Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday evening that “there are many signs” that Iran’s supreme leader is “no longer with us,” while stopping short of saying definitively that he was killed.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi earlier told NBC that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other high-ranking officials in Iran are still alive, as far as he knew. Iran has not published a video of Khamenei since the strikes began Saturday morning.
CNN previously reported that Khamenei was one of the targets of the opening salvo of strikes on Iran along with other senior leaders, but Israeli sources said there was no confirmation that Khamenei had been killed.
“There are many signs that this tyrant is no longer with us,” Netanyahu said, adding that Israel had destroyed his compound.
Netanyahu also said the operation against Iran requires “patience” and will “last as long as it needs.”
“This war will lead to real peace,” Netanyahu vowed in his statement.
In a nationally televised address, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes had targeted the compound of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“There are growing signs that the tyrant is no longer alive,” Netanyahu said.
Earlier, Iran’s foreign minister told NBC News that the country’s supreme leader and president were alive “as far as I know.”
The U.S. and Israel launched a major attack on Iran on Saturday, and U.S. President Donald Trump called on the Iranian public to “seize control of your destiny” by rising up against the Islamic leadership that has ruled the nation since 1979.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told NBC News that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian were alive “as far as I know.”
But hours later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu contradicted this in a nationally televised address: “There are growing signs that the tyrant is no longer alive,” he said.
The strikes opened a stunning new chapter in U.S. intervention in Iran and marked the second time in eight months that the Trump administration has used military force against the Islamic Republic.
Foreign ministers from across the 27-nation bloc will meet virtually on Sunday to discuss the conflict in the Middle East, the EU’s top diplomat said.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a social media post that she would hold a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council to work towards de-escalation.
“It is essential that the war does not spread any further,” Kallas said. “The Iranian regime has choices to make.”
“The Iranian regime’s indiscriminate attacks against its neighbors carry the risk of dragging the region into a broader war and we condemn this,” she said.
Israel’s police announced that the Dome of the Rock compound will be closed for Ramadan because of concerns over missile strikes with Iran.
All religious sites in Jerusalem’s Old City are closed, according to police.
The Israeli military has raised the alert level across the country and canceled all gatherings in public spaces.
Schools and many workplaces are also closed.
U.S. President Donald Trump has spoken with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, after the strikes on Iran, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Trump has yet to detail the strikes and the urgency behind them to the broader public.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance monitored the strikes on Iran from the Situation Room at the White House dialed into a conference line with President Donald Trump and the team at Mar-a-Lago on Friday night into Saturday morning, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.
Vance was joined by U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as well as the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, the person said.
Meanwhile, a second person familiar with the situation said that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, was at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday.
Both people spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
The Pentagon didn’t answer questions about U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s whereabouts for the strike.
By Agencies
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