Iran woke to a historic and unsettling reality on Sunday: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, has died. The announcement, broadcast on state television, followed earlier reports by foreign leaders suggesting he had been killed during a military operation involving the United States and Israel. Tehran declared a 40-day national mourning period and seven public holidays, framing his death as martyrdom while pledging to uphold his decades-long legacy. Black banners and solemn broadcasts marked the formal end of an era in which one man had embodied the architecture of Iranian power.