Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader for nearly four decades and the dominant architect of the Islamic Republic after its founding generation, was killed on February 28 in a joint US-Israel airstrike on Tehran, ending one of the longest and most ideologically rigid leadership eras in modern West Asian politics.
Iranian state media confirmed his death and announced 40 days of national mourning. He was 86. Reports also indicated that former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was among those killed when his residence in Tehran’s Narmak district was struck during the raids, along with members of his security detail.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera that a new Supreme Leader would be chosen “in one or two days.” The strikes, authorities said, targeted senior Iranian leadership compounds in Tehran as part of a broader US-Israeli campaign aimed at Iran’s nuclear and command infrastructure.
Western and Israeli officials said the operation — codenamed Operation Epic Fury by Washington and Operation Roaring Lion by Israel — was intended to neutralise an alleged imminent strategic threat. Iran called the strikes an “act of aggression” and vowed retaliation. President Masoud Pezeshkian said avenging Khamenei’s death was a “legitimate duty” of the nation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the killings, calling them “cynical” murders that violated norms of human morality and international law, and offered condolences to Iran’s leadership.
Reports said the strike hit a secured command complex linked to the Supreme Leader’s office late Saturday night. Satellite imagery showed extensive destruction at the site, and Israeli officials said Khamenei’s body was recovered from the rubble. Several senior military and security officials were also reported killed, a blow analysts described as unprecedented for Iran’s clerical-military leadership.
US President Donald Trump confirmed Khamenei’s killing and said military operations against Iranian targets would continue until regional security objectives were met. He also urged Iranians to “take over your government,” though analysts note Iran’s establishment has historically maintained strong institutional control during crises.
Following the assassination, Iran launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes against Israel and US military assets across the Gulf region, including bases in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. Several Gulf states activated air-defence systems and intercepted incoming projectiles. Casualties and infrastructure damage were reported, and airspace closures, disrupted commercial flights and raised military alerts heightened fears of wider conflict.
Global energy markets reacted as Tehran reportedly moved to restrict shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for nearly one-third of seaborne crude.
Khamenei’s death triggered Iran’s most serious leadership transition since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Authorities invoked Article 111 of the constitution, starting an emergency succession process under which a three-member council temporarily exercises the Supreme Leader’s powers until the Assembly of Experts selects a permanent successor. Senior cleric Ayatollah Alireza Arafi was appointed the jurist member of the interim council, completing the body tasked with running supreme authority in the short term.
The United Nations called for immediate de-escalation, warning that continued hostilities risk sliding the region into uncontrollable war. For Iran and the wider West Asia, the assassination not only ends the post-Khomeini political order but opens an uncertain and potentially volatile chapter.
