Did they get him? Khamenei's fate remains unknown after Israel strike levels his compound

As the fume was inactive clearing implicit Tehran, 1 question dominated the portion and Washington alike: Did they get him?

In the contiguous aftermath of the Israel-U.S. strikes, with the Israeli Air Force targeting elder Iranian enactment infrastructure, rumors swirled that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s 86-year-old ultimate leader, had been killed.

Satellite images showed dense harm to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s fortified compound, including buildings believed to location his residence and the alleged House of Leadership. Parts of the analyzable appeared reduced to rubble.

Regional reports indicated a high-level gathering of Khamenei’s apical lieutenants whitethorn person been underway erstwhile the onslaught hit. Iranian semi-official media besides reported missiles struck adjacent the statesmanlike palace and different enactment sites northbound of the capital.

Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei makes archetypal nationalist quality successful weeks with caller U.S. threats. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader Credit/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Israeli officials told Fox News Digital they were inactive assessing the results and said it was excessively aboriginal to corroborate the destiny of the 86-year-old ultimate leader. They did not regularisation retired the anticipation that helium was killed.

Iranian officials, however, insisted the country’s enactment — including Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian — remained safe, according to The Guardian, contempt what they described arsenic an assassination attempt. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the BBC that helium was not successful a presumption to corroborate whether Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been eliminated.

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In this representation released by an authoritative website of the bureau of the Iranian ultimate leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stands arsenic service aerial unit force salute astatine the commencement of their gathering successful Tehran, Iran, Friday, Feb. 8, 2019. Khamenei is defending "Death to America" chants that are modular fare astatine anti-U.S. rallies crossed Iran but says the chanting is aimed astatine America's leaders and not its people.  (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

The long-serving cleric has survived decades of interior unrest, assassination plots and overseas pressure. He seldom appears successful nationalist without layers of information and is believed to run done a tightly controlled web of loyalists embedded crossed Iran’s military, quality and governmental institutions.

In an exclusive Fox News Digital study earlier this week, researchers described however Khamenei runs what amounts to a parallel authorities wrong Iran’s ceremonial authorities structure.

"The Bayt is the hidden nervus halfway of the authorities successful Iran… it operates arsenic a authorities wrong a state," Kasra Aarabi, manager of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) probe astatine United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), told Fox News Digital.

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Smoke rises connected the skyline aft an detonation successful Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Even if Khamenei himself were removed, Aarabi warned, the organization machinery helium built — involving astir 4,000 halfway unit and a broader web of tens of thousands — could proceed functioning.

"Even if helium is eliminated, the Bayt arsenic an instauration enables the Supreme Leader to function," Aarabi said. "Think of the Supreme Leader arsenic an instauration alternatively than conscionable a azygous individual."

That world complicates the picture.

For decades, Khamenei has positioned himself not simply arsenic a governmental person but arsenic the apex of a strategy designed to past shocks — whether from protests astatine location oregon subject unit abroad.

The 86-year-old cleric has faced repeated waves of unrest, including wide protests successful 2009, 2022 and again successful aboriginal 2026. Each time, his authorities cracked down forcefully, consolidating power alternatively than fracturing.

He has besides weathered years of covert operations, cyber campaigns and targeted strikes against cardinal Iranian figures crossed the region.

Still, the standard of the latest onslaught appears unprecedented.

If confirmed dead, Khamenei’s sidesplitting would people the astir important decapitation of Iranian enactment since the 1979 revolution. It would besides rise contiguous questions astir succession wrong a strategy helium cautiously engineered to debar abrupt collapse.

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A idiosyncratic holds an representation of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei arsenic Iranian demonstrators protestation against the U.S.-Israeli strikes, successful Tehran, Iran, Feb. 28, 2026.  (Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)

If helium survived, it would reenforce his estimation for resilience — and underscore however hard it is to destruct the halfway of Iran’s powerfulness structure.

For now, officials accidental assessments are ongoing, and the question whitethorn beryllium answered successful the precise adjacent future.

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