The state media also announced 40 days of public mourning in Iran.

The media reported that Khamenei “was carrying out his assigned duties and was present at his workplace (his office)”.

“This cowardly attack occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning,” it said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement: “We have lost a great leader and we are mourning him, a leader who was unique in terms of purity of spirit, strength of faith, resourcefulness in affairs, courage in the face of the arrogant, and jihad in the path of God.”

Earlier, Iranian media reported that the daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter of the Iranian supreme leader had been killed in US and Israeli strikes.

“After establishing contact with informed sources in the supreme leader’s household, the news of the martyrdom of the daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter of the Revolutionary Leader has unfortunately been confirmed,” Fars news agency and other Iranian media reported.