Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in Israeli attacks on Saturday, carried out with U.S. support, authorities and sources said. He was 86.
Former President Donald Trump announced Khamenei’s death on social media, saying the Iranian leader could not evade U.S. intelligence and surveillance. A source briefed on the U.S.-Israeli operations told reporters earlier that an Israeli airstrike was responsible.
Khamenei led Iran for 36 years, presiding over a theocratic system defined by hostility to the U.S. and Israel and resistance to political and social reforms. Born in July 1939 in the Shia holy city of Mashhad, he came from a religious family, studied in theological schools, and was an outspoken opponent of the U.S.-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, enduring multiple arrests. He was part of the revolutionary circle around Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and survived a 1981 assassination attempt that cost him the use of his right arm. After serving two terms as president, he succeeded Khomeini as supreme leader in 1989.
Analysts say Khamenei was initially an unlikely successor, lacking the religious stature of the revolution’s founder. Alex Vatanka of the Middle East Institute says Khamenei spent his early years in power feeling vulnerable, but he proved politically shrewd. With the backing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), he consolidated power, sidelined rivals and became the region’s longest-serving leader.
Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group describes Khamenei as a man of “strategic patience” who, aided by the IRGC, appropriated the levers of state power. Under his rule the IRGC developed a vast commercial empire that controlled large parts of Iran’s economy while many citizens struggled economically. His close ties to the Revolutionary Guards also underpinned Iran’s development of proxy forces across the region — notably Hezbollah in Lebanon and support for Hamas in Gaza — and a robust ballistic missile program meant to deter direct attacks on Iranian soil.
As supreme leader, Khamenei had the final say on Iran’s nuclear policy. He increasingly intervened in politics, most notably in 2009 when he backed the conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a disputed presidential election. The subsequent mass protests were met with harsh repression, a pattern repeated over the years. Sanam Vakil of Chatham House says Khamenei consistently endorsed repressive crackdowns, viewing protests as threats to the regime’s stability and legitimacy. Human rights groups and monitors say thousands were killed under his rule, including more than 7,000 people during mass protests that began in late December 2025.
Khamenei distrusted the West and was skeptical of engagement with the U.S. After the 2011 Arab Spring, he grew increasingly concerned about regime survival as sanctions and economic malaise fueled unrest. He agreed to secret talks with the U.S. in 2013 over the nuclear program, which helped produce the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Still, analysts say he never trusted Washington fully and feared any concession would invite further pressure on Iran over missiles, human rights, or regional policies. President Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal during his first term reinforced that distrust and analysts say Iran expanded enrichment afterward.
A new round of geopolitical shocks precipitated a rapid unraveling. When Hamas — which received backing from Iran — attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing and kidnapping many Israelis, it set off a chain of conflicts. Iran-backed Hezbollah opened a front from Lebanon, and Israel retaliated robustly, decimating much of Hezbollah’s leadership. Israel and Iran exchanged direct strikes in 2024, and Israel’s repeated strikes on Iranian arms shipments in Syria weakened Tehran’s regional posture. The fall of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, and his flight to Russia in early 2025, removed a key Iranian ally.
Tensions escalated further in mid-2025. In June, Israel launched strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear program and killed Iranian scientists and generals; Iran retaliated, and missile exchanges followed. On June 21, 2025, the U.S. launched major airstrikes on three of Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites; the U.S. administration said the facilities were “completely and totally obliterated,” though experts debated how permanently Iran’s nuclear capabilities were set back.
Analysts say Khamenei miscalculated how far Israel and the U.S. would go to neutralize Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities. Vakil argues he had assumed he could “play for time” while maneuvering diplomatically and militarily, but the international environment hardened and patience ran out. Iran’s reliance on proxies across the region and its support for militant groups contributed to its international isolation and invited direct attacks.
By the time of Khamenei’s death, Israel had reportedly crippled key proxies and degraded Iran’s air defenses, with U.S. assistance undermining the nuclear program. What endures from Khamenei’s tenure is a potent ballistic missile arsenal and an entrenched security apparatus. His death leaves a weakened, vulnerable Iran and raises immediate questions about succession and the future direction of the Islamic Republic.
