Iranian news agencies Tasnim and Fars have confirmed the death of the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying he was killed at his office in the early hours of Saturday while “performing his assigned duties”.

According to Fars, the Iranian government has announced 40 days of public mourning following Khamenei’s killing, along with seven days of public holidays.

An IRGC-aligned outlet reported that the supreme leader’s daughter, son-in-law and grandson were also killed in the strike. The reports came after US President Donald Trump and Israeli officials claimed that Khamenei had been killed, allegations that Iranian officials had earlier dismissed as “psychological warfare”.

Following the reports, people were seen pouring into the streets of the Iranian capital, Tehran, Al Jazeera reported.

Public ceremonies are expected in the coming days as part of the 40-day mourning period, even as bombardments continue across the country. A few hours earlier, a loud explosion was heard again in the capital.

Khamenei became head of the Islamic Republic in 1989 after the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution. While Khomeini was the ideological architect of the revolution that ended the Pahlavi monarchy, Khamenei went on to shape Iran’s military and paramilitary structures, which form the backbone of its defence strategy and regional influence.

Before assuming the role of supreme leader, Khamenei served as Iran’s president during the devastating war with Iraq in the 1980s. Analysts say that the prolonged conflict, combined with Iran’s sense of isolation as Western countries supported Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, deepened Khamenei’s distrust of the West in general and the United States in particular. This outlook would later define his decades-long rule and reinforce the belief that Iran must remain in a permanent state of defence against both external and internal threats.

Meanwhile, Reza Pahlavi, son of Iran’s deposed Shah, said “their hour of liberation is at hand” in a short post on X, thanking Trump for the military operation launched against Iran. “The courageous Iranian people have paid a heavy price for freedom,” he added.

Pahlavi, who is seeking to lead Iran, said he has outlined a plan “for an orderly, transparent transition to a democratic Iran”.