In a joint operation, the US and Israel mounted an attack on Iran Saturday, an effort named “OPERATION EPIC FURY” by the Pentagon. According to President Donald Trump, the air strikes were focused on the country’s top leaders and are intended to topple the Iranian government. According to multiple news outlets, Israeli officials say Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in one of the bombings, an assertion confirmed by Trump on social media. However, Iranian outlets insist that he is still alive.
The attacks were first reported in the capital city of Tehran, in the earliest hours of Saturday morning ET. Both the US and Israel claimed responsibility for those initial strikes, which were followed by bombings in multiple cities across the country. The extent of the damage or casualties remains unclear.
In an eight-minute speech posted to Truth Social, Trump announced the “major combat operations,” saying that after last June’s attack by the US on three separate nuclear facilities across Iran, “We warned them never to resume their malicious pursuit of nuclear weapons, and we sought repeatedly to make a deal. We tried. They wanted to do it. They didn’t want to do it. Again they wanted to do it. They didn’t want to do it. They didn’t know what was happening. They just wanted to practice evil.”
Trump admitted over a week ago that he had been considering limited strikes in Iran to force an agreement. By then, US naval and air teams had been assembled in the area in one of the most significant displays of gathered force in decades. In a statement, Democratic leaders in the House Foreign Affairs, Armed Services, and Intelligence Committees stated their opposition to the then-hypothetical attack, saying “We strongly oppose preemptive U.S. military action against Iran, which endangers U.S. personnel and risks drawing Israel and Gulf partners into a wider conflict. Absent a broader diplomatic framework, miliary strikes would be destabilizing, dangerous, and counterproductive to efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East.”
In his social media post, Trump also directly addressed Iranian troops and civilians, saying to the former “You must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity. Or in the alternative, face certain death.” To the latter, he said “Don’t leave your home. It’s very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.”
USA TODAY, Reuters, and CNN report that Israeli sources say Khamenei was killed in the strikes, and that his body has been recovered. Reuters also reports, however, that an official within the Supreme Leader’s office says “I can tell you with confidence that the leader of the revolution is steadfast and firm in commanding the field.”
In an interview with NBC News Saturday, Trump said “The people that make all the decisions, most of them are gone,” including the 86-year-old Khamenei, who has led Iran for 35 years. “We feel that that is a correct story,” Trump said when asked specifically about Khamenei’s possible death. Via Truth Social, Trump announced that Khamenei had been killed, writing “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.”
