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U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday celebrated U.S.-Israeli airstrikes that killed Iran's leader, but warned attacks would continue.
The strikes, which Trump said were aimed at destroying Iranian missiles and annihilating its navy, follow repeated U.S.-Israeli warnings that they would strike Iran again if it pressed ahead with its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
Trump, who is monitoring the operation from his Mar-a-Lago oceanfront resort in Florida, posted on Saturday afternoon that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had died in the strikes.
A senior Israeli official earlier told Reuters that Khamenei's body had been found, and Trump concurred in a post on Truth Social.
"This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS," Trump wrote.
Iranian state media later confirmed Khamenei's death.
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Trump had warned earlier on Saturday there could be American casualties from "major combat operations" in Iran. But almost 12 hours after the first strikes, U.S. Central Command said it had "no reports of U.S. casualties or combat-related injuries. Damage to U.S. installations was minimal and has not impacted operations."
The strikes are expected to happen over several days, a U.S. official told Reuters. Trump said on social media that heavy bombing "will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary" to achieve "PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!"
U.S. OFFICIALS ACCUSE IRAN NEGOTIATORS OF PLAYING GAMES
This is the second series of U.S. strikes on Iran since Trump returned to the White House last year. The first was in June when Washington struck Iranian nuclear sites.
Despite talks in recent weeks between Iran and the United States, including a meeting on Thursday, senior Trump administration officials told reporters on Saturday the president saw both immediate and long-term reasons to green-light the latest strikes.
One senior U.S. official said the Iranians were not willing to give up their nuclear programme. and that "it was very clear that the intent for them was to preserve their ability to do enrichment, so that over time, they could use it for nuclear bombs."
This official said the Iranians used "games, tricks, stall tactics" to string out talks.
Another senior U.S. official said Iran's missile programme posed a more immediate threat, and the U.S. had "indicators" Iran intended to use this capability against American forces "potentially, preemptively," or "simultaneous" to military operations against the Iranians.
"We had analysis that basically told us, if we sat back and waited to get hit first, the amount of casualties and damage would be substantially higher than if we acted in a preemptive defensive way," the senior administration official said without sharing specific details.
In his original Saturday announcement video, Trump encouraged regime change, telling the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran's elite armed forces, to lay down their weapons, promising they would be granted immunity.
The other option, according to Trump, is "certain death."
The Iranian people should "take over" governance of their country, Trump said in the video.
"It will be yours to take," he said. "This will be probably your only chance for generations."
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