Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who served as president of Iran from 2005 to 2013, was killed in an Israeli airstrike that directly targeted his residence in Tehran’s Narmak neighborhood on Sunday, March 1.
Iranian state-affiliated media confirmed the assassination, which reported that the ex-president died alongside his security detail and several companions.
“Ahmadinejad, along with his security guards, was killed following the strikes on his residence in the Narmak neighbourhood in Tehran,” reported the state-affiliated Iranian Labour News Agency.
“As a result of the attacks on Tehran’s Narmak district and the residence of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Expediency Council member was killed along with his bodyguards,” another dispatch noted.
Born Mahmoud Sabbaghian on October 28, 1956, in Tehran, he later adopted the surname Ahmadinejad. He rose through the ranks of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and conservative political establishment, eventually becoming mayor of Tehran before winning the presidency in 2005.
His 2009 re-election was marred by massive street protests and allegations of fraud. During his two terms, Ahmadinejad became one of the most recognizable and polarizing figures on the global stage, as he repeatedly denied the Holocaust, called for Israel to be “wiped off the map” and aggressively scaled up the country’s nuclear program.
After leaving office, his political began to decline. He openly clashed with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was barred by the Guardian Council from running for president again in 2017, 2021, and 2024, and spent his later years as a member of the Expediency Discernment Council with significantly diminished influence.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2019
His death came as part of a sweeping, coordinated U.S.-Israeli military operation launched on February 28 that also eliminated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several top military and security officials, including senior commanders in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The strikes hit leadership residences, military headquarters, air-defense systems, and other strategic targets across Iran, with Iranian sources reporting more than 200 deaths as of this report.
In the past 24 hours the conflict has escalated into open, multi-front warfare. Israel carried out a second wave of airstrikes on Sunday, which largely targeted military installations and Iranian National Guard Corps (IRGC) command posts. The stated objective of Sunday’s strikes was to maintain air superiority.
Iran retaliated immediately and continuously with large barrages of ballistic missiles and drones. Strikes hit Israeli population centers, killing at least ten people, including eight in a single attack on a residential area near Beit Shemesh west of Jerusalem.
Iranian forces also targeted U.S. military installations across the region, with strikes reported in Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Jordan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. Several impacts were confirmed in civilian population centers and military installations.
No U.S. casualties have been reported at this time, though strikes on U.S. military installations have been continuous since the conflict began. Iran has claimed to have shot down at least one unmanned drone and further claimed to have targeted the USS Abraham Lincoln with ballistic missiles.
Iranian state-run media has published footage claiming to show the shoot down of an MQ-9 Reaper with the U.S. Air Force earlier this morning over Southern Iran. pic.twitter.com/UCqrGNjVCp
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) March 1, 2026
Additional casualties were reported in allied countries, including three deaths and numerous injuries in the UAE from intercepted projectiles. One fatality was also confirmed in Kuwait, while additional explosions were reported in Dubai, Doha, Qatar and Manama, Bahrain on Sunday.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was disrupted after an Iranian missile strike on a commercial tanker. Iranian officials have vowed continued “devastating” operations until the United States and Israel are “definitively defeated,” while an interim transitional council has been formed to govern in the absence of the supreme leader.
Military operations remain ongoing as of this report.
Multiple explosions seen and impacts from Iranian drones and ballistic missiles reported at Zayed Port, a commercial deep-water port that serves Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. pic.twitter.com/eSMzT8hjOG
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) March 1, 2026
