Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been killed in a joint American and Israeli strike, according to US president Donald Trump.
“Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Satellite images showed damage to Khamenei’s compound in Tehran earlier on Saturday following the raids, and the Israeli prime minister later said there were growing signs Khamenei was “gone”. Iran has not confirmed his death.
Dozens of people were reportedly killed across the country. In response, Iran launched attacks throughout the Middle East, with strikes reported in a number of countries with US bases or allied to the US.
Writing on Truth Social, Trump said: “This is not only justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans.”
“He [Khamenei] 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.
“This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country,” Trump added.
“The heavy and pinpoint bombing, however, will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective,” he warned.
Iranian state media denied Khamenei is dead, with the Tasnim and Mehr news agencies saying he was “steadfast and firm in commanding the field”.
Iran’s foreign minister accused Israel and the US of launching a war that was “wholly unprovoked, illegal, and illegitimate”.
The UN secretary general and a number of world leaders from Brazil to China have also condemned the attacks, while a joint statement by the leaders of the UK, France and Germany urged Iran to refrain from further strikes and give up its weapons programmes.
The UN Security Council met to discuss the strikes on Saturday evening.
They came after the US and Iran held three rounds of talks in attempts to reach a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear activities, and further negotiations had been expected next week. Mediators suggested “substantial progress” had been made and a deal was “within reach”.
But Trump said on Friday he was not “thrilled” with the way the talks were going, later adding that what he saw as the lack of progress led him to give the go-ahead for the strikes.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz described the attacks as a “pre-emptive strike” to “remove threats against the state of Israel”, although he did not explain why there was a need to take military action now.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says approximately 200 fighter jets completed “the largest ever military flyover in the history of the Israeli Air Force”, targeting approximately 500 objectives.
Explosions were reportedly heard initially in Tehran, nearby Karaj, Isfahan and Qom in the centre of the country, and Kermanshah in the west. Several more waves of strikes targeted further locations around the country.
Earlier, Israeli and US officials said they believed Ayatollah Khamenei and five to 10 top leaders had been killed in an attack on the supreme leader’s compound, but Iran denied that he was dead.
Satellite imagery obtained by the BBC showed signs of significant damage in the compound, including blackened buildings, debris and a column of smoke.
It was not immediately clear whether Khamenei was there at the time of the strikes.
Iran’s Red Crescent said at least 201 people had been killed and 747 injured in the attacks. They did specify if those killed were civilian or military personnel.
A girls’ school in the southern Iranian town of Minab was hit killing 108 people, according to the county prosecutor.
The BBC has verified clips of the aftermath of the explosion at the school, which is around 600 metres from an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) base.
In Tehran, videos circulating on social media showed people near the blast sites running in panic, with the sounds of screams and crying in the background. Streets were quieter than usual as people queued for petrol and attempted to leave the city.
Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on a number of countries in the region.
An explosion was reported at a luxury hotel in Dubai, while US naval bases in Bahrain and Qatar were reportedly targeted.
Attacks were also reported in Kuwait, Iraq and Jordan, while Israel itself reported that one person had died in a missile attack in the Tel Aviv area, one of several throughout the country.
Iranian news agency Tasnim said that the strategic Hormuz Strait - located in the south of Iran between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman - would be closed as a result of the attacks. About one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas pass through the strait.
Source: BBC
--Agencies
