Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that Israeli forces destroyed the compound of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a surprise strike and that there are growing indications Khamenei may no longer be alive.
“In a powerful surprise attack this morning, we destroyed the compound of the tyrant Khamenei,” Netanyahu said in a televised statement. “Signs are increasing that Khamenei is no longer with us.”
He added, “With God’s help, the roar of our lion — of our soldiers, our pilots and our citizens — is heard around the world. The whole world knows the people of Israel live.”
Netanyahu also thanked U.S. President Donald Trump and said, “This war will lead to true peace.”
Iranian authorities have not confirmed Khamenei’s death, and there has been no independent verification of Netanyahu’s claim.
Renewed strikes after earlier claims of victory
The renewed attacks on Iran come months after Netanyahu and senior defense officials declared sweeping achievements during Operation Rising Lion, including the elimination of senior commanders and nuclear scientists, destruction of key facilities and significant damage to Iran’s missile array.
On June 17, during that operation, Netanyahu said Israel faced “a double existential threat — and we are removing it.” He described Iran’s nuclear program as the foremost danger and said Israel had struck senior scientists and severely damaged the Natanz enrichment facility, along with centrifuge production industries and a uranium conversion facility.
“We continue to systematically destroy nuclear targets,” Netanyahu said at the time.
He also said Israel was dismantling Iran’s ballistic missile production “one after another,” neutralizing hundreds of missiles and targeting launchers. “It doesn’t matter how many missiles they have. The question is how many launchers they have — and we are taking them down one after another,” he said.
Netanyahu said Israel had eliminated senior Iranian security leaders, including three chiefs of staff, the air force commander, two intelligence chiefs and the head of operations.
Security officials said Saturday that in the opening blow of the renewed campaign, several dozen senior Iranian officials were killed simultaneously, likely more than 25. According to assessments, Khamenei may also have been among those killed.
In June, Netanyahu said Israel had established control over the skies of Tehran and had destroyed roughly half of Iran’s drone fleet. He said Israeli forces struck major radar systems, regime targets, headquarters and the state broadcasting authority.
After the United States joined the earlier campaign, Netanyahu said unprecedented achievements had been secured and that U.S. forces struck Iran’s nuclear facilities at Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.
When that operation concluded on June 24, Netanyahu declared what he called a “historic victory,” saying Israel had removed two immediate existential threats: destruction by nuclear weapons and destruction by 20,000 ballistic missiles.
“For decades I promised you that Iran would not have nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said at the time. “We thwarted Iran’s nuclear project. And if anyone in Iran tries to restore it, we will act with the same determination and the same strength to cut off any such attempt.”
He said Israel destroyed dozens of missile production plants, severely damaged missile stockpiles and eliminated most launchers. “Iran’s malicious plan to threaten Israel’s existence within a few years with tens of thousands of ballistic missiles — that threat too has been removed,” he said.
Referring to Iran’s leadership, Netanyahu said Israel had delivered crushing blows to what he called a regime of evil, eliminating hundreds of operatives and striking bases and symbols of power.
In July, before departing for a meeting with Trump in the United States, Netanyahu described those talks as taking place in the context of “the great victory we achieved in Operation Rising Lion.” In December, after the end of the war in Gaza, he said Israel was emerging from what he called a war of revival with major achievements, adding that “the whole world is astonished how this small country strikes the axis of evil, Iran and its proxies.”
The renewed campaign now raises questions about why additional strikes were deemed necessary after earlier declarations that the principal threats had been removed.