Arabic version: زعيم إيران الأعلى يُزعم أنه قُتل في ضربات أمريكية-إسرائيلية
According to Al Jazeera,
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been killed in Israeli-US attacks, according to Israeli media reports and a senior Israeli official. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed there were “growing signs” that Khamenei was killed in the joint US-Israeli strikes, which were launched early on Saturday.
The Reuters news agency, citing an unnamed senior Israeli official, reported that Khamenei’s body has been located. However, Iranian news outlets Tasnim and Mehr reported that Khamenei remained “steadfast and firm in commanding the field.” In response to the claims, the head of public relations at Khamenei’s office accused the country’s enemies of “mental warfare.”
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi noted that there has so far been no official confirmation of Khamenei’s killing from Tehran. Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi told NBC News earlier that, “as far as I know”, Iran’s supreme leader, as well as other top Iranian officials, remained in good health.
US President Donald Trump told NBC News in an interview that he believed reports of Khamenei’s death were a “correct story”. The strikes on Iran targeted 24 provinces, killing at least 201 people, according to Iranian media reports, citing the Red Crescent. In retaliation, Iran launched counterattacks against Israeli and US military assets across the Middle East.
Netanyahu claimed that many “senior figures” had been “eliminated” in the wave of attacks targeting senior leaders, while Trump called for the Iranian government to be toppled. Netanyahu emphasized that Israel had killed “commanders in the Revolutionary Guard and senior officials in the nuclear programme. And we will continue,” he said.
