Multiple Israeli officials tell ABC News that Israel has determined that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the joint U.S. and Israeli strikes on Tehran earlier Saturday. U.S. officials have been informed by the Israelis but have not independently confirmed the report, according to two U.S. officials.
President Donald Trump told ABC Newshebelievesthe supreme leader is dead, saying, “we believe so.”
“I don’t want to say anything definitively until I see things but we believe he is. And much of their leaders are gone,” Trump told ABC News.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a meeting in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 17, 2026.
Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP
Earlier Saturday, an Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei denied reports that Khamenei and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian were killed in the strikes, saying they are “safe and sound,” in an interview on ABC News Live.
The Israel Defense Forces said it believes almost the entirety of Iran’s military leadership was killed Saturday, including the head of the Iranian Security Council, the defense minister and a top intelligence official.
Among the officials are Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the Iranian Security Council; Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; and Aziz Nasirzadeh, the defense minister of Iran.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller, Dana Savid, John Santucci, Anne Flaherty, Shannon Kingston and Luke Barr