Iranian supreme leader killed in airstrike, Trump says

0:00Karen Zamora:President Trump says Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is dead. This comes after U.S. and Israeli forces bombarded targets across Iran. Iran has retaliated with attacks throughout the Middle East. And given these historic events, we're dropping our National Security Podcast sources and methods in the feed today.

0:24Karen Zamora:From NPR, I'm Mary Louise Kelly.

0:29Kai McNamee:The U.S. launches a military operation against Iran. Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime. On State of the World, we'll bring you the latest on the operation, as well as reaction from the region and around the globe. Listen to State of the World on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. NPR News Now is your podcast source for updates every hour on the U.S. military action in Iran. President Trump calls it a war and says the goal is regime change. He also says U.S. casualties are possible. With news changing rapidly, listen to NPR News Now.

1:11Kai McNamee:New episodes at the top of every hour on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Seattle, 1999. Teen reporters hear a troubling rumor about a beloved teacher. They report it. He later dies. I was one of those students. Now I'm uncovering what really happened because people said we killed a man. Listen to Adults in the Room from KUOW Focus and the NPR Network.

1:45Karen Zamora:Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader since 1989, is dead, killed today by Israeli strikes. President Trump confirmed the death in a statement posted to Truth Social. No confirmation, at least of this hour, from Iran. Khamenei's death would mark the biggest development today on a day when the headlines have just kept coming. Here's how President Trump shared the news of airstrikes from Mar-a-Lago.

2:11Kai McNamee:A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran. Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people.

2:35Karen Zamora:So as you heard there, strikes today by both Israel and the U.S. as the day unfolded, Iran hit back, lobbying missiles at Israel, also at Saudi Arabia, also at Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, a whole list of countries that host U.S. troops. NPR reporters have been working the phones all day today trying to confirm what we know and what we don't. Among them, our national security correspondent, Greg Myrie, in the studio with me here in Washington. Hey, Greg.

3:03Erika Ryan:Hi, Mary Louise.

3:04Karen Zamora:And Daniel Estrin, who was woken up today by air raid sirens in Tel Aviv. Hey, Daniel.

3:09Kai McNamee:Hi there.

3:10Karen Zamora:Hey, so Daniel, kick us off. The first reports, the first confirmation of Khamenei's death came from a source briefed on the strike and who talked to you. Would you just walk us through the TikTok today of trying to confirm this really stunning news?

3:27Kai McNamee:Well, what we know is that the opening attack that Israel carried out this morning, along with the U.S., included this surprise blitz targeting senior Iranian defense officials. And Israeli military official briefed reporters and said that the U.S. and Israel had been looking for the right opportunity and found it. Three different gatherings simultaneously are what Israel struck this morning. And initial reports that I was hearing from a person briefed was that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed, or that he was hit, along with Iran's president. So we were trying to chase that news all day.

4:15Kai McNamee:And by the evening, Israel confirmed a whole host of top officials killed, including Ali Shachmani, the personal advisor of the Supreme Leader, also the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Iran's defense minister, a senior intelligence officer, other people tied to Iran's nuclear weapons program. And it was only late at night when the news finally came from President Trump.

4:39Karen Zamora:Late at night where you are there in Israel. You mentioned Iran's president, Masoud Pizeshki, and that he was also targeted. Just briefly, do we have any update on the president's status?

4:49Kai McNamee:No update on his status at all. And yeah, I mean, we're going to have to see when all the dust settles, who was killed and who survived. And that's going to say a lot about what will happen next.

4:59Karen Zamora:Greg, the timing and details of this operation, we were learning about it. It was unfolding here in the U.S. in the wee hours in the dark. In Iran, it was daylight. It was a weekday. Yeah.

5:13Erika Ryan:I mean, I think that's the real distinctive thing here. And they're always looking, the Israelis, when they do this, always looking for a way to catch people off guard. And it seems that Saturday is the first day of the work week in Iran. So, in effect, it was a Monday morning there. And so instead of doing this at night like they might normally do, they did it on the equivalent of a Monday morning. There's a crisis going on in Iran. You might expect them to meet, and perhaps they got lucky that they were all having these separate sets of meetings when they attacked. And Daniel knows this better than I, but we've both been in Israel when the Israelis have carried out airstrikes in a place like Gaza.

5:51Erika Ryan:And it might take days, weeks even, before they can actually confirm the death of certain individuals that they're targeting. So the fact that they've been able, apparently in the Israeli minds, to think they have a positive confirmation that the Supreme Leader and other senior leaders have been killed is quite extraordinary as well to know that they were successful this quickly.

6:16Karen Zamora:Succession? What happens now? Who's next?

6:18Erika Ryan:We don't know. And if this were normal times, Iran has a council of, sorry, an assembly of experts, a little bit like the Catholic Church. When the Pope dies, the College of Cardinals selects a new one. Well, Iran has an assembly of experts, 88 Islamic jurists. If the Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah dies, then they select another one. Well, obviously not a normal time. That's only happened once before anyway, 37 years ago. Only been two supreme leaders. Exactly. But that would be the normal process. We're in the middle of a conflict now. It may fall quickly to the security forces and the Revolutionary Guards.

