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Trump and Israel Claim Iran’s Khamenei Dead After Joint Airstrikes, Tehran Denies

Trump and Israel Claim Iran’s Khamenei Dead After Joint Airstrikes, Tehran Denies
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U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead following massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, a claim denied by Tehran and not independently verified by neutral authorities aljazeera +1. The statement came hours after Israeli officials said an airstrike had destroyed Khamenei’s Tehran compound, even as Iranian state outlets insisted the 86‑year‑old leader remained in command dw +1.

The strikes, launched early 28 February under what Trump called “major combat operations,” hit political, military and nuclear sites across Iran, triggering retaliatory missile and drone fire from Tehran and prompting airspace closures and flight disruptions across the region wionews +1. While satellite imagery showed severe damage and smoke at the supreme leader’s compound, Iran’s foreign ministry said Khamenei and other top leaders were “safe and sound,” highlighting a stark information war over the fate of the man who has ruled Iran since 1989 axios +2.

Did the Strikes Kill Khamenei? Claims, Denials and Missing Proof

Trump declared on social media that “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” without detailing his sources, and later repeated the assertion in a video address urging Iranians to “take over your government” once the campaign ends aljazeera +1. A senior Israeli official told Reuters that Khamenei had been killed and that his body had been located, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there were “many signs” the Iranian leader was “no longer” after Israel “destroyed the compound of the tyrant Khamenei” dw +1.

Iranian officials and state-linked agencies responded by branding the reports psychological warfare. News agencies Tasnim and Mehr said Khamenei remained “steadfast and firm in commanding the field,” and Iran’s foreign minister told NBC News that, “as far as I know,” the supreme leader was alive dailysabah +1. The United Nations said it could not confirm the Israeli assertions, and major outlets including the BBC, AP and Reuters framed the story with careful attribution, stressing the absence of conclusive visual evidence or confirmation from Tehran beyond general denials axios +2.

Regional Fallout and Fears of a Wider War

The strikes marked one of the most dramatic escalations in decades between Iran and the U.S.-Israel axis, coming eight months after a 2025 air war in which Israel attacked underground nuclear facilities trtworld. Following Saturday’s bombardment, Iran launched missiles and drones at Israeli and U.S.-linked targets, with explosions reported or interceptions announced in countries including Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE; several regional states temporarily closed their airspace, and airlines rerouted or canceled flights facebook +1.

At the U.N. Security Council, U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz defended the operation as lawful and aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, while Iran’s envoy condemned it as a “war crime” and vowed a strong response kyivindependent +1. Energy analysts warned that with around 13 million barrels of oil per day transiting the nearby Strait of Hormuz in 2025, markets were bracing for higher prices and a flight to safe-haven assets in the days ahead cfr. One fund manager told CNBC the shock “has definitely bigger ramifications than Venezuela” and predicted oil would “tick up a bit more violently next week” cfr.

The Bigger Picture

Whether or not Khamenei was killed, the combination of contested leadership claims, reciprocal strikes and rapidly hardening rhetoric pointed to a new and volatile phase in the long-running confrontation between Iran and its adversaries. With Iran denying any vacuum at the top, Israel and the United States presenting the operation as a strategic turning point, and global powers urging urgent de-escalation, the credibility of early accounts and the next moves on the battlefield will shape not only Iran’s internal power struggle but also the risk of a broader regional war that could rattle energy supplies and global markets axios +3.