Reuters: Netanyahu says there are signs Khamenei dead, calls on Iranians to 'finish the job'

By Phil Stewart, Parisa Hafezi, Emily Rose and Andrew Mills

February 27, 2026 11:37 PM PST

Updated 7 mins ago

Summary

• U.S. and Israel attack Iran
• Explosions cause panic among Iranians
• No breakthrough this week in US-Iran nuclear talks
• Iran's supreme leader moved to a secure location
• Gulf Arab oil producers are on edge

WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM/DUBAI/DOHA, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested on Saturday that Israel and the United States had killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and called on Iranians to "take to the streets and finish the job."

There were many signs indicating Khamenei "is no longer", Netanyahu said without explicitly confirming his death.

He said Khamenei's compound had been destroyed, and Revolutionary Guard commanders and senior nuclear officials had ben destroyed.

Earlier, Iran's Al-Alam television has said Khamenei would speak, but no such speech was aired by late on Saturday.

The United States and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday, targeting its top leaders and calling for the overthrow of its government, while Iran responded with missiles fired at Israel and neighbouring Gulf countries.

President Donald Trump, who in the biggest foreign-policy gamble of his presidency launched the war against a foe Washington has jousted with for generations, said the strikes were aimed at ending a security threat and ensuring Iran could not develop a nuclear weapon. 

He called on Iranian security forces to lay down their weapons and invited Iranians to topple their government once the bombing ended.

Tehran called the strikes, which began in the morning hours and hit targets in different areas of the country, unprovoked and illegal.

In cities across Iran, explosions caused widespread panic. Residents rushed to collect children from school and flee areas that might be targeted.

"We are scared, we are terrified. My children are shaking, we have nowhere to go, we will die here," mother-of-two Minou, 32, said weeping as she spoke to Reuters by phone from the northern city of Tabriz.

Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Michael Georgy, James MacKenzie; Editing by Barbara Lewis, Sam Holmes, Timothy Heritage, Peter Graff; Editing by Cynthia Osterman

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.