A satellite image of Tehran, with what appears to be a plume of black smoke rising from the compound of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after an airstrike. According to Israel's Channel 12, the joint US-Israeli operation against Iran involved dropping 30 bombs on Khamenei's compound on February 28, 2026. PLANET LABS PBC 2026/AFP
The Iranian regime's collapse: This was the maximalist objective that the United States and Israel sought with the war they launched in Iran on Saturday, February 28. Though they didn't explicitly state this aim as they laid out their plans in detail, their goal was clear from the very first hours of the conflict, those crucial moments which could be decisive for the entire operation. They had a vast list of targets: Iran's nuclear facilities, missile arsenal, retaliatory capabilities and internal security system.
One target sat at the top of this list: the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ali Khamenei. His death was announced by US President Donald Trump, before Iranian state media later confirmed it, at 5 am local time. On Sunday morning, Iranian authorities also reported that several senior military commanders had died in an attack attributed to the US and Israel. The victims included General Abdul Rahim Mousavi, chief of the general staff of the Iranian Armed Forces; the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, General Mohammad Pakpour; Admiral Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to the supreme leader and secretary of the country's Defense Council; and Defense Minister General Aziz Nasirzadeh.
