Israeli authorities claimed that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had been killed. According to a senior Israeli official interviewed by Reuters, the body of the Iranian Supreme Leader had been found.
Multiple Israeli officials told ABC News that Israel has determined Khamenei was killed in the joint U.S. and Israeli strikes on Tehran earlier Saturday. U.S. officials were informed by the Israelis but had not independently confirmed the report, according to two U.S. officials cited by ABC News. President Donald Trump told ABC News he believes the supreme leader is dead, saying, “we believe so.” Trump added that he did not want to speak definitively “until I see things,” but said, “we believe he is,” and claimed “much of their leaders are gone.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stopped short of an outright confirmation in a televised address, but said there were “many signs” the Iranian leader “is no longer,” after strikes hit a compound tied to Khamenei, as reported by Reuters. Netanyahu did not provide evidence in his public remarks.
The current status of Iran’s Supreme Leader was not confirmed.
Iran has not issued an official public confirmation of Khamenei’s death. Adding to the uncertainty, Iran’s foreign minister told NBC News that, “to my knowledge,” Khamenei and Iran’s president were alive at the time of the interview, according to reporting cited in international coverage.
The claim was repeated in other Israeli sources. According to The Jerusalem Post, senior Israeli authorities had been informed that Iran’s Supreme Leader had been assassinated in an Israeli strike in Tehran. The body of the Iranian leader had been found under the rubble. Documentation of the incident had been presented to Netanyahu.
According to The Times of Israel, a local television broadcast claimed that 30 bombs had been dropped on the compound of Iran’s Supreme Leader. The broadcast claimed that the damage was significant.
The claim of Iran’s Supreme Leader having been killed was made in a time of significant escalation in the region.
A coordinated strike was carried out in Iran by both Israel and the United States. The strike targeted Iran’s military and strategic sites.
Iran’s Supreme Leader has been in charge of Iran’s armed forces and other areas of Iran since 1989. He had been Iran’s president in the 1980s.
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