, March 1 -- Iran's Cabinet issued a warning early Sunday that a "great crime will never go unanswered" following what it said was a joint U.S.-Israeli military operation that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The warning came after Iranian state media reported that Khamenei, 86, was killed in an airstrike that hit his compound in central Tehran.

Iranian state television interrupted its broadcast to announce his death.

"To the noble and proud people of Iran: With the ultimate grief and sorrow this is to inform you that following the barbaric attack by the criminal governments of America and the evil Zionist regime, the true example of faith, jihad and resistance, the Supreme Leader of the Revolution Grand Ayatollah Khamenei...