Iran Mourns Leader as Nation Vows Response to U.S.-Israeli Aggression

Authorities confirm martyrdom of Ayatollah Khamenei, announce national mourning and promise decisive retaliation

By Abdullahi Yusuf

Iran’s state-linked news agencies have confirmed that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in overnight U.S.-Israeli strikes on Tehran, marking a historic and destabilizing moment for the Islamic Republic.

Tasnim and Fars News agencies reported that Khamenei was killed in the early hours of Saturday while at his office “performing his assigned duties.” The government has declared 40 days of public mourning and announced seven days of nationwide holidays.

Khamenei, who assumed leadership in 1989 after the death of Ruhollah Khomeini, led Iran for more than three decades. While Khomeini spearheaded the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the Pahlavi monarchy, it was Khamenei who consolidated control over Iran’s military and paramilitary institutions, particularly the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), shaping the country’s regional posture and internal power structure.

Before becoming supreme leader, he served as Iran’s president during the 1980–1988 war with Iraq.

In a statement carried by Fars, the IRGC said it had “lost a great leader” and described his death as “martyrdom at the hands of the most vicious terrorists.”

The force vowed retaliation, declaring that “the Iranian nation’s hand of revenge will not let them go” and pledging to confront both domestic and foreign threats.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported that Ali Shamkhani, a senior adviser to Khamenei and secretary of Iran’s Defence Council, was also killed in the strikes. It added that IRGC commander-in-chief Mohammad Pakpour died in the same attacks.

IRNA said a temporary three-member council — comprising the president, the head of the judiciary and a jurist from the Guardian Council — will assume leadership duties until a successor is appointed.

Pezeshkian comments

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian condemned the killing as “a great crime” and vowed a response. In a statement from his office, he said the act “will never remain unanswered” and promised that those responsible would “regret” their actions.

State broadcaster Press TV aired footage from the shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad showing mourners weeping and gathering in grief following the announcement.

The reported assassination of Iran’s supreme leader dramatically escalates tensions in the region and raises urgent questions about succession, stability and the future trajectory of Iran’s confrontation with Washington and Tel Aviv.

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