Ayatollah Khamenei killed in Israeli airstrike, reports say

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a government complex in Tehran, according to sources cited by The Financial Times and The New York Times. The attack, which occurred on a Saturday morning, reportedly involved Israel disabling phone masts near the complex to prevent warnings from reaching Khamenei's bodyguards.

Sources told The Financial Times that Israel had been hacking surveillance cameras in Tehran for years, allowing real-time mapping of guards. The CIA had also been tracking Khamenei's movements and routines. When U.S. intelligence learned of a summit involving Khamenei, the information was passed to Israel, which then executed the strike.

Israel's Ministry of Defense announced that the state had initiated a preemptive strike against Iran, assessing it would be easier to eliminate Iran's leadership before a large-scale war erupted. The attack targeted the government complex where the 86-year-old Khamenei resided and had his offices.

While Iran initially denied the reports, state-controlled television later confirmed the supreme leader's death. A visibly emotional news anchor announced that Khamenei had achieved "martyrdom." His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was appointed as his successor, and a six-day funeral period was announced.