US and Israel strike Iran, and say Khamenei is dead

Israel and the United States have launched a war against Iran, and say that its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been killed in an Israeli airstrike on Tehran.

The strikes began on 28 February. President Donald Trump and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, both said on the same day that Khamenei was dead.

The attack

Israel and the United States launched a joint operation against Iran on Saturday, targeting military facilities and senior officials. Khamenei's compound in Tehran was struck in daylight, and satellite images show that it was severely damaged.

Iranian officials initially disputed the reports of his death, and there has been no independent confirmation. Reports suggest other senior Iranian officials were also targeted.

Iran retaliates

Iran has fired missiles at Israel and at American bases in the region, and has moved to close the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which around a fifth of the world's oil passes.

Oil prices have soared, and travel across the region has been severely disrupted.

Who was Khamenei?

Khamenei, 86, had been supreme leader since 1989, when he succeeded Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic. He was the most powerful figure in Iran, with the final say on all major matters of state, including the country's nuclear programme and its armed forces.

Before becoming supreme leader, he served as president of Iran in the 1980s.

Mixed reactions

Members of the Iranian diaspora have gathered in cities around the world as news of the strikes spread, while others have protested against the war.

The death comes weeks after a wave of protests in Iran, which the authorities suppressed with great force.

What happens next?

Under Iran's constitution, a body of senior clerics called the Assembly of Experts must choose a new supreme leader. There is great uncertainty about who will succeed Khamenei and what it will mean for the war.

Britain

Before the strikes, the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, turned down an American request to use British bases. British nationals in the region have been urged to follow Foreign Office travel advice.

Protests against the war have taken place in several countries.