Trump said that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whom he called "one of the most evil people in History," was killed during the U.S. and Israel's strikes early this morning
Credit: Iranian Leader Press Office/Anadolu via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- President Donald Trump confirmed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death after U.S. and Israeli forces launched airstrikes on Iran on Saturday, Feb. 28
- Trump called Khamenei, who was 86, “one of the most evil people in History” as he announced his death
- Khamenei served as Iran’s Supreme Leader since 1989
President Donald Trump has confirmed that Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has died at age 86 after the U.S. and Israel launched an assault on the country on Saturday, Feb. 28.
In a post shared on Truth Social, the president, 79, wrote that Khamenei, whom he called "one of the most evil people in History," was killed amid the U.S. military and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)'s strike on Iran earlier this morning.
"This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS," Trump wrote.
"He 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," the president continued. "This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country."
Credit: Iranian Leader Press Office/Anadolu via Getty
Khamenei served as the leader of the Islamic Republic — the country's highest political and religious authority — since 1989 and was the central figure in Iran's military and nuclear strategy.
Earlier on Saturday, Trump addressed reports that Khamenei was killed in airstrikes, saying, "We feel that that is a correct story," NBC News reported.
In his statement on Khamenei's death, Trump wrote that many of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC], military and other police forces "no longer want to fight, and are looking for Immunity from us."
"As I said last night, 'Now they can have Immunity, later they only get Death!' " the president wrote. "Hopefully, the IRGC and Police will peacefully merge with the Iranian Patriots, and work together as a unit to bring back the Country to the Greatness it deserves."
"That process should soon be starting in that, not only the death of Khamenei but the Country has been, in only one day, very much destroyed and, even, obliterated," Trump concluded his statement. "The heavy and pinpoint bombing, however, will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!"
Credit: AMIR KHOLOUSI / ISNA / AFP via Getty
Trump first announced that the United States was taking "massive and ongoing" military action in Iran following repeated threats from his administration to intervene due to violence against anti-government protesters and claims that the Iranian government has been rebuilding its nuclear program.
The U.S. and Israel carried out the strike after months of “close and joint planning," the IDF said, per CNN. A post on IDF social media pages confirmed the "broad & joint operation to thoroughly degrade the Iranian terrorist regime and to remove existential threats to Israel over time."
Images from Tehran taken on Saturday showed smoke rising from the country's capital city as residents attempted to take cover. Iranian officials said at least 40 people were killed in a strike at a girls' school in the south, USA Today reported.
Iran retaliated soon after, striking a U.S. military base in Bahrain. Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which all have U.S. bases, also confirmed that they had intercepted missiles from Iran.
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In an eight-minute video about the U.S. military action, posted on Truth Social at 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, Trump said that his objective in the attacks "is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people. Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world."
The president has been directly threatening U.S. intervention in Iran for over a month. Protests turned violent in the streets of Tehran in late December 2025 as citizens spoke out against Khamenei, following another sharp fall in the rial, the country's currency.
On Jan. 4, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he and his administration were monitoring the situation in the country "very closely."
"If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they're going to get hit very hard by the United States," he said at the time.
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