Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested on Saturday that Iran‘s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei may be dead, following an earlier statement calling on the Iranian people to “take to the streets and finish the job.”
There were many indications that Khamenei “is no more,” Netanyahu said in a televised address Saturday evening, without confirming the Iranian leader’s death, but saying Khamenei’s compound was destroyed and that Revolutionary Guard commanders and senior nuclear officials were eliminated.
Earlier, Iran’s foreign minister told NBC News that the country’s supreme leader and president was alive “as far as I know,” the AP reported.
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Iran’s Al-Alam television said Khamenei would speak, but a speech was never televised.
Asked whether Khamenei was dead in a phone interview with NBC News on Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump said, “We feel that that is a correct story.”
Political correspondent at ABC News, Rachel Scott, wrote on X that Donald Trump told her he “believes” Iran’s supreme leader is dead, but did not give her a definitive answer.
“I don’t want to say anything definitively until I see things, but we believe he is,” he reiterated to Scott.
Iranian state media, citing a source close to Khamenei’s office, wrote, I can tell you with confidence that the leader of the revolution is firmly and firmly commanding the field, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, the U.N. Secretary General said he was not in a position to confirm reports of the death of Iran’s Khamenei, Reuters added.
Netanyahu’s update Saturday afternoon followed the release of a recorded message Saturday morning where he said Israel’s launch of a co-ordinated operation with the U.S. in Iran will be “much more powerful” than June’s short-lived conflict spearheaded by the American military.
He called on Iranian forces to lay down their weapons and encouraged Iranians to bring down their government.
Authorities in Tehran condemned the strikes, which began in the morning and hit different areas of the country, unprovoked and illegal.
— This is a developing story; check back for updates.
–– With files from Reuters and The Associated Press
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