Khamenei killed · Koshte shodan-e Khamenei

Culture of origin: Iranian · Historical

Holiday sources: Iran

The strike hit the compound at about 9:30 in the morning, timed to a meeting of senior officials that the CIA had learned of. Killed with him, according to the Israeli military and the Associated Press, were his adviser Ali Shamkhani, the Revolutionary Guards' commander Mohammad Pakpour, the armed forces' chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi and the defence minister Aziz Nasirzadeh. Iranian state media, citing Fars, a news agency linked to the Revolutionary Guards, reported that his daughter Boshra Khamenei, her 14-month-old daughter Zahra Mohammadi Golpayegani, his son-in-law Mesbah al-Hoda Bagheri Kani and his daughter-in-law Zahra Haddad-Adel were also killed; Airwars, which records civilian harm in war, lists all four among the dead. The government denied his death at first and confirmed it on 1 March. Videos showed people celebrating in Tehran, Isfahan, Karaj, Kermanshah, Qazvin, Sanandaj, Shiraz and Izeh, and in Dehloran a crowd toppled his statue. Security forces fired on celebrants: the rights group Hengaw reported that they shot dead Nahal Ahouqalandari, a young woman, in a car in Khorramabad that evening, and two brothers aged 19 and 15. In his 36 years as leader his forces crushed the protests of 2009, of November 2019 (about 1,500 killed, according to Reuters), of 2022 (551 protesters killed, verified by Iran Human Rights) and of Dey 1404 (between 4,219 and 6,800 protesters and bystanders killed, confirmed by name by human-rights groups; the International Centre for Human Rights estimates at least 43,000).