Tyrant no longer alive: Netanyahu claims Iran leader Khamenei killed in US-Israeli strikes

Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed on Saturday that Israel and the United States had killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and called on Iranians to "take to the streets and finish the job."

There were many signs indicating Khamenei "is no longer", Netanyahu said without explicitly confirming his death.

He said Khamenei's compound had been destroyed, and Revolutionary Guard commanders and senior nuclear officials had ben destroyed.

"This morning we destroyed the compound of the tyrant Khamenei," Netanyahu said in a video statement, adding that for more than 30 years Khamenei had "dispatched terrorism across the world, made his own people miserable, and worked constantly and tirelessly on a program to annihilate the state of Israel. There are many signs that this tyrant is no longer. This morning we eliminated senior officials in the ayatollahs' regime, Revolutionary Guards commanders, senior figures in the nuclear programme - and we will continue. In the next few days, we will hit thousands more targets of the terror regime," Netanyahu said.

Earlier, Iran's Al-Alam television has said Khamenei would speak, but no such speech was aired by late on Saturday.

The United States and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday, targeting its top leaders and calling for the overthrow of its government, while Iran responded with missiles fired at Israel and neighbouring Gulf countries.

President Donald Trump, who in the biggest foreign-policy gamble of his presidency launched the war against a foe Washington has jousted with for generations, said the strikes were aimed at ending a security threat and ensuring Iran could not develop a nuclear weapon.

He called on Iranian security forces to lay down their weapons and invited Iranians to topple their government once the bombing ended.

Tehran called the strikes, which began in the morning hours and hit targets in different areas of the country, unprovoked and illegal.

In cities across Iran, explosions caused widespread panic. Residents rushed to collect children from school and flee areas that might be targeted.

"We are scared, we are terrified. My children are shaking, we have nowhere to go, we will die here," mother-of-two Minou, 32, said weeping as she spoke to Reuters by phone from the northern city of Tabriz.