U.S. and Israeli forces moved forward with their assault on Iran after intelligence confirmed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was meeting with senior advisers at a secure location, triggering the opening decapitation phase of what has become the largest joint U.S.-Israel military operation to date.
U.S. officials said confirmation of the meeting set the joint air and naval campaign in motion after Israeli intelligence detected that the gathering was taking place earlier than anticipated, Reuters reported, citing U.S. sources familiar with the matter.
The strike was accelerated to preserve the element of surprise amid concerns the Iranian leader would relocate if given the opportunity.
The United States launched the operation alongside Israeli forces against the Islamist regime in Tehran in what officials have described as an unprecedented regional concentration of American military firepower.
Khamenei was killed along with senior Iranian officials including former National Security Council secretary Ali Shamkhani and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Mohammad Pakpour, Israeli officials said.
President Donald Trump confirmed the elimination, declaring on Truth Social that Khamenei “was unable to avoid our Intelligence and Highly Sophisticated Tracking Systems” and that, “working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do.”
Satellite imagery reviewed by international media showed Khamenei’s high-security compound in Tehran was destroyed in the opening phase of the campaign.
Channel 12 in Israel reported that both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Trump were shown an image of Khamenei’s body after it was recovered from the compound — a detail underscoring the scope of intelligence penetration behind the strike.
Israeli officials have described the assault as the largest aerial operation in the country’s history, involving roughly 200 aircraft striking hundreds of targets across Iran, while U.S. naval and missile assets operated in parallel across the region.
U.S. Central Command has reported no American casualties thus far.
The timing of the strike — directly tied to confirmed real-time intelligence on Khamenei’s movements — reflects an operation designed not merely to degrade Iran’s military infrastructure, but to decapitate the regime at its apex, a goal both Trump and Netanyahu have linked to broader regime change in Tehran.
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
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