Military forces of the United States and Israel in the past two days launched operations aimed at destroying once and for end the development of nuclear weapon capabilities by the Islamic Republic of Iran. The first wave of missile and aerial strikes included targeting of government installations and leaders of the Islamist regime.
The Ayatollah Ali Khameinei and other officials of the terrorist leadership are dead.
Late this past week, U.S. President Donald Trump had informed congressional leaders of both major American political parties of his orders directing U.S. armed forces to end by force of arms the Islamic Republic’s nuclear capability late this past week.
The president also informed Americans of the military operations in speeches and online comments.
On Saturday, he expressed hope the Iranian people would end the Khameinei regime and its continued support of terrorism and oppression of Iranians.
Some members of Congress were critical of President Trump’s use of his powers as commander-in-chief, but many Republicans expressed support, as did U.S. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, a Democrat.
Graphic Credit: White House Facebook (Meta), February 28, 2026
Some European leaders decried the U.S.-Israel operations.
However, the government of Canada has expressed support for the U.S. and Israel military actions.
Despite a successful targeting of Iranian weapons facilities last year — early in the current U.S. administration’s tenure — development of nukes and weapon components had continued at scattered sites.
The Iranian had entered negotiations with the U.S. and other nations about its nuclear program. Trump has expressing increasing frustration with the Iranian regime.
This winter, the U.S. sent naval forces into the region, while President Trump warned the Khameinei government to stop those programs and end the regime’s support of terrorist groups.
Worldwide, exiled Iranian voices — including many of Persian ancestry — cheered news of Khameinei’s death, including well-known actress and activist Nazanin Boniadi.
She and other people born in Iran but living across the world after fleeing the dictatorship’s suppression, were joyful, while expressing hope for a rebirth of freedom and tolerance in the country.
Boniadi told Cable News Network’s Jake Tapper the dictator had “the blood of countless Iranians and non-Iranians on his hands, people who have died” through the attacks of “proxies who he has trained and funded.”
News reports indicated that inside Iran, nationwide public demonstrations celebrating Khamenei’s death were taking place, as well as government-organized expressions of support for the oppressive dictatorship.
The U.S. and Israeli steps to end the nuclear weapon capabilities in Iran came as diverse elements of the underground domestic opposition had established a broad coalition, reaching out to include the worldwide opponents of the dictatorship.
The Iranian military, still in the hands of Khameinei’s allies, renewed attacks on Israel, killing many in the heart of the Jewish nation by Sunday (March 1).
Several nations in the Middle East were targeted by Iranian missiles beginning soon after the U.S. and Israeli operations began late this past week.
On Sunday morning, CBS News and other media organizations reported that the U.S. military said the members of the Armed Forces had been killed in early Iran operations.
In Pakistan, news reports said the U.S. consulate in Karachi had been attacked, resulting in damage to the building’s exterior.
The U.S. State Department has urged American citizens living abroad to exercise caution in daily activities in response to terrorist threats aimed at America, Israel and other nations.
Khameinei had led the country since June 1989, governing with an Iran fist supported by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
His regime has carried out at least 30,000 executions, sustaining massive oppression and discrimination, violent suppression of dissent (including tolerant elements of Islam, support of terror operations targeting other governments in the “Middle East” (including those led by adherents of Islam) and malevolent hatred of Israel and the United States.
Khameinei’s aggressive posture toward the United States sustained the posture of his predecessors in the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution that ousted the government of the Shah of Iran, which had been a regional ally of the United States.
Khameinei and his predecessors in Iranian leadership frequently inflamed worldwide hatred of the United States over the last 47 years, characterizing the U.S. as “the Great Satan.”