Iran’s militant and unyielding supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled the Islamic Republic for more than three decades, has died after an Israeli strike in Tehran after his compound was reduced to rubble..
“Khamenei was the contemporary Middle East’s longest-serving autocrat. He did not get to be that way by being a gambler. Khamenei was an ideologue, but one who ruthlessly pursued the preservation and protection of his ideology, often taking two steps forward and one step back,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of FDD’s Iran program told media..
THE AP DISPATCHED THIS:
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the United States, President Donald Trump said Saturday on social media. There was no immediate comment from Iran on his status.
The assassination of the second leader of the Islamic Republic, who had no designated successor, would throw its future into doubt and raise the prospect of a protracted conflict, given Iranian threats of retaliation.
Trump said his death is “the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country.” The death occurred after a joint U.S. and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites.
MEANWHILE.. Signs in the sky..
A rare celestial event will be taking place in the sky on Saturday night, as six planets are expected to be visible in what is being called a “planetary parade.”
Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn were all be lined up along an arc at sunset and visible to the naked eye creating a literal parade of planets.
The alignment only occurs every few years, with the next one not until 2028.
Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are frequently seen in the night sky, but the addition of Venus and Mercury made this planet lineup particularly noteworthy.
DEVELOPING..
