TEHRAN: Iran’s former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was killed in a targeted strike on Sunday evening following a fresh wave of attacks launched by the United States and Israel, according to Western media reports.

Sources said Mahmoud was under house arrest at the time and was struck at his residence. Iranian authorities had not immediately issued an official statement confirming the circumstances of his death.

Ahmadinejad, Iran’s sixth president, served from 2005 to 2013 and was widely regarded as a polarising hardliner who became the face of Tehran’s nuclear defiance and fiery anti-Israel rhetoric.

He rose from relative obscurity as mayor of Tehran to secure a surprise victory in the 2005 presidential runoff against establishment figure Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

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During his tenure, Ahmadinejad adopted a confrontational stance in foreign policy, particularly on Iran’s nuclear programme, which intensified tensions with Western powers and led to expanded international sanctions.

Political analysts often described him as an ideologue whose economic management contributed to rising inflation and whose diplomacy deepened Iran’s international isolation.

His reported killing comes amid escalating hostilities in the region following joint US-Israel strikes on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory actions across the Middle East.