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Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is killed in Israeli strike, ending 36-year rule

Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is killed in Israeli strike, ending 36-year rule

andsoitis

Comments (675)

  • Cipater
    I work with and know a lot of Shia (non-Iranian) Muslims and listening to them talk about this assassination I'm convinced that the likelihood of attempted terror attacks against the US has increased significantly.The non-Iranian part is key. Millions of muslims around the world viewed the Iranian theocracy as the only power in the world fighting for Islam. They are devastated.
  • thomassmith65
    The Iranian diaspora around the world is celebrating. Here's the scene in Berlin:https://youtu.be/NSbx_0mtk80?si=MJ_Bfvx8gVd1P1mmThey've waited a very long time for this moment!
  • 1a527dd5
    I wonder how old the rest of the commentators are. I watched the Shock and Awe campaign. I watched Saddam fall. I remember thinking this is great.Years later, I understand it was a complete folly. Removing Saddam in itself was good but what it did the wider region was not good.
  • Alex_L_Wood
    It’s so funny reading most comments here, knowing that they’d be celebrating and saying this is good if it was Netanyahu. But when it’s a maniacal islamist declaring his goal to be the destruction of US and Israel, it’s suddenly very nuanced.
  • g8oz
    America and Israel are lawless countries. Can you imagine other countries assassinating a foreign head of state and not getting immediate blowback?
  • sega_sai
    I have no sympathy for Khamenei, but, if that is allowed we should not be surprised if Denmark prime minister is next?
  • programmertote
    Either this will end in a fractured state with different factions OR another Ayatollah will be in charge. Just my guess from seeing similar stories play out in other countries though....
  • seanmcdirmid
    What country in the Middle East has actually gotten better after removal of a bad status quo, in the last 26 years? I really can’t think of any. Is even Iraq considered a success?
  • garbawarb
    To any Iranians of HN: how do you feel about the current situation, and what's the sentiment of Iranians abroad?
  • hnthrowaway0315
    If the hard-liners IRGC generals went with him then it might be a good thing for its economy. I have heard some rumors that China was frustrated that IRGC pushed against the deals and were not willing to accept foreign investments in key oil/infra projects because they sit on them -- and that was why China never put down any real investments after signing the deals.
  • rKarpinski
    When the Arch Duke was Franz Ferdinand was assassinated would the comments have just been about policy position in the Balkans?There are now 3 active hot conflicts in Eurasia involving different Nuclear armed powers. This is a scary and unstable time.
  • joshkojoras
    It was about time. I hope the opposition in Iran takes charge and gets into power before they find another religious leader.
  • 4ndrewl
    In a FIFA World Peace Cup year as well. Is nothing sacred?
  • pythonic_hell
    I’m struggling to understand how this will be different from Libya.
  • w10-1
    This claim and the offer of immunity may be intended more to reduce Iranian resistance than to represent reality.(I would not rely on immunity from a nation that left collaborators on the tarmac in afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam?)
  • littlestymaar
    I don't think anyone should shed a tear for Khamenei's death, but I'm not convinced the current trend of regime decapitation is setting the world in a desirable direction.I'm convinced that with current technology (namely, drones) any half competent state actor can easily assassinate any world leader, and I wonder if the recent US actions aren't going to make the practice commonplace, with dramatic destabilization risks. (For instance think about Air Force One being shot down during landing by an FPV drone controlled over LTE from somewhere in South America by a Cuban intelligence officer).
  • icar
    In 1953, Iran was a secular and democratic country. They had elected a prime minister who decided to nationalize the oil industry. The US didn't like this and overthrew him. They imposed a brutal monarchical dictatorship. Popular discontent led to the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The ayatollahs, to a large extent, existed because of US interference.The same is true for all the instability in the Middle East, entirely manufactured by the West.Action-reaction, cause-effect: You never know how a story will end. And after the 1979 revolution, the CIA and British MI6 provided the ayatollahs with lists of communists to exterminate, which they did. Imperialism always prefers to deal with theocracies rather than communists. https://www.declassifieduk.org/how-britain-helped-irans-isla...
  • Alifatisk
    What is happening to this world. There is so many intense events happening in a such short time. I feel like we are truly living in weird times. Trumpet is out here deciding the fate of countries future for his own good. Now, it so happens to be something that benefited the Iranians. But I do not think he did it for the people directly, rather a side effect.I feel like I've lost the touch of which direction our future is going now, the worlds geopolitics is fluctuation too much. Maybe I should remind myself that feelings also gets amplified by constant stream of news and social media. I am certain 1990s, 2000s and early 2010s was worse times.
  • KnuthIsGod
    Good way to boost the midterm vote.Next Greenland and then Canada.
  • moi2388
    These comments are insane to me. Have any of you ever spoken with Iranians? Lived with them? Trust me, they were wishing for Khamenei to be removed for decades.
  • Mikhail_Edoshin
    To celebrate deaths this way is satanic.
  • omnee
    In isolation the death of this brutal dictator is great news, but we have seen how previous decapitation strikes have not had the intended effect. And I can only hope the Iranian people somehow end up better for this entirely illegal war that the Trump administration has initiated, instead of facing up to a fractured leadership and a potential civil war.
  • anon
    undefined
  • izietto
    Hi Iran, enjoy your civil war
  • hirpslop
