Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) vowed strong retaliation against the United States and Israel over the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei. However, it was also confirmed that the commander in chief died in this strike.
In a statement on the 1st (local time), the Revolutionary Guard confirmed the death of Ayatollah Khamenei and warned, "We will impose a harsh, decisive, and regrettable punishment on those who killed the imam of the ummah (the Shia Islamic spiritual leader)."
It then identified the United States and Israel as Ayatollah Khamenei's "murderers." In particular, it revered Ayatollah Khamenei as the "imam," elevating him to a deified status.
The Revolutionary Guard also said, "The hand of revenge of the Iranian people seeking to punish them will not release its grip on their nape," and emphasized, "The Revolutionary Guard, the Republican Army, and the great Basij militia will deliver a punitive lesson to the invaders in the face of internal and external conspiracies to defend the precious legacy of this great leader."
In a follow-up statement, the Revolutionary Guard foreshadowed that "the most destructive attack in the military history of the Islamic Republic of Iran will soon be unleashed toward the occupied territories (Israel) and the bases of the American terrorists."
According to Iran's state-run IRNA news agency that day, the Iranian government officially confirmed that Mohammad Pakpour, the Revolutionary Guard's commander in chief, and Ali Shamkhani, Khamenei's chief security adviser, were killed in a U.S.-Israeli airstrike the previous day.
Commander in Chief Pakpour took office last June as the successor to Commander in Chief Hossein Salami, who was killed by an explosion during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran. The Revolutionary Guard, Iran's elite force, has once again lost its head to an attack by an "enemy nation."