(Web Desk) - Conflicting claims about the death of Iranian supreme leader Khamenei have emerged as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that there were signs that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been killed in an attack on his compound as part of US-Israeli strikes, whereas Iran’s foreign minister said the country’s supreme leader was alive.
There was no immediate Iranian confirmation of his fate. The United States and Israel carried out military strikes on Iran on Saturday, targeting its top leaders and plunging the Middle East into a conflict that President Donald Trump said would end a security threat to the US and give Iranians a chance to topple their rulers.
Unconfirmed reports fuel speculation
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been the spiritual and political linchpin of the Islamic Republic for more than three decades.
As the country’s ultimate authority in foreign policy, military strategy and national security, he has shaped Iran’s trajectory since taking over the leadership in 1989.
However, amid the ongoing US–Israeli military campaign against Iran, multiple foreign news outlets and unnamed sources have reported that Khamenei may have been killed in strikes on Tehran early Saturday.
These reports remain unconfirmed by Iranian state authorities, who have not issued an official statement on his condition or whereabouts.
Khamenei, 86, became Iran’s highest authority in 1989, following the death of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ruhollah Khomeini. As supreme leader, he held ultimate control over Iran’s political, military and religious institutions, shaping domestic policy and guiding foreign relations.