Protestors hold a placard which reads “Thank you Trump and Bibi (Benjamin Netanyahu)” during a demonstration “Freedom for Iran” in front of the Brandenburger Gate in Berlin, on February 28, 2026.
RALF HIRSCHBERGER / AFP
Loud cheers are reported to have echoed across parts of Tehran as residents celebrated news of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's death.
In a post on Truth Social, U.S. President Donald Trump said
Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead.
Earlier on Saturday Trump was still cautious, saying that he believes reports that Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been killed in air strikes are true.
“We feel that that is a correct story,” he was quoted as saying by NBC News.
The U.S. president also spoke to ABC News about reports of Khamenei’s death, saying: “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’s remarks came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there were “many signs” that Khamenei had been killed in an attack on his compound as part of the U.S.-Israeli campaign.
Earlier on Saturday a Department of State official said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will brief his G7 counterparts on the U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran later in the day in a call.
According to social media reports loud cheers echoed across Tehran as residents took to their windows to applaud and play celebratory music after learning of the presumed killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
