Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Saturday. The attack occurred at his office near Pasteur Street in Tehran, where he was meeting with several senior Iranian leaders. Israel fired 30 missiles at the office, killing Khamenei and 40 officials. Israel had been preparing for this attack for several years. Its intelligence agency, Mossad and Unit 8200, hacked almost all of Tehran’s traffic cameras. Images from these cameras were encrypted and sent to servers in Tel Aviv and southern Israel. The US intelligence agency, the CIA, also assisted in this operation. One particular camera was used to reveal where the bodyguards and drivers of senior officials parked their personal vehicles. Israel hacked Iran’s phone towers. These cameras provided Israel with a wealth of information about officers, including where they live, when they arrive for duty, the routes they take, and most importantly, which leaders they protect or escort. This is called “pattern of life” in intelligence.
This information was crucial for Israel’s assassination of Khamenei. This wasn’t the only method. Israel and the CIA gathered various types of intelligence. Israel also hacked mobile phone towers around Pasteur Street, so that phones would appear busy during the attack, preventing any alert from being given to security teams.
Israeli officials are familiar with every corner of Iran. An Israeli intelligence official said that they know Tehran as well as Jerusalem. When you know a place so well, even the smallest disturbance becomes apparent. All this was done using data from Israel’s Unit 8200 (signals intelligence), Mossad’s human sources, and military intelligence. They used a mathematical method called social network analysis to sort through billions of data points and find new targets. Targeting intelligence is crucial in Israel; if a decision is made to kill someone, the intelligence team is ready to carry it out. Khamenei had said, “My death doesn’t matter.” Khamenei’s assassination was a political decision, not just a technological feat. When the CIA and Israel learned that Khamenei was holding a meeting in his office on Saturday morning, accompanied by several senior leaders, they saw an opportune moment. Finding him after the war would have been difficult, as he would have hidden in bunkers. Khamenei did not live in hiding like Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Nasrallah lived in a bunker for years, but Khamenei had occasionally publicly stated that his death would have made no difference. Khamenei held supreme power in Iran for 37 years. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei held the position of Supreme Leader of Iran since the death of Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989. During the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, when Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown, Khamenei played a major role in the revolution. Following the Islamic Revolution, Khamenei was appointed President in 1981, a position he held for eight years. Following Khomeini’s death in 1989, he was appointed Iran’s Supreme Leader. Learn more about the now-deceased Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei… Ayatollah Ali Khamenei opposed the policies of Reza Shah Pahlavi and advocated for Islamic rule. In 1963, he was arrested for giving a speech against the Shah. Gradually, he became a prominent figure in the anti-government movement and was considered a trusted ally of Khomeini. In 1979, the Islamic Revolution took place in Iran, toppling the Shah’s government. Khomeini returned to the country and formed a new Islamic government. Khamenei was placed in the Revolutionary Council and later appointed Deputy Defense Minister. In 1981, Khamenei was bombed while delivering a speech at a mosque in Tehran. The then-President was killed in another bombing that same year. In the subsequent elections, Khamenei won a landslide victory and became Iran’s third President. After Khomeini’s death in 1989, Khamenei was appointed the country’s Supreme Leader, or “Rahbar,” with amendments to the constitution. Supporters consider him a strong defender of the Islamic system, while critics accuse him of running a strict and rigid regime. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s wife also died. Two days after the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his wife, Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, also passed away. Mansoureh had been injured in a US and Israeli attack two days earlier. Khamenei was killed in this attack. Iranian state media confirmed that Mansoureh died on Monday while undergoing treatment. Mansoureh married Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 1964. At that time, Khamenei was an active young cleric. Born in Mashhad in 1947, Mansoureh comes from a religious family. Her father, Ayatollah Mohammad Bagher Khojasteh, was a respected cleric in Mashhad. Several Iranian nuclear scientists were killed last year. Israel killed several Iranian nuclear scientists and senior officials during the 12-day war in June 2025. Iran’s air defenses were destroyed by cyberattacks, small drones, and precision missiles. Israel used the Sparrow missile, which can hit small targets from more than 1,000 kilometers away.
In this attack, Israeli jets flew for several hours and fired more than 30 precision missiles. The attack, carried out in the morning, came as a surprise to Iran. Two Israeli intelligence agents confirmed Khamenei’s presence in his office. Israel has previously killed many individuals, including nuclear scientists and militant leaders. However, killing a prominent leader like Khamenei is a significant step. There was a dispute between the US and Iran regarding the nuclear deal. Amidst the negotiations, the US began encircling Iran as early as January 2025. The US carriers USS Gerald Ford and USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in the Middle East in the second week of February. This was the largest US military deployment in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. On February 17th, the second round of talks on the deal between the US and Iran failed in Geneva. Following this, the US began deploying approximately 150 fighter jets and fuel tanker aircraft. On February 24, 12 F-22s were deployed at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport and Israel’s Ovda Airbase. Now know what has happened so far in the Iran-Israel-US war… ——————————- Read this news too… Claim- Khamenei’s son can become Iran’s Supreme Leader: He was undergoing training to take over power for 2 years; 88 clerics will take the final decision After the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the US-Israel attack, the biggest question is who will take his place. This question is also because Iran’s Supreme Leader is more powerful than the President. Read the full news…
