President Donald Trump confirmed in the late afternoon of Feb. 28 that Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead, an announcement that comes hours after news that joint Israeli-U.S. strikes were launched on military and regime sites in Iran.
Trump said in a Truth Social post published at 4:37 PM ET, “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead. This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS.”
The president said Khamenei “was unable to avoid our Intelligence and Highly Sophisticated Tracking Systems and, working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do.”
A U.S. senior official told FOX News Feb. 28 that Khamenei and about five to 10 top Iranian leaders were killed following an Israeli strike in Tehran, an attack that is part of the Israeli-U.S. military offensive “Operation Epic Fury.”
Trump said in the social media post, “This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country.”
“We are hearing that many of their [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)], Military, and other Security and Police Forces, no longer want to fight, and are looking for Immunity from us,” he added. “As I said last night, ‘Now they can have Immunity, later they only get Death!’”
The President expressed hope that the IRGC and police “will peacefully merge with the Iranian Patriots, and work together as a unit to bring back the Country to the Greatness it deserves.”
“That process should soon be starting in that, not only the death of Khamenei but the Country has been, in only one day, very much destroyed and, even, obliterated,” he concluded. “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!”
Khamenei was the longest-serving head of state in the Middle East, having spent nearly 37 years in power in Iran, according to the independent think tank Council on Foreign Relations. In January, Iranian civilians staged nationwide protests against his regime. Zeale News previously reported that the protests, initially a response to a severe economic crisis and drastic shortages of basic goods, became “a sweeping national outcry against the Islamic Republic itself,” in which the protesters called “for the fall of the theocracy established after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and an end to the authoritarian rule” of Khamenei.
According to a Jan. 26 report from Amnesty International, Iranian security forces, including the IRGC, retaliated against protesters with unlawful force and “carried out massacres of protestors” mainly on Jan. 8 and 9. The death toll “rose into thousands,” Amnesty International reported, adding that “January 2026 marks the deadliest period of repression by the Iranian authorities in decades of Amnesty’s research.” The organization reported that Khamenei said in a Jan. 17 public speech that “thousands of people” were killed. While the death toll remains disputed, it could be as high as 20,000, or higher, Amnesty International warned.
The news of Khamenei’s death comes hours after Trump announced that the U.S. launched “major combat operations in Iran,” as Zeale News previously reported. The beginning of the violent conflict follows weeks of U.S. military assets being built up around Iran. Trump’s initial Feb. 28 statement indicated “that the purpose of the new war is not only to ‘ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon’ but also regime change,” Zeale News reported.
In response to the outbreak of war, CatholicVote President and CEO Kelsey Reinhardt issued a statement calling on the faithful in America to pray.
“We have already dedicated this year to prayer and penance for our nation through our America 250 Prayer Campaign, and this latest development should renew our commitment to praying and sacrificing for the future of the United States during the 250th anniversary of its founding,” she said. “Let us all rededicate our nation to the Prince of Peace, asking His Most Sacred Heart for mercy on us all, especially the vulnerable populations now under immediate threat during the outbreak of war.”