Key Highlights
- Protestors hold portraits of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as they gather to protest against the US and Israel attack of Iran and the killing of the Supreme leader in front of Israel Consulate in Istanbul on March 1, 2026 (Photo: AP)The killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is not a "development" in a live blog.
- It is a strategic event, the kind that reorders incentives far beyond the immediate battlefield.
- That the United States and Israel chose to do it while Omani mediation was reporting significant progress in indirect nuclear talks is not just a diplomatic failure; it is a declaration that the era of bargains, inspections, and managed escalation has been deliberately set aside.
- After the joint strikes began on February 28, 2026, hitting Iranian nuclear-linked sites, missile infrastructure, air defences, and leadership targets across multiple cities, under US 'Operation Epic Fury' and Israel’s 'Roaring Lion', Iran’s state media confirmed earlier today that Khamenei had been killed.
- Anyone expecting the Islamic Republic to fold because its figurehead is gone is confusing states with cults.
