A US-Israeli operation has killed several senior Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Fox News, Israel's Channel 12 and Reuters reported, citing a senior Israeli official, as well as Axios, citing its own source.
According to Axios, Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter has informed several senior officials in Washington about the death of Iran's supreme leader.
Following the news of the ayatollah's death, Iran's Tasnim news agency, citing a source close to Khamenei's office, reported that he “commands the battlefield with firmness and confidence“.
CNN, citing a source, reported that Israel has received photos of the body of Khamenei.
Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced multiple signs of Khamenei's death. He said that a US-Israeli operation had destroyed the Iranian leader's residence in Tehran.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that as far as he knew, Khamenei was alive.
Ali Khamenei was born on April 19, 1939, in Mashhad, the second most populous city in Iran. He was proclaimed Grand Ayatollah in 1994. Since then, he has repeatedly criticized the US government, and in 2014 called the United States "a symbol of tyranny against all humanity."
Declaring the start of military action against Iran, US President Donald Trump called the current Iranian leadership "a bunch of cruel and dangerous people." He stated that the Iranian government's hostile activities directly threaten the United States.