How CIA eliminated Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei after months of tracking: Details inside

After months of tracking, the intelligence communities of the U.S. and Israel struck the compound of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei; the new details highlight this, appearing in the NYT.

According to the report, the American premium intelligence agency C.I.A. had tracked Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei for months before learning he would attend a meeting of the top brass on Saturday morning, February 28, 2026.

The meeting was originally planned for Saturday evening in Tehran, but Israeli intelligence, upon learning the meeting is taking place earlier than scheduled in the morning, triggered the military commander to move the strikes forward.

The report claims, then, the U.S. and Israel closely collaborated on the attack, with the C.I.A. passing its intel on Khamenei’s position to Israel.

Then Israel executed the strikes, killing Iran’s Supreme Leader and top leadership, with the operation commencing at 6 am local time in Israel. Almost two hours later, long-range missiles fired by Israeli Air Force jets hit the compound located in Tehran.

The senior national security team gathered in one building, while Khamenei was in another structure.

According to the separate report by The Wall Street Journal, almost 30 bombs were dropped on the compound during the operation.

The strikes resulted in the killings of Supreme Leader Ayatulloh Khamenei alongside senior figures, including Ali Shamkhani, the former secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the IRGC.