The Astrology of Iran and the Death of Ayatollah Khamenei

Like everyone around the world, I’m reeling with the news of the US-Israel attack on Iran, and Iran’s subsequent counterattacks on several targets throughout the Middle East. At the time of writing, the US has declared that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the attack.

My kneejerk reaction is to look at the stars. It’s far too early to interpret what’s going to happen from here as a result of this event, but studying the current astrological transits can give us some insights into the “Why now?” question.

In short: multiple astrological transits have converged to create a perfect flashpoint for an event of this magnitude. Here’s a short summary:

• We are in the middle of eclipse season. Eclipses have long been associated with the death of kings and other leaders.
• The Saturn-Neptune conjunction was just exact at 0 Aries on February 20, 2026. This conjunction signifies regime changes and is linked to major events in Iran, particularly:
  • The 1953 Iranian coup d’etat occurred under the 1952-53 Saturn-Neptune conjunction
  • The death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini – and the subsequent appointment of Ali Khamenei as supreme leader – occurred under the 1989 Saturn-Neptune conjunction.
• Previous eclipses in the Saros cycles of the current eclipses (Saros 121 and 133) overlapped with the previous Saturn-Neptune conjunctions in 1953 and 1989:
  • A solar eclipse on January 5, 1954 (Saros 121) and a lunar eclipse on January 19, 1954 (Saros 133) occurred just a few months after the Saturn-Neptune conjunction in July 1953.
  • A solar eclipse on January 26, 1990 (Saros 121) and a lunar eclipse on February 9, 1990 (Saros 133) occurred just a few months after the Saturn-Neptune conjunction in November 1989.
• Mars just squared Uranus – a tense, incendiary aspect between the planet of war and the planet of shocks and liberation.
• All of the main national leaders involved in this event – Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ali Khamenei – were born on eclipses.

Those are the major astrological signatures, but even more so than that, Iran’s natal chart is absolutely lit up by the current transits. Here’s a bi-wheel showing Iran’s natal chart on the inner wheel with the chart of the US-Israel airstrikes on the outer wheel (I got the time for the airstrikes from this article):

Here’s a summary of the transits impacting this chart:

• Uranus in Aquarius is on Iran’s natal Moon, receiving the exact square from Mars in Aquarius; transit Uranus is also opposite Iran’s natal Uranus.
  • The Moon is the nation’s people, Uranus is sudden shocks, revolution and liberation, and Mars is war and military action.
    
• The Saturn-Neptune conjunction is 9 degrees away from Iran’s natal Sun.
  • Saturn is structures and death, Neptune is ideals and the Sun is the leader. Therefore, the ideals (Neptune) that were structured (Saturn) into the nation of Iran were torn down through the death (Saturn) of its leader (Sun). In other words, regime change.
    
• Iran’s is experiencing a reverse Nodal return, as well as the transit South Node directly on its natal Saturn in Virgo.
  • Nodal returns and reverse Nodal returns bring fateful events impacting the fortunes of the nation.
  • Saturn represents death and the South Node is a purgation, a draining away – also very death-oriented.
    
• The Moon is on Iran’s natal Jupiter, sextile Uranus.
  • The Moon is the people and public attention, and Jupiter is religious leaders – in Iran, the Ayatollah would be symbolized Jupiter (in addition to the Sun) since he’s a religious leader as well as the head of state. Those two planets together = the public attention is focused on the religious leader.
    
• Iran’s stellium in Pisces is being transited by the Sun and an exact conjunction of Venus with retrograde Mercury, the latter of which is close to its natal Mars. Iran just had a Venus return and is going to have a Mercury return in a few weeks.
  • While Venus is usually considered a symbol of peace, older astrological sources, like ancient Mesopotamia, considered Venus a planet of war. She’s sure not beating those allegations here. As previously stated, the Sun is the leader; Mercury symbolizes communication and children; Venus symbolizes women and children (and war?); and Mars symbolizes war, military action and men.
    • Again, it’s all so literal: all people are impacted by this – every Iranian man, woman and child.
  • Retrograde Mercury suggests the fog of war is thick and will remain so for a long time, but perhaps also that there’s a reversal with the fortunes of women in particular.
    • It’s too early to know anything definitively, but perhaps this event could lead to a lifting of Iran’s oppressive treatment of women for the past 47 years. Maybe I’m being too optimistic.
      
• The current eclipse cycle is hitting Iran’s stellium in Pisces and Saturn in Virgo:
  • The solar eclipse on February 17, 2026 was at 28 Aquarius, the position that Mars currently occupies in its overcoming square to Uranus. The lunar eclipse on March 3, 2026 is at 12 Virgo – 4 degrees from Iran’s Saturn and 3 degrees opposite Iran’s Sun.
  • The last eclipse in the Virgo-Pisces axis is at 4 Pisces on August 28, 2026, suggesting one final development in this story.
  • The new eclipse cycle in the Leo-Aquarius axis just kicked off, suggesting a new 18-month story.

One more thing that I want to comment on is Iran’s flag. The current flag of Iran is a tricolour of equal horizontal bands of green, white and red with the Islamic emblem in red centered on the white band:

This flag was adopted in 1980 after the 1979 Iranian Revolution that installed the current government. Prior to that, Iran’s flag was the same tricolour bands of green, white and red, but with the Lion and Sun emblem. This flag is strictly banned from public use but is often used by Iranian opposition groups opposed to the Islamic government:

The astrological symbolism is again so stark and literal: the lion is the astrological symbol of Leo, the sign ruled by the Sun. 2026’s eclipses are moving into the Leo-Aquarius axis and both solar eclipses this year (again, remember that these herald the death of kings) are in this axis. The solar eclipse on February 17, 2026 was at 28 Aquarius and the solar eclipse on August 12, 2026 is at 20 Leo. Expect more major developments in August.

To summarize, a tidal wave of astrological events have hit Iran. Regime change is imminent. If the astrology shows us anything, it’s that this is timed very closely to the Saturn-Neptune conjunction and eclipses, and therefore there will be another major development in about 36 years at the next Saturn-Neptune conjunction in 2061.

Not that things are over and done with, however. Clearly this was a major event that will resonate throughout history.

I said I wasn’t going to do any forecasting, so I’ll leave it here. My prayers are with the innocent people caught up in this mess. May there be a speedy, just resolution.