CIA intelligence indicating that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would attend a high-level meeting of top Iranian officials reportedly helped guide strikes in a joint US and Israeli operation that killed him, The New York Times reported on Sunday.

Khamenei was killed in coordinated strikes on the capital, Tehran, Iranian state media confirmed, after the United States and Israel vowed to pursue regime change in the Islamic Republic.

According to the report, the American intelligence agency had tracked Khamenei’s movements for months and discovered that a meeting of senior Iranian officials was scheduled for Saturday morning at a leadership compound in central Tehran.

Washington and Tel Aviv had initially planned to launch the attack at night but adjusted the timing based on CIA intelligence, the newspaper said. The US reportedly shared the intelligence with Israel, which carried out the strike on the Iranian leadership.

The operation began at about 6:00 a.m. local time in Israel (0400 GMT), with long-range missiles hitting the compound around 9:40 a.m., the report stated.

Senior Iranian national security officials were gathered in one building within the compound, while Khamenei was in a nearby structure.

In addition to the Supreme Leader, two senior Iranian military figures were also killed in the bombing: the chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, General Mohammad Pakpour, and senior security adviser Ali Shamkhani, Iran’s judiciary confirmed.

Iran has since retaliated with reported strikes across the Gulf region, including in the Emirati capital, Abu Dhabi, and near US military bases, raising fears of a broader regional conflict.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said American military operations would continue “as long as necessary.”