ABC interrupts NHL broadcast for special report as | Sports News

Saturday’s NHL sport between the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers was briefly halted by breaking information of a main announcement from President Donald Trump. With roughly 4 minutes left within the second period, ABC instantly transitioned to a special report during which anchor David Muir repeated Trump’s Truth Social post asserting the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme chief.

“Good afternoon everyone,” Muir opened. “We are interrupting the game for just a moment here because there is major breaking news at this hour. ABC News has just learned that Iran‘s supreme leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is believed to have been killed in the attack in Iran.” It got here after Novak Djokovic’s short two-word response to Eileen Gu’s speech.

“President Trump simply moments in the past confirming the information in a social media post, killed in that assault led by U.S. and Israeli forces,” Muir continued. “The 86-year-old cleric had served as supreme leader since 1989, more than 30 years.

“The U.S. and Israel say they focused Khamenei and the remainder of Iran’s high management in huge strikes that started early this morning. Israel saying simply hours in the past that it will proceed to focus on the regime till it has been eradicated.”

After an approximately eight-minute segment, Muir wrapped up by acknowledging the ESPN team before returning viewers to the hockey game. The Bruins-Flyers game wasn’t the sole sporting event disrupted by the confirmed death of Khamenei.

NBC also interrupted its broadcast of the Cognizant Classic PGA Tour event to deliver its own 10-minute breaking news segment.

“Hey good afternoon, we’re approaching the air with main breaking information out of the Middle East,” NBC News anchor Tom Llamas announced. “President Trump simply posted on Truth Social that Iran’s supreme chief, the Ayatollah Khamenei, has been killed during the joint U.S.-Israel assault on Iran.

“Khamenei was the most powerful figure in Iran, both from a political and religious leader. He’s been a lifelong adversary of the U.S. and Israel. And the news of his death could have massive implications – not only for Iran, but for the entire Middle East.”

President Trump claimed on Truth Social Saturday afternoon that Khamenei died during “Operation Epic Fury” — a coordinated strike executed by the United States and Israel towards Iran. “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” the President declared.

“This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS.”

Trump indicated that Khamenei was “unable to avoid our Intelligence and Highly Sophisticated Tracking Systems and, working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do.”

Trump characterised the second as “the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country,” subsequently asserting that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are pursuing immunity from the U.S..

“We are hearing that many of their IRGC, Military, and other Security and Police Forces, no longer want to fight, and are looking for Immunity from us,” he went on. “As I said last night, ‘Now they can have Immunity, later they only get Death!'”