JERUSALEM: Israel took the decision to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in November and was planning to carry out the operation around six months later, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday. Khamenei was killed in the first hours of the US-Israeli air campaign that began on Saturday in the first assassination of a country’s top ruler by an airstrike.

The killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ali Shamkhani, Mohammad Pakpour, and others, has opened a void in Iran's leadership circles. See who remains.

The CIA shared location intel with Israel that moved the timing of the strikes forward according to US media reports.