Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was confirmed to have been killed after the United States and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran on Saturday. Long before the bombs fell “we knew Tehran like we know Jerusalem”, said one Israeli intelligence official. But killing Khamenei was a political decision, not simply a technological achievement, said more than half a dozen current and former Israeli intelligence officials interviewed for this story. Photograph: Majid Saeedi/GettyEven last June, in the throes of a full-blown war, Israel made no known attempts to bomb Khamenei. One of the people said it showed that the meeting with Khamenei was on schedule, with senior officials heading to the location.

Source: The Irish Times March 03, 2026 18:32 UTC