Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead, wrote U.S. President Donald Trump late Saturday evening on Truth Social. The information has not been confirmed by the Iranian side; on the contrary, there were reports of widespread cheering in the country when the rumor of Khamenei's death first circulated earlier in the evening.
The Israeli military claims that Mohammad Pakpour, leader of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, and Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh were also killed in the U.S. and Israeli attacks.
Several powerful explosions have been reported from Tehran as well as many other cities on Saturday, and, according to the Iranian Red Crescent, more than 200 people in the country have died in the attacks and over 700 have been injured, Reuters reports.
During the evening, new reports of explosions came in the Iranian capital, and residents have reportedly been urged to leave the city. "If possible and when calm, head to other cities," the authorities wrote in a text message to the approximately nine million residents, according to AFP.
Great uncertainty
Earlier, explosions were reported in the cities of Isfahan, Qom and Karaj, according to the pro-regime Iranian news agency Fars. The attacks have been nationwide, and, according to Israel, the largest ever carried out by the country - over 200 fighter jets and drones are said to have attacked 500 targets in Iran.
Great uncertainty has characterized the information surrounding the Iranian regime and the Revolutionary Guard on Saturday, not least whether Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was alive or not. One of the first explosions on Saturday reportedly occurred near the Supreme Leader's headquarters, and according to The New York Times, large parts of the building have been leveled to the ground.
State Iranian media reported on Saturday that the 86-year-old leader would give a televised speech in the afternoon, but this had not yet been broadcast in the evening.
“Significant threat”
The attacks began on Saturday morning. After several reports of explosions in Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed the attack. In a speech, he said that the U.S. goal was to protect the American people from “significant threats” from the Iranian regime.
A number of defense facilities and nuclear energy facilities have been targeted in the attack on Iran, Bloomberg reports, citing Iran's Foreign Ministry.
In southern Iran, at least 85 people, many of them students, were reported to have been killed when an Israeli attack hit a girls' school. The information in state-run Iranian media has not been confirmed, but according to the BBC, the school is located in a closed area belonging to Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
