The joint American-Israeli strike that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader was not merely a military operation — it was a precisely timed decapitation strike, launched at the exact moment Tehran’s top leadership gathered behind closed doors.

According to two U.S. sources cited by Reuters, Israel and the United States accelerated their attack plans after Israeli intelligence detected that Ali Khamenei was meeting Saturday morning with his most senior security aides in Tehran, hours earlier than originally anticipated.

Khamenei had been expected to convene the session later that evening. But once Israeli intelligence intercepted indications the meeting was underway, the timeline shifted. The operation was moved forward to exploit a fleeting opportunity.

The objective, according to the sources, was explicit: strike first, strike fast, and eliminate Khamenei before he could disappear into Iran’s extensive network of hardened bunkers and underground facilities.

U.S. officials were reportedly concerned that once aware of impending action, Khamenei could retreat into hiding, potentially complicating or prolonging any military campaign.

Instead, his heavily fortified compound in Tehran became the opening target of the coordinated assault.

Satellite imagery confirmed that the compound was completely destroyed in the initial wave of strikes. The attack, officials said, was structured to ensure the supreme leader was hit at the outset, preserving the element of surprise and disrupting Iran’s chain of command in a single blow.

A senior Israeli official told Reuters that Khamenei’s body had been located in the rubble of the compound.

Although they openly denied it for hours – even claiming that he was going to deliver an address to the nation – Iranian state media have since acknowledged that Khamenei is dead.

The killing of Khamenei — Iran’s supreme leader since 1989 and the ultimate authority over the country’s military and nuclear programs — marks arguably the most consequential targeted strike in modern Middle Eastern history.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)