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President Donald Trump pumps his fist at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Feb. 27, 2026. (Mandel NGAN - AFP / Getty Images)

'Bloodthirsty Thugs': Trump Celebrates Killing of Iranian Regime Leader in Lengthy Post

 By Jack Davis  March 1, 2026 at 5:30am

Long-deferred justice arrived in Iran on Saturday, President Donald Trump wrote, announcing that  Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead. Israeli attacks targeted Khamenei’s compound as the U.S. and Israel launched blistering air strikes on Iran.

“Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS.”

“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. This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country,” Trump wrote.

Trump said he hopes Iranians rally together to craft a new government.

“We are hearing that many of their IRGC, Military, and other Security and Police Forces, no longer want to fight, and are looking for Immunity from us,” he wrote. “Hopefully, the IRGC and Police will peacefully merge with the Iranian Patriots, and work together as a unit to bring back the Country to the Greatness it deserves.”

Trump added that Iran “has been, in only one day, very much destroyed and, even, obliterated. The heavy and pinpoint bombing, however, will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!” Trump wrote.

As noted by the BBC, Dubai was among the Arab nations attacked by Iran on Saturday as a luxury hotel was hit. The UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait were also attacked, as was Israel.

A senior U.S. official who briefed the media on Operation Epic Fury said the attack came down to a question of who would strike first, according to the Times of Israel.

“The president decided he was not going to sit back and allow American forces in the region to absorb attacks from conventional missiles,” the official said.

“We had analysis that basically told us [that] if we sat back and waited to get hit first, the amount of casualties and damage would be substantially higher than if we acted in a preemptive, defensive way to prevent those launches from occurring.”

“We cannot continue to live in a world where these people not only possess missiles but the ability to make 100 of them a month in perpetuity, to overwhelm any potential defenses,” the official continued.  “We are not going to be held hostage by them, and we are not going to let them hit us first because it would have substantially increased the risk to our troops in the region and to our allies.”

The official then added Iran was offered “free nuclear fuel forever” but showed “no seriousness to achieve a real deal,” according to the Times of Israel.

“They basically said that didn’t work for them. And we basically said, ‘Well, that makes absolutely no sense,’” the official said.

“It was very clear that the intent for them was to preserve their ability to do enrichment, so that over time, they could use it for a nuclear bomb.

“If they wanted to have a civil, peaceful nuclear program, we offered them many, many ways to do that. But, instead, that was met with games, tricks and stall tactics.”

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