Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Killed In Airstrike On Tehran, Israeli Media Reports

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has been killed in an attack in Tehran, Israeli media reported on Saturday.

Documentation proving the outcome was shown to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Khamenei was 86 years old. He ruled the theocratic regime since 1989 after the death of the country's first ayatollah, Ruholla Khomeini.

Axios' Barak Ravid added that Israeli ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter told U.S. officials about the development. Iranian officials have so far not confirmed the death.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that it will take Iran "several years" to recover from U.S. attacks that have been taking place, but noted he has "several off ramps" the regime could take to avoid prolonging the conflict.

"I can go long and take over the whole thing, or end it in two or three days and tell the Iranians: 'See you again in a few years if you start rebuilding" nuclear and missile programs, Trump told Axios in an interview. He spoke with the outlet before news of Khamenei's death surfaced.

Trump went on to say he decided to launch the strikes because he concluded that Tehran didn't "really want a deal" based on how negotiations were going.

"The Iranians got close and then pulled back — close and then pulled back. I understood from that that they don't really want a deal," he said.

He also noted the regime's actions over the past decades, saying that he requested his team to find information on every Iranian-linked attack around the world over the past 25 years. "I saw that every month they did something bad, blew something up or killed someone," he said.

Elsewhere in the interview, Trump said that if he hadn't ordered a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities last year, the country would have developed a nuclear weapon, making it impossible to attack.

In his speech announcing the attack, Trump encouraged the people of Iran to topple the regime once the bombing ends. "When we are finished, take over your government, it will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations."