US President Donald Trump has said that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead following multiple reports suggesting that the 86-year-old hard-line ruler was killed in US and Israeli air strikes.
"Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on February 28.
"This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS."
"He was unable to avoid our Intelligence and Highly Sophisticated Tracking Systems and, working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do," Trump added.
Dictator's Powers
There was no confirmation out of Tehran on Trump's claim of the death of Iran’s supreme leader -- which if true would be a major blow to the country’s embattled leaders.
Earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Khamenei, along with President Masud Pezeshkian, was safe and "firmly" in command.
Khamenei has held near-dictatorial powers over Iran since becoming the supreme leader in 1989 after the death of the founder of the Islamic republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Reuters earlier quoted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying "signs" indicated that the supreme leader had been killed in the attacks.
"This morning, we destroyed the compound of the tyrant Khamenei," Netanyahu said in a video statement.
"There are many signs that this tyrant is no longer. This morning, we eliminated senior officials in the ayatollahs' regime, Revolutionary Guards commanders, senior figures in the nuclear program -- and we will continue. In the next few days, we will hit thousands more targets of the terror regime," Netanyahu added.
Time Spent In Hiding
Khamenei has mostly been in hiding since the 12-day war against Israel in June, although he has lived much of his rule under heavy security, rarely making public appearances.
He had survived several crises during his rule, including student protests in 1999, mass demonstrations over disputed elections in 2009, and further mass protests in 2019 that were followed by a brutal crackdown on demonstrations by the authorities.
In 2022-23 Iran was hit by the Woman, Life, Freedom protests -- which were sparked by the death in custody of a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who had been arrested for allegedly violating the strict dress code for women.
Next Iranian Leaders?
Earlier, Trump was asked by US television news whether the United States believes other members of Iran's leadership were dead following the air strikes.
"A lot of it is."
"The people that make all the decisions, most of them are gone," Trump added, according to NBC.
Trump said US officials "have a very good idea" of who will fill the positions of power in Tehran but was not more specific.
