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The President of the United States, Donald Trump, stated that he believes the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would have died following the joint attack by the United States and Israel against the Islamic Republic.
“Believe it is right,” Trump stated in an interview with NBC News when asked about reports regarding the alleged death of the Iranian leader.
Trump's statement does not amount to an official confirmation and comes amid conflicting reports: while there have been "signals" from Israel suggesting that Khamenei "is no longer alive," Iranian authorities have refrained from corroborating this, and a senior Iranian official told NBC News that the supreme leader was alive "as far as I know."
A report released by EFE states that Trump responded to NBC News that he considers the information about the possible death of the ayatollah to be “correct,” referring to the joint attack.
In publications from the same interview, Trump also described the operation as a "success" and claimed that "most" of the decision-makers in Iran "are gone," without providing evidence at that time.
In parallel, international media reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated there are "many signs" that Khamenei may be dead, also without providing independently verifiable evidence.
At the same time, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Khamenei was alive "as far as I know," a phrase that fueled uncertainty rather than dispelling it.
So far, what has been publicly verified is that Trump expressed his belief in the accuracy of reports regarding the death of the Iranian supreme leader after the attacks, but there was no official confirmation from Iran nor conclusive independent evidence presented at the time.
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