Sources have told the BBC’s US partner CBS that around 40 Iranian officials are dead. Israel said it killed several top officials, including the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has vowed to unleash “the most devastating offensive operation” against US bases and Israel
Reading a statement from Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, state TV outlets in Iran confirmed Ayatollah Khamenei’s death at the same time.
Below is the moment that Khamenei’s death was announced, with the statement, in part, that: “Leader and Imam of the Muslims, His Eminence Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei, on the path of upholding the exaltation of the sacred sanctuary of the Islamic Republic of Iran, drank the sweet, pure drought of martyrdom and joined the Supreme Heavenly Kingdom”, according to a Reuters translation.