with the cabinet saying this “great crime will never go unanswered”. The paramilitary Revolutionary Guards threatened to launch its “most intense offensive operation” ever targeting Israeli and American bases.
- The Iranian president, yjr head of the judiciary and one of the jurists of Iran’s Guardian Council, a 12-member body that vets laws, will temporarily assume leadership duties, the Islamic Republic news agency has reported.
- State media also reported the deaths of the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and a top security adviser to Khamenei in airstrikes.
- As reports trickled out about Khamenei’s death, eyewitnesses in Tehran told the Associated Press that some residents were rejoicing, cheering from rooftops, blowing whistles and letting out ululations. Mourners raised a black mourning flag over the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city and a major pilgrimage site for Shiite Muslims. The Iranian government declared 40 days of public mourning and a seven-day nationwide public holiday to commemorate Khamenei’s death.
- Citing unidentified sources, the semiofficial Fars news agency, believed to be close to the Revolutionary Guards, reported that several relatives of Khamenei were also killed, including a daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law and grandchild.
- Khamenei was killed during a wave of strikes by Israel and the US on Iran on Saturday morning. Iran’s Red Crescent reported more than 200 deaths and 747 injuries in daylong attacks across 24 provinces.
- In response, Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones, targeting US troops in the region and cities in Israel and Arab countries allied with Washington. Dubai’s international airport and its landmark Burj Al Arab hotel sustained damage and four people were injured. Abu Dhabi Airports said in a post on X that an incident at Zayed international airport in the UAE’s capital resulted in one fatality involving an Asian national and seven injuries. It later deleted the post.
- Israel said it had launched another wave of strikes on Iran on Sunday targeting Iran’s ballistic missile and air defence systems. Iranian state media said an explosion was heard in Tehran on Sunday morning.
- In a statement early on Sunday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the country’s armed forces soon would retaliate again with their biggest offensive operation ever at US bases and Israel.
- Hundreds of thousands of travellers have been stranded or diverted to other airports after Israel, Qatar, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain closed their airspace after the US-Israel war on Iran began.
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