Fox News is now reporting thatIranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled the Islamic Republic for more than three decades, has died following an Israeli strike in Tehran.
Israeli leaders confirmed the Khamenei compound and offices were reduced to rubble early Saturday after a targeted strike in downtown Tehran.
“Khamenei was the contemporary Middle East’s longest-serving autocrat. He did not get to be that way by being a gambler. Khamenei was an ideologue, but one who ruthlessly pursued the preservation and protection of his ideology, often taking two steps forward and one step back,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of FDD’s Iran program, told Fox News Digital.
“Khamenei’s worldview was shaped by his militant anti-Americanism and antisemitism, which first manifested itself in his protests against the Shah of Iran,” he added.
This story is developing…
BREAKING: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei confirmed dead after Israeli strike. pic.twitter.com/93y4aFHyod
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