Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been killed on the first day of massive US and Israeli air strikes on Iran, US President Donald Trump has announced.
The death of the 86-year-old ruler of the past three decades – one of the longest in the world – was later confirmed on Iranian state TV.
Iran has had only two supreme leaders since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian declared Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei a martyr and vowed revenge for his killing in the military offensive by the United States and Israel.
The martyrdom declaration means 40 days of mourning, as previously announced by state-affiliated news, can begin to take place nationwide.
Experts said while the deaths of Khamenei and other Iranian leaders would deal the country a major blow, it would not necessarily spell the end of Iran’s entrenched clerical rule or the Revolutionary Guards’ sway over the population.
Israel’s military said its strikes on Sunday morning targeted Iran’s ballistic missile and air defence systems.
