The United States has denied any involvement in the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with top Pentagon officials attributing the strike to Israel rather than an American military operation.
Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Pentagon official Elbridge Colby said the attack that killed Khamenei and other senior Iranian figures was conducted by Israel. “Those are Israeli operations,” Colby said, pushing back on questions from lawmakers about whether regime change in Iran was a goal of U.S. actions.
Colby added that the main objectives of U.S. involvement were targeting Iran’s missile capabilities and naval assets—“doable and reasonable targets that can be achieved”—rather than eliminating top leaders. He emphasized that Khamenei and other senior officials had limited control over these developments because the U.S. was coordinating closely with Israel.
The strikes, which took place over the weekend, reportedly killed Khamenei alongside several family members, including his daughter, grandchild, son-in-law, and daughter-in-law. Israel confirmed that Ali Shamkhani, a top advisor to Khamenei, and General Mohammad Pakpour, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, were also killed.
According to U.S. officials, more than 49 senior Iranian military figures have been eliminated in coordinated U.S. and Israeli operations to date.
President Donald Trump had earlier commented that Khamenei could not evade U.S. intelligence and tracking systems, though Colby’s testimony appeared to clarify that the operation targeting the Iranian leader was not a U.S.-led action.