US, Israel strike Iran: Ayatollah Khamenei, 40 top Iranian leaders killed
The U.S. and Israel launch Operation Epic Fury strikes, killing Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and 40 top officials. Fox News' Jennifer Griffin reports the latest on the fallout.
President Donald Trump said, "I got him before he got me," on Sunday after Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top Iranian leaders were killed after an Israeli strike in Tehran as part of a massive coordinated U.S.-Israeli military offensive called "Operation Epic Fury."
"I got him before he got me," Trump told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl on a phone call.
"They tried twice," the president said of previous attempts on his life. "Well, I got him first."
Trump called the attack "so successful" and that many possible Iranian successors were taken out as well.
In response to who could likely be the next leader in the region, the president said, "It’s not going to be anybody that we were thinking of because they’re all dead."
Six U.S. service members have been killed in action so far since the recent round of hostilities over the weekend.
"It’s war, and you have casualties in war," Trump said to Karl, saying the operation could carry on for four or five weeks.
Iran previously threatened to assassinate Trump following the 2020 killing of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani. In June, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran had conducted multiple failed efforts. Iran dismissed the claims that it was involved in assassination attempts.
However, in 2022, an Iranian video depicted an assassination attempt on Trump while he played golf.
SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN KHAMENEI DEAD FOLLOWING ISRAEL’S STRIKE ON IRAN
After an Afghan-born Iranian proxy and two American men were charged with allegedly trying to hunt down and assassinate an Iranian-born American critic of the ayatollah’s regime, the Justice Department disclosed that Trump was also the subject of a similar assassination plot.
Farhad Shakeri, who had spent 14 years in a New York state prison for robbery and made U.S. contacts to create a "network of criminal associates" to "supply the IRGC with operatives" domestically, was allegedly seeking to kill journalist Masih Alinejad.
The two men stalked Alinejad and were also accused of rotating plates on Loadholt’s car to avoid suspicion, while then-FBI Director Christopher Wray mentioned Trump as another target of an Iranian plot in a related statement on the Alinejad case.
Shakeri reportedly spoke to the FBI voluntarily from Iran, where he disclosed efforts to assassinate Trump, according to The New York Times.
Shakeri said he was told to create a plan to kill Trump after an IRGC meeting that October and that, if he could not, the assumption from the militia was that Trump would lose to Kamala Harris and be "easier to assassinate" while out of office.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE
President Donald Trump said, "I got him before he got me," after Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed during "Operation Epic Fury." (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images; Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Trump has since warned Iran repeatedly to back down, with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth overseeing 2025 airstrikes on nuclear facilities, and the administration ultimately taking what it described as long-term military action to force regime change.
"Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime," Trump said Saturday.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Fox News' Charles Creitz contributed to this report.
Fox News First
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.
