Trump Says Iran’s Supreme Leader has been assassinated in U.S.-Israel Attacks

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.”

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.”