A historic day in Iran: Ayatollah Khamenei is dead
episodePreviously titled “An historic day in Iran: Ayatollah Khamenei is dead” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026
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What does Ayatollah Khamenei's death mean for Iran?
The Supreme Leader of Iran has been declared dead. An historic day in the Middle East. Hour by hour, dramatic events are unfolding across the region as President Donald Trump and Israel launch their most ambitious attack yet. The stakes are high for Trump as he has briefed on the risks of America intervening in another conflict and the potential rewards. if it can achieve regime change in Iran. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. I'm Kim Vinnell in Whanganui, New Zealand, with this special episode of Reuters World News.
How are the US and Israel responding to Khamenei's death?
The president of the United States says Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is dead. The president's remarks, posted on Truth Social, came after an Israeli official told Reuters that they had found the body of Khamenei. Satellite images show black smoke rising and heavy damage at the Supreme Leader's compound. The announcement of his death marks an historic turning point for the Islamic Republic and a dramatic escalation in a new conflict that engulfed the Middle East in a matter of hours today. Khamenei, who ruled Iran for more than three decades, was targeted as the United States and Israel launched their most ambitious attack on their archenemy. Their missiles hit large swathes of Iran, from the country's north to its southern Gulf coast, including the capital, Tehran.
Iran has responded, bombarding Israel with missiles, many of which were intercepted, but not all of them. Iran also attacked U.S. bases across the region, including Qatar, which hosts the largest American military base in the Middle East. They're now under siege. Trump's announcement of Khamenei's death thrusts the country into levels of uncertainty not seen since the 1979 revolution. The supreme leader wielded final authority over the military, the judiciary, the media, and Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard.
What high-risk scenarios did Trump consider regarding Iran?
Iran is now in open warfare, and its people are being urged by the U.S. president to revolt. With Khamenei gone, there is an immediate power vacuum in Iran, but it isn't yet clear who will fill it. Over the past two weeks, the CIA has been sharing intelligence with senior U.S. officials, briefing them on potential replacements. Erin Banco in Washington, D.C., has the story.
This is obviously a very fluid situation. fast-moving story and really who knows what could happen. One of the scenarios they looked at was the possibility of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, which is an elite military unit in Iran that one of its leaders could take over and fill that power vacuum.
Erin says other options include other hardline figures or, less likely, an opposition leader. But she says whoever takes over, officials in the U.S. don't expect any major change in Iran's policy.
When it comes to senior officials in the White House and the State Department, you know, from our reporting in recent weeks, I think what we can say here is that they expect change. that the power vacuum wouldn't necessarily be filled by an opposition figure. For decades now, the country has been ruled by figures like the Supreme Leader, who have very hardline views about the ways in which they deal with the world. So when it comes to policy and thinking about the world, then it would be sort of a similar figure entering that space with similar thinking on, for example, Iran's nuclear program or the ways in which the country diplomatically deals with the West. Somebody equally as hardline would probably fill that space.
The large-scale attack on Iran could be the riskiest and most consequential move of Trump's second term. It marks a pivot from quick contained operations like last month's raid in Venezuela to what experts warn could become a drawn-out conflict with Iran and a wider regional war. So why did President Trump do this? Well, national security reporter Phil Stewart has uncovered exclusive details about the briefings the president received ahead of the attack.
One of the things that we've learned is that he was briefed primarily on this high risk, high reward scenario where, yes, Iran could stage, you know, basically a mass casualty event where it strikes, you know, a U.S.
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