New Delhi, Mar 1 : In a huge development, Iran’s 86-year-old leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been killed in the joint strikes by the US and Israeli forces, ending his over three-decade hardline Islamic rule in the Persian nation.
Some of his family members, the country’s Defence Minister and several other top political and military officials have been killed in the US-Israel action, initiated under the ‘Operation Roaring Lion’.
Iranian government confirmed, through the State media, the death of Ali Khamenei hours after Israel and the US made strong assertions about the killing during hits at his residential buildings in Tehran.
Iranian government initially kept denying the news about Al Khamenei’s killing but finally made the admission.
Israel has said that his body has been recovered and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been shown its image.
The US-Israeli military strikes also killed Ali Khamenei’s son-in-law and daughter-in-law, as also Admiral Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Defence Council, Major General Mohammad Pakpour, Commander-in-Chief of the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The Iranian government has announced 40-day mourning in memory of Ali Khamenei and vowed to undertake “the most devastating offensive operation in the history” of the country, targeting Israel and the US bases.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump announced Ali Khamenei’s killing and said it provided “the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country.”
He noted that the US worked closely with Israel to target the man who had led Iran since 1989 with an iron hand, imposing strict Islamic rules in a country which had a predominant western way of life earlier.
His killing came after his whereabouts were monitored through intelligence and tracking systems, Trump said.
In his social media post, the US President added: “The heavy and pinpoint bombing, however, will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!”
Israel’s military said it had confirmed that five other senior military commanders were also dead, including Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader.
Who was Khamenei?
With the title of the ‘Supreme Leader’, Ali Khamenei held the ultimate authority over all branches of government, the military and the judiciary in Iran.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ruled Iran since 1989, succeeding Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who led an Islamic revolution in 1979 which resulted in ushering of the strict Sharia laws in the predominantly-Shia Muslim country that was criticised by the liberals and the West.
Initially dismissed as weak and indecisive, Khamenei seemed an unlikely choice for the position of the Supreme Leader after the death of Ayatollah Khomeini but down the years he stamped his iron-clad authority on the affairs of the Persian nation.
Throughout his tenure, he maintained a tough anti-West position, rubbing the American Administrations the wrong way.
At home, his rule crushed liberals while implementing tough Islamic rules. (NVI)
