Satellite images show supreme leader's Tehran compound reduced to smoldering rubble, unclear if he was hit; state media says at least 40 killed in strike on girls' school in south
www.timesofisrael.com
Some Iranians celebrate Israeli-US strikes as Khamenei said targeted, his palace destroyed
Satellite images show supreme leader’s Tehran compound reduced to smoldering rubble, unclear if he was hit; state media says at least 40 killed in strike on girls’ school in south
By
ToI Staff and
Agencies
As Israel and the United States launched a massive wave of
strikes across Iran on Saturday, the picture of what was happening on the ground in Tehran and other cities was unclear amid a major internet blackout, though videos posted to social media appeared to show some Iranians celebrating as they saw regime targets go up in smoke.
According to Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and US President Donald
Trump, the strikes aimed to cripple the Islamic Republic’s military and political leadership, with the two leaders urging Iranians to seize the opportunity and topple their government.
Among the targets struck Saturday morning was the Tehran palace of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, which was completely destroyed, as well as dozens of other military and regime targets across the country. Khamenei, President Masoud Pezeshkian and top regime and military commanders were targeted, according to an Israeli official, though the results of the strikes were unclear.
Targets in the campaign also included Iran’s military, symbols of government and intelligence targets, according to an official briefed on the operation, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic information on the attack.
Then-commander of the ground forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, attends a military parade as part of a ceremony marking the country’s annual army day in Tehran, Iran, on April 17, 2024. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Several senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders and political officials were killed in the strikes, an Iranian source close to the establishment told Reuters. According to Israeli officials, Israel assesses that the commander of the IRGC, Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, was likely killed, as well as the minister of defense and chief of intelligence.
The assessments have yet to be confirmed by Iran or by the IDF, though an Israeli source told Channel 12 of “very significant” harm to senior figures in the Iranian regime, and “indications” of direct hits.
Images circulating on social media Saturday showed smoke rising from dozens of buildings across Tehran.
According to satellite imagery published by The New York Times, Khamenei’s palace in the heart of Tehran was completely destroyed, with smoldering rubble seen where the once-grand building stood hours earlier.
Iranian women walk past a banner bearing a portrait of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the Iranian-Islamic fashion design fair at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque in Tehran on February 22, 2026. (AFP)
It was not immediately clear whether Khamenei was present at the site, and Iranian media reported earlier in the day that he was moved to a “secure location.”
Images also showed thousands of Iranians flocking to the highways to flee Tehran.
Motorists flock to the highways in Tehran amid the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, February 28, 2026. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Other videos circulating on social media appeared to show Iranians celebrating, with some laughing, as they saw smoke rising from the area surrounding Khamenei’s palace complex in central Tehran.
Another video from a high school showed students laughing and celebrating, with one saying in English: “I love Trump.”
In Tehran, a video appeared to show people dancing in the streets as they celebrated the strikes.
While the number of casualties suffered in Iran in the initial wave of the joint Israeli-US strikes was unclear, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported Saturday afternoon that one strike hit a girls’ school in southern Iran, killing at least 40 people, including students.
At least 45 others were wounded in the attack in Minab in Iran’s Hormozgan province, the report said.
The IRGC has a base in the city.
Other reports in Iran said strikes hit at least a dozen cities across the country, as well as several major bases belonging to the military IRGC and Basij militia.
The Israeli and US strikes come after weeks of escalating tensions between the US and Iran, including three rounds of indirect nuclear talks that failed to produce a deal, a massive American military buildup in the region, and Trump’s warning during his State of the Union address that Iran was working to rebuild the nuclear program the US “obliterated” in strikes last June.