    This may or may not lead to a weaker Iran. From FP: “Iran is frequently portrayed as a political order bound tightly to individuals. Yet the architecture that emerged after 1979 was formed by a different logic, one founded in the revolutionary experience itself. Khomeini captured this hierarchy in a remark (https://abdimedia.net/en/ruhollah-khomeini/system-ahead-life...) often cited within Iran’s political elite: “Preserving the Islamic Republic is more important than preserving any individual, even if that individual were the Imam of the Age”—a reference to Shiism’s 12th Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi. It is still unclear whether the system will always follow this principle. But one should expect a change in leadership in Tehran to be treated less as an ending and more as a chance for the country’s institutions to show they can survive.”https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/02/28/iran-khamenei-ayatollah...
  • seydor
    Good, Trump can now claim victory and shout some words in his third-world-dictator style, and american sailors move out of the region. Stock market is opening tomorrow and it doesnt want to see ugly things
  • righthand
    Not worth killing more people. Very sad stupid day. Just because a “bad guy” died doesn’t mean we did a good thing.
  • thecarbonista
    Why are the American democrats protesting?
  • anonnon
    Looks like Russia's Shahad drone supply chain just got disrupted.
  • AnimalMuppet
  • xannabxlle
    I'm tired of Israelis killing innocent people
  • SethMurphy
    If the United States truly supported regime change there should be a clear next leader favored to succeed the Ayatollah, otherwise this feels more like a favor to oil companies, raising prices temporarily, and a sound bite for political gain, without a care of what happens to the country later. Simply toppling a government seems quite risky without further planning. Just expecting "good" people to fill the leadership vacuum is a gamble that could easily backfire and lead to greater crackdowns on freedoms and death to those Trump told to go get the power.
  • bossyTeacher
    Why didn't he flee? This was a long time coming
  • cess11
    I'd rather wait until it is confirmed.
  • IAmGraydon
    Smart strategy by the administration - go after people who are universally hated (Maduro, Khamenei) so you can normalize breaking the law and no one will speak out against you or they're a supporter of said hated people.
  • dispersed
    Trump hasn't provided any evidence of his death and is quoted as saying something very non-Trumpian here: https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/live-blog/israel-iran-liv...> Earlier, Trump addressed reports that Khamenei was killed in airstrikes today, saying, “We feel that that is a correct story.”This doesn't sound like Trump's typical bluster, and it's even weirder that Trump didn't immediately go on TV to brag. I'm not saying this is fake news, but I'll wait for confirmation.
  • hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
    If you want to accurately predict the future, look no further than following prominent Israeli Americans and whatever it is they are after.
  • mixxit
    Good
  • ReptileMan
    Ding dong the witch is dead. Let's hope other witches follow his steps.
  • hit8run
    Today is a good day.
  • 2OEH8eoCRo0
    Best of luck to the people of Iran. Be safe! I'm praying for the best!
  • le-mark
    Netanyahu is leading Trump around by the nose apparently. And here we all thought Putin owned Trump. How the wheel turns.
  • thisislife2
    Israel, Trump claims Khamenei killed, Iran denies - https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2026/2/28/live-israe...
  • small_model
    If true, and given how easy it seemed decapitate the regime I can't see another Ayatollah taking over, hopefully the people take over and institute a real secular democracy based on capitalism.
  • jacknews
    "American heroes may be lost", Trump said. He argued this would be a necessary price to pay to inflict damage.lol. "Some of you will lose your lives. But that's a price I'm willing to pay"
  • pavlov
    The killings of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi were so amazingly successful in stabilizing those countries that Americans keep repeating the pattern.
  • brap
    Good riddance
  • lostmsu
    There might be something to read between the lines for Putin.
  • heavyset_go
    Thank god we're kicking 5 million people off of their health insurance in 2027, otherwise we would not be able to afford all of these bombs.
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  • wesammikhail
    Honeeeeeeeeey get in here, the board of peace officially declared its first war!Bring the popcorn with you. No need for salt cause everyone got that in spades on both sides.
  • clot27
    RIPYou died fighting Imperialists and I will always respect that
  • csmpltn
    All the angry people here coming out of the woodwork in this thread. Where were you just a month ago, when the Iranian regime murdered 30k of its own civilians within just a couple of days, during the recent wave of protests? This site is infested with woke moralists and islamists.
  • avoutos
    It's remarkable to me how many seem to forget there is "morality" apart from "legality". Even if this does violate some treaty somewhere, we need not wring hands over the death of an objective dictator.
  • kingofmen
    > President Trump announced the Iranian leader's death on social media, saying Khamenei could not avoid U.S. intelligence and surveillance. A source briefed on the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran told NPR earlier Saturday that an Israeli airstrike killed Khamenei.This does not seem to me like very strong evidence? Trump just says whatever, and "a source briefed on [the attacks]" just means at least one person in USG thinks Khamenei was in whatever house they blew up. Am I missing some other confirmation?
  • throwaway742
    RIP
  • msuniverse2026
    In my opinion the real problem for Iran lies in the north, on the border with Azerbaijan.The Israeli-supplied Azeri military has already demonstrated its effectiveness when it curb stomped the unprepared and internally betrayed Armenian military and militias. Baku will eventually decide to intervene in the northern territories. If I had to guess, a "special military operation" into northern Iran is the most likely follow-up scenario goaded into and supplied of course by Israel/US. The goal will be to foment a civil war and begin the dismemberment process of Iran.A little personal conspiracy theory I have is that after the last Israel/US intervention (when they mysteriously liquidated the only high-ranking and influential internal opposition of the Khamenei clan left) is that some sort of deal was worked out behind the scenes with the clan to get rid of the wizard-in-chief kinda like how Maduro was sold out. It is much easier to go to war with a country when it responds with only symbolic attacks and secretly promises to fight with one hand behind its back - provided cash and security flows for those at the top of course.