6:58Erika Ryan:That's what we're hearing. In fact, Reuters had a report that the CIA did a recent assessment and wasn't really sure what was going to happen. But their best guess or their best thinking was the Revolutionary Guards or some elements of it would take over.

7:14Karen Zamora:Quickly from each of you, do we know where we are in this operation? President Trump today suggested that Americans should be braced for casualties. He said this type of thing happens in a war, but we're not hearing anything about American ground troops, Greg.

7:29Erika Ryan:That's true because the U.S. does have a small number of ground troops that are permanently at bases in the region, but they have not all clustered together. They're not near the Iranian border. And even if you add them all up, it's not nearly the size of a force you would need. In fact, doing the math, some of the previous wars, it's maybe 10 or 20 percent of the ground troops the U.S. had in Iraq previously. Got it. Those wars. Ground war seems very, very unlikely, just isn't on the table given the resources that are there right now.

8:00Karen Zamora:Daniel, what are Israeli officials saying? Has Prime Minister Netanyahu given any sense of how far along in this operation he thinks things are?

8:10Kai McNamee:Well, all they're saying is that it's going to take as long as necessary. And the Israelis have announced that already today they carried out the largest aerial operation, the largest air force operation in Israeli history, with around 200 fighter jets. So a real blitz at the very beginning. A person briefed on this operation has told me that we're expecting another couple of days of intense strikes in Iran and retaliatory strikes in Israel as well. So we're looking at Sunday and Monday, at least, and it could go on for many more days.

8:46Karen Zamora:So President Trump, when he spoke to Americans today, he was facing cameras. He was in Mar Lago. He was addressing Americans about an American military action. He also had a message for Iran.

8:58Kai McNamee:To the great, proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand. Stay sheltered. Don't leave your home. It's very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.

9:22Karen Zamora:Greg Myrie, how should we understand this? The president of the United States calling on the people of Iran rise up.

9:29Erika Ryan:Sounds like regime change. And that really just jumped out at me when I first listened to this, because this is the first time Trump really revealed what he wants. He'd been very vague and fuzzy about that. Also, it goes against what he's been saying for a decade, that he doesn't want to get the U.S. involved in open-ended, forever wars. And in the Middle East, The two previous wars were Iran to the west, Iraq and Afghanistan. He's picked the country right between them to launch another major military operation.

10:04Karen Zamora:So we are, of course, working to get reaction from inside Iran, try to figure out what is happening there. I was swapping messages on WhatsApp this morning with contacts on the ground in Tehran. They were not willing to go on the record. But the fact that they could respond, they are on the Internet or at least were at that hour. They have access to social media if they're behind a VPN. Our colleague NPR's Arzu Razvani has also been in contact with people in Iran, among them a 30-something-year-old who we are identifying as V. V lives in Tehran, gave only his first initial because of fear of retribution.

10:39Karen Zamora:He told Arzu he was settling into work when these attacks started.

10:42Kai McNamee:And suddenly heard some loud noises and dented explosions. We even saw one of the explosions from our office window. It was around the middle of the city, downtown Tehran.

10:56Karen Zamora:Our zoo also reached a 22-year-old college student who requested complete anonymity. She woke up to the sound of explosions. She says this is a day she's long hoped for.

11:10Karen Zamora:So she's saying there, and I quote, I am ready to be killed by a bomb if it means the certain death of even a few of our regime officials. So a little bit of reaction there from inside Iran. Daniel, walk us through the stakes for the rest of the region. We mentioned Iran's response, lobbing missiles. If you look at a map of the Middle East, it's lit up with places that Iran fired missiles at today. And then aside from all the military activity, the Strait of Hormuz has been closed. Explain what that is, what that means in the region. Right.

11:45Kai McNamee:Well, the Strait of Hormuz is a strategic waterway. It's controlled by Iran. It is crucial to the world's oil trade. So this could affect global oil prices. But, you know, just I think we just have to take a moment to take this in. Right. Iran's supreme leader has been killed, according to President Trump. Iran has struck back at seven countries today. The Dubai International Airport and the United Arab Emirates, a major global hub, was hit. We've seen videos of that. A building not far from me in Tel Aviv was hit, causing serious injuries. Reportedly, a woman, a young woman in her 40s was killed.

12:21Kai McNamee:These are extraordinary events, even after two and a half years of extraordinary war and extraordinary events. And the repercussions will be felt throughout the region.

12:31Karen Zamora:Greg, quick last word from you.

12:33Erika Ryan:Yeah, to just echo Daniel, this is a shock to the system. You may think you're ready for it, but you're not. You may think, my goodness, we're going to have a new country, or my goodness, how do I protect my family? And after that surge of emotion, this will play out for many days to come, and you may find out you don't end up exactly where you think you will.

12:51Karen Zamora:That is NPR national security correspondent Greg Myrie and NPR international correspondent Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv, two of the many NPR reporters who have been at it all day today. Thanks to you both.

13:04Erika Ryan:Sure thing, Mary Louise. Thanks, Mary Louise.