The fate of Iran’s ruling Supreme Leader is unclear amid reports he was probably killed in the opening hours of air strikes by Israel on Saturday according to a reported intelligence “assessment”.
The claim that Ali Khamenei had likely died was attributed to unnamed Israeli officials, reported television station Channel 12.
The news programme said that there were “growing indications” the regime’s ruler had died in Israeli air strikes.
Israeli officials did not comment on the claim.
There has been no public sighting of Khamenei. The regime had claimed he had been relocated to a safe location.
The launch of the joint campaign - dubbed Operation Roaring Lion by Israel and Operation Epic Fury in the US – shows apparent intent to push Iran towards regime change by targeting its most senior figures.
Satellite images of the high-security residential compound in Tehran where Khameini was supposedly located on Saturday morning show it had suffered massive damage and been apparently almost completely obliterated.
However, the claim of his death was not based on this evident destruction but rather separate information from the unnamed sources.
The assessment claimed that Khamenei was at the very least injured.
The 86-year-old has been the senior-most figure in the Islamic Republic since 1989, when he succeeded regime founder Ayatollah Khomeini.
According to reports in Israel, other high-ranking members of the regime had been killed in the coordinated joint air campaign with the US against Iran.
Those who died are said to include army chief General Amir Hatami, and Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the regime’s notorious militia.
The Reuters news agency said a source in Iran close to the regime had confirmed multiple senior officials and military commanders had died, without specifying any names.
Responding to the reports, Iran’s foreign minster Abbas Araghchi claimed in an interview with the NBC network: “All high-ranking officials are alive.
“So everybody is now in position, and we are handling this situation, and everything is fine.”
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