Ali Khamenei was killed in the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran on Saturday. The New York Times reported earlier in the day that large parts of Khamenei's headquarters had been razed to the ground, but there was no information on whether the Ayatollah was there at the time.
Trump wrote on Saturday evening that 86-year-old Khamenei was "one of the most evil people in history" and that his death is "justice for the Iranian people."
He further wrote on Truth Social that the heavy U.S. attacks on Iran will continue "as long as necessary."
“Credible information”
Middle East expert Anders Persson notes that it is too early to confirm that Khamenei is indeed dead, but adds that previous Israeli reports that, for example, high-ranking Hamas or Hezbollah leaders had been killed have proven to be true.
So I think this information should be considered credible in any case, says Persson, associate professor and researcher at Linnaeus University, to TT.
If they are correct, it will be a great success for the U.S. and Israel, says Anders Persson.
Not least because it happened during the first day of attacks, he says, comparing it to the fact that it took nine months after the start of the Iraq War to capture Saddam Hussein.
Cheers should have been heard
Khamenei's death does not necessarily mean the fall of the regime in Iran.
But there is no doubt that it would weaken and create cracks in the Iranian regime, says Anders Persson.
When unofficial reports of the Ayatollah's death reached Iran, cheers and applause were heard from windows in the capital Tehran, AFP reported. However, the news agency wrote that people did not dare to gather in the streets to celebrate.
The information about Khamenei's death came via the Israeli military, which claimed that he had been killed and that pictures of the body were shown to both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump.
Ali Larijani, former commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, wrote on X that "criminal and shameless" Israel and the U.S. will regret their actions.
Larijani has reportedly been given a central role in resolving the crisis if the ayatollah were to die. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Ali Khamenei had drawn up a contingency plan for how to secure power if he were killed in a possible U.S. or Israeli attack.
