Doha, March 1: Iranian state media confirms the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the US and Israel’s ongoing attacks on the country, Al Jazeera said.
Iranian state media say Khamenei’s daughter, son-in-law, and grandson were also killed, added Al Jazeera. Earlier, US President Donald Trump stated that the death of Iran’s religious leader in the joint attack.
Khamenei took the helm of the Islamic republic in 1989 following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the charismatic leader who had spearheaded the Islamic revolution a decade earlier.
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While Khomeini was the ideological force behind the revolution that ended the rule of the Pahlavi monarchy, it was Khamenei who shaped the military and paramilitary apparatus that form both Iran’s defence against its enemies, and provide it with influence well beyond its borders.
Before becoming supreme leader, he had led Iran as president through a bloody war with Iraq in the 1980s.
Reza Pahlavi says ‘hour of liberation is at hand’
In a short post on X, Reza Pahlavi, son of Iran’s deposed Shah, has thanked Trump for the military operation launched against Iran, saying “their hour of liberation is at hand”.
“The courageous Iranian people have paid a heavy price for freedom,” he added.
Pahlavi, who is seeking to lead Iran, said that he has laid out his plan “for an orderly, transparent transition to a democratic Iran”.
