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On the second day of the US-Israeli offensive against the Iranian regime, military operations escalated on Sunday, March 1, 2026, in a manner that could be described as "qualitative" due to the official confirmation in Tehran of the death of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ali Khamenei, killed in the first airstrikes carried out on Saturday morning, February 28, against his residence in the Iranian capital. The Leader's death was confirmed overnight from Saturday to Sunday by state television, and the authorities immediately declared a forty-day period of national mourning. The announcement of Khamenei's death sparked popular jubilation and celebrations in the streets of Tehran and several other major cities. The Iranian regime, however, asserted that the United States and Israel had crossed "a red line," declaring that the response would be "swift and decisive." Indeed, the mullahs' regime launched a full-scale attack on Sunday morning to avenge the death of the Supreme Leader.

On February 28, 2026, joint American-Israeli strikes killed the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ali Khamenei, aged 86, in his Tehran office. Iran declared forty days of national mourning, Netanyahu and Trump publicly proclaimed victory, while the Arab world — divided as it was over the dictator's figure — bore the wrath of the Revolutionary Guards. In certain streets of Tehran, fireworks erupted. It is worth pausing on this paradox to understand what, far beyond any single man, may well have breathed its last alongside him. It is particularly tempting to treat Khamenei's death as an act of war — one more episode in the spiral in which the United States and Israel have elected to play, simultaneously, the roles of surgeon-enforcer and arsonist. But to reduce the event to its military dimension would be to commit a serious error of perspective — precisely the error made by strategists who mistake the decapitation of a regime for the resolution of the contradictions that inhabit it. All the more so since Tel Aviv announced, from the very outset of the military operation, that its objective was the fall of the mullahs' regime.

The rumor had started circulating shortly after the beginning of the American-Israeli raids launched early on Saturday morning, February 28, against Iran. The most violent attack had occurred in Tehran, more specifically against the vast residence of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Ali Khamenei, which had been targeted by 30 large-caliber bombs. The raid had completely destroyed the residential center. Iranian authorities had then rushed to indicate that Imam Khamenei had been transferred to a “highly secured location.” Around noon, one of the Israeli television channels indicated that “all contact with Khamenei had been lost for several hours.” Later, in the early afternoon, the television channel indicated that it was “very unlikely, if not almost impossible, that the Supreme Leader emerged unharmed from the airstrike.” Two hours later, the same source stressed that evidence of Khamenei’s death was becoming increasingly numerous.

The irony is that Iran's chief diplomat, Abbas Araghji, boasted on the book market about teaching the 'strength of diplomacy.' His diplomatic 'talents' were useless against the common Israeli-US will to put an end to the mullahs' regime. Diplomacy has indeed never been the strong suit of Iranian regimes, for whom the term has meant, for ages, procrastination and duplicity, while secretly, the nuclear program continued despite endless chatter and other agreements. Also impossible, because the chances of an Iran-US agreement were minimal, even insignificant, given Israeli will and a large part of the American pressure groups and think-tanks American think-tanks wanting to put an end to the regime once and for all. Also considering that the latter, with its ballistic program - coupled with its nuclear project - capable of reaching Europe, Russia, and China, was becoming a threat to the entire world.

Donald Trump has just committed American forces to a large-scale operation against the Iranian regime. This is the real McCoy, the real thing, not a simulated raid nor a mere warning shot. The face of the Middle East is about to change. And, truth be told, it is the arrogance of the ayatollahs that will have brought about their downfall. Indeed, only a few days ago, the United States dealt Iran an affront that the ayatollahs had every interest in keeping quiet. During the latest conclave held in Geneva on Thursday, under the auspices of the Sultanate of Oman, Steve Witkoff, the American negotiator, abruptly broke off the talks and withdrew from the meeting on the pretext that he had other obligations to fulfil. In fact, he was heading to meet, on the other side of Lake Geneva, a Ukrainian delegation.

The Iranian people — along with other populations across the Levant — had long awaited this D-Day. The intensive American and Israeli air raids launched early this Saturday morning, February 28, do not appear to be a limited, one-off strike confined in time and scope. On the contrary, they seem to signal the prelude to a comprehensive and radical offensive — both militarily and politically — against the mullahs’ regime in power in Tehran. This assessment stems not only from the breadth and scale of the U.S.-Israeli air strikes, but above all from the televised and radio address delivered in the morning by President Donald Trump (likely recorded Friday evening).