Iranian state television reported Monday that Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, the wife of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has died after being injured in joint U.S.-Israeli airstrikes that also killed her husband over the weekend.
In a post on the social platform X, the state-run outlet Press TV said Khojasteh was wounded during Saturday’s strikes and later died from her injuries. The Times of Israel reported that Khojasteh, 78, had been in a coma since the attack. She and Khamenei were married in 1964.
The reported death comes amid a sharp escalation in hostilities between Iran, the United States, and Israel following weeks of rising tensions in the region. On Saturday, U.S. and Israeli forces launched coordinated strikes targeting sites inside Iran. Iranian officials confirmed that Khamenei was killed in the operation.
President Trump announced Khamenei’s death Saturday afternoon in a post on Truth Social.
“Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” Trump said.
“This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS,” he added.
Khamenei had served as Iran’s supreme leader since 1989 and was the country’s highest-ranking political and religious authority. He exercised control over Iran’s armed forces, judiciary, and state media. His leadership spanned decades marked by strained relations with the United States and Israel, as well as ongoing disputes over Iran’s nuclear program and its support for regional proxy groups.
Shortly after the U.S. and Israeli strikes, Iran launched retaliatory attacks targeting Israel and several Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, according to regional officials. The extent of the damage from those strikes has not been fully detailed.
The U.S. military also reported casualties connected to the operation. At least six U.S. service members have been killed in action. The death toll rose from an initial report of three, with additional casualties resulting from Iranian missile attacks on U.S. installations in the region.
The strikes represent one of the most significant direct confrontations between the United States, Israel, and Iran in decades, raising concerns about broader regional instability as military operations continue.
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