Israeli official claims Iran’s Supreme Leader Khameni is DEAD
Asked about claims Iran's supreme leader killed, Trump tells NBC channel 'we feel that is a correct story'
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reportedly been killed in Israeli and U.S. airstrikes, according to a senior Israeli official who spoke to Reuters on Saturday.
The official claimed that Khamenei was found beneath rubble caused by an Israeli airstrike.
Iran immediately sought to deny its Supreme Leader was dead.
Two Israeli television networks reported that photographs of Khamenei’s body were shown to former U.S.
President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump, when asked by NBC News, declined to comment directly but said that “the word is” the Iranian leader had been killed.
Trump added he had “spoken to a lot of people, and we feel that is a correct story.”
Netanyahu stated that there were “growing signs” Ayatollah Khamenei was “no longer,” but did not provide further details.
The targets of the U.S. and Israeli strikes included Khamenei’s official residence in Tehran and Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Satellite imagery showed smoke and significant damage to Khamenei’s compound.
The Iranian authorities had earlier suggested he would appear before cameras to speak, but this has not taken place yet.
Khamenei, 86, became Iran’s highest authority in 1989 after the death of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Israel has long regarded Khamenei as a destabilising force in the Middle East, citing his support for Iran’s network of militant allies, including Palestinian Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
After the October 7 Hamas terror attacks Khamenei called it a step toward “removing America from the region” and saying the operation “overturned the table of US policies.”
He said the Hamas-led onslaught on Israel had happened exactly at the moment the region needed it, when there had been a plan “by the US, Zionist individuals, their followers and some of the region’s countries to change the equation in the region.”
As supreme leader, Khamenei held ultimate control over Iran’s political, military, and religious institutions, shaping domestic policy and directing foreign relations.
After the 12-day air war between Israel and Iran in June 2025, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened to assassinate Khamenei, stating that the supreme leader “cannot continue to exist.”
His death, while hugely significant, does not signify the end of the regime though, which has built itself into a formidable machine over the past decades.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
