Nearly two months after Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in a joint US-Israeli airstrike on his Tehran compound, a senior Iranian cleric has demanded US President Donald Trump's public apology for the assassination.
Ali Shirazi, head of the ideological-political organisation of Iran's police, said Trump "must apologise to the Iranian people and admit before the world that killing our leader was a mistake," according to Iran International.
Khamenei was assassinated on Feb. 28 in Tehran as part of a series of Israeli airstrikes targeting high-ranking Iranian officials, with his death confirmed by the Iranian government on March 1.
His daughter, granddaughter, son-in-law and daughter-in-law were also killed in the strikes. His son Mojtaba Khamenei was subsequently appointed Supreme Leader by the Assembly of Experts on March 8, 2026.
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Shirazi's demand for an apology is unlikely to find any traction in Washington, where officials have framed Khamenei's killing as a strategic success.
Trump had been unequivocal about his role. He posted on Truth Social after striking Iran that Israel, with US support, had killed Khamenei, writing: "He was unable to avoid our Intelligence and Highly Sophisticated Tracking Systems and, working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do."
Trump has since repeatedly claimed that the Iranian regime is "fractured," pointing to tensions between hardliners and the moderate faction now engaged in negotiations with the US.
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Shirazi, however, made clear that elements within Iran's security establishment remain uncompromising. He said hostility toward Israel is "a Quranic and unchangeable principle" and warned that Iran's armed forces are ready to deliver a strong response to any enemy action.
Meanwhile, the US and Iran military is on the brink of another round of war if the "fragile" ceasefire collapses, with the Strait of Hormuz — still effectively closed to international shipping — remaining the central flashpoint in any renewed confrontation.
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