Tehran: Iran state television announced a 40-day mourning period and seven public holidays following the death of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had been in power since 1989.

Iran Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was dead in the joint US-Israel military operation attacks on Saturday. The Iranian State television and the state-run IRNA news agency confirmed Khamenei’s death early Sunday.

Hours after the attacks US President Donald Trump claimed on Saturday that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was dead. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there are many signs that Khamenei had been killed.

The Israeli military said it launched a fresh wave of strikes targeting Iranian ballistic missile and air defence sites. Israel and the United States carried out waves of strikes on Saturday, calling for regime change in Iran, prompting retaliation from the Islamic republic.

Following the attacks on Saturday, the UN Security Council convened an emergency meeting, where the US and Israel clashed with Iran. The U.N. Chief and several countries urged an immediate halt to the fighting and a return to negotiations to prevent the conflict from spreading further across the region and beyond.

With the martyrdom of the supreme leader, his path and mission neither will be lost nor will be forgotten, on the other hand, they will be pursued with greater vigour and zeal, a presenter said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards vowed on Sunday to punish the murderers of supreme leader Ali Khamenei, after his death was confirmed by state television.

Iranian’s Revolutionary Guards in a statement said that the hand of revenge of the Iranian nation for a severe, decisive and regrettable punishment for the murderers of the Imam of the Ummah will not let go of them.

They further said that Tehran would launch the most ferocious operation in history against Israel and US bases.

The most ferocious offensive operation in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s armed forces will begin any moment now, the Guards posted on Telegram.