{"id":59269,"date":"2026-02-28T22:38:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T02:38:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/middle-east-crisis-iran-confirms-death-of-supreme-leader-khamenei-after-us-israeli-strikes-irgc-vows-unprecedented-retaliation\/59269\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T22:38:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T02:38:29","slug":"middle-east-crisis-iran-confirms-death-of-supreme-leader-khamenei-after-us-israeli-strikes-irgc-vows-unprecedented-retaliation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/middle-east-crisis-iran-confirms-death-of-supreme-leader-khamenei-after-us-israeli-strikes-irgc-vows-unprecedented-retaliation\/59269\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle East Crisis: Iran Confirms Death of Supreme Leader Khamenei After US-Israeli Strikes; IRGC Vows Unprecedented Retaliation"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Iranian state media confirms the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<\/strong> following a massive joint <strong>U.S.-Israeli precision strike<\/strong> on his Tehran headquarters.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)<\/strong> has declared an imminent, <strong>&quot;most intense&quot; offensive operation<\/strong> targeting Israeli territory and U.S. military bases across the Middle East.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Global energy markets are bracing for extreme volatility<\/strong> as reports emerge of Iran attempting to shut the <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong> and launching retaliatory strikes against the <strong>U.S. Fifth Fleet<\/strong> in Bahrain.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Defense equities and safe-haven assets<\/strong> are expected to surge in early trading; air raid sirens are currently sounding across <strong>northern Israel<\/strong> and major cities.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Geopolitical shifts extend to Europe<\/strong>, with reports indicating <strong>Vladimir Putin<\/strong> may be willing to accept U.S. security guarantees regarding Ukraine amidst the escalating global instability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Iranian state media<\/strong> officially confirmed early Sunday that <strong>Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<\/strong> was killed at his office in Tehran. The announcement followed a series of devastating airstrikes by <strong>U.S.<\/strong> and <strong>Israeli<\/strong> forces, which the <strong>Wall Street Journal (WSJ)<\/strong> reports involved <strong>30 precision-guided bombs<\/strong> dropped directly on the Supreme Leader\u2019s compound. Intelligence officials reportedly located Khamenei after a breakthrough in tracking his precise movements and digital footprint.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)<\/strong> issued a blistering statement via the <strong>Mehr News Agency<\/strong>, vowing a &quot;harsh, decisive, and regretful punishment&quot; for the assassination. The IRGC warned that its <strong>&quot;most intense offensive operation ever&quot;<\/strong> against <strong>Israel<\/strong> and <strong>U.S.<\/strong> bases would begin &quot;in moments.&quot; Shortly after the declaration, air raid sirens were reported in <strong>northern Israel<\/strong>, and new explosions were heard across <strong>Tehran<\/strong> and <strong>Isfahan<\/strong> as a second wave of strikes allegedly commenced.<\/p>\n<p>Financial markets are reacting to the prospect of a full-scale regional war. <strong>Crude oil prices<\/strong> are expected to spike significantly as <strong>Tehran<\/strong> moves to disrupt global logistics channels, specifically the <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong>. Energy giants like <strong>ExxonMobil (<a href=\"\/stock\/XOM\">XOM<\/a>)<\/strong> and <strong>Chevron (<a href=\"\/stock\/CVX\">CVX<\/a>)<\/strong> are being closely watched by investors as supply chain risks reach their highest levels in decades.<\/p>\n<p>The defense sector is seeing immediate attention as the conflict escalates. Primary contractors including <strong>Lockheed Martin (<a href=\"\/stock\/LMT\">LMT<\/a>)<\/strong> and <strong>Northrop Grumman (<a href=\"\/stock\/NOC\">NOC<\/a>)<\/strong> are anticipated to see increased demand as the <strong>U.S.<\/strong> reinforces its posture in the <strong>Middle East<\/strong>. Meanwhile, investors are flocking to safe-haven assets, with <strong>SPDR <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/metal\/gold\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"gold price today\">Gold<\/a> Shares (<a href=\"\/stock\/GLD\">GLD<\/a>)<\/strong> and the <strong>iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (<a href=\"\/stock\/TLT\">TLT<\/a>)<\/strong> expected to gap higher at the market open.<\/p>\n<p>In a surprising secondary development, <strong>The Sunday Times<\/strong> reported that <strong>Russian President Vladimir Putin<\/strong> may be willing to accept <strong>U.S. security guarantees<\/strong> regarding the conflict in <strong>Ukraine<\/strong>. Analysts suggest this shift could be a strategic move by <strong>Moscow<\/strong> to stabilize its western flank while the <strong>United States<\/strong> is heavily diverted by the erupting crisis in the <strong>Persian Gulf<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Iranian government<\/strong> has declared <strong>40 days of national mourning<\/strong> and seven public holidays, signaling a period of prolonged domestic and regional instability. As the <strong>IRGC<\/strong> mobilizes its missile arrays, the <strong>U.S. National Security Council<\/strong> remains in emergency session, and the <strong>United Nations<\/strong> has called for an immediate ceasefire to prevent a &quot;global catastrophe.&quot;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Iranian state media confirms the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei following a massive joint U.S.-Israeli precision [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[8436,4461,4664,4824,5016,5036,5230,5687,5956,8280],"class_list":["post-59269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-lmt-stock-lmt","tag-crude-oil","tag-iran","tag-geopolitics","tag-israel","tag-irgc","tag-defense","tag-xom-stock-xom","tag-wsj","tag-gld-stock-gld"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}