Trump claims Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ‘is dead’

The Tasnim and Mehr news agencies claimed the Iranian supreme leader is “steadfast and firm in commanding the field”

US President Donald Trump has said he believes that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead. In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead.” 

Trump's claims follows an earlier statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that signs are increasingly indicating that the Iranian Supreme Leader had been killed.

Iran’s Tasnim and Mehr news agencies have reported that the supreme leader is “steadfast and firm in commanding the field.”

Khamenei’s compound was struck in a “powerful surprise attack,” and “there are many signs” that he “is no more,” Netanyahu said later in the day.

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, however, has said that he is “not in the position to confirm” the claim.

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Israel and the US attacked the Islamic Republic on Saturday, with President Donald Trump calling the attack a way to “raze their missile industry” and navy, as well as to force regime change in Tehran. Iran retaliated with missile and drone strikes against Israeli targets and on US military bases in the Middle East.

Netanyahu added that “thousands of targets” in the Iranian leadership will be killed in the coming days and called on Iranians to take to the streets and overthrow the government.

Earlier on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told NBC that the Iranian leader was alive.

“Almost all officials are safe and sound and alive. We may have lost one or two commanders,” he said.

West Jerusalem is reportedly working to wipe out the top figures in Iran’s government and security services, according to Axios.

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Concurrently, Washington’s strikes are mostly focused on the country’s missile program, the outlet wrote, citing a senior US official.

Moscow has condemned the operation and warned that it could further destabilize the entire region.

Washington and West Jerusalem’s attack is a “premeditated and unprovoked act of aggression,” aimed at toppling a government “they deem undesirable because it has refused to yield to the dictates of force and hegemonic pressure,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.