Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei Reportedly Killed in Strikes

Israel has confirmed that Iran’s supreme leader was killed in strikes on Saturday, according to two Israeli sources familiar with the matter.

One of the sources said Israel had obtained a photo of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s dead body. The second source said an official announcement is being prepared.

Earlier in the evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there are many signs that Khamenei is “no longer with us.”

Meanwhile, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Iran’s president and Supreme Leader are “safe and sound.” But Khamenei has not been seen in public or in videos since the strikes began.

A senior administration official said today that they believed Iran was preparing to potentially launch preemptive missile strikes, a factor that influenced President Donald Trump’s decision to initiate military action.

“We had indicators that they intended to use it potentially, preemptively, but if not, if not simultaneous, against with any actions against them, immediately against us,” the senior administration official added. “And the president decided he was not going to sit back and allow America’s forces in the region to absorb attacks from conventional missiles.”

“We are not going to be held hostage by them, and we are not going to let them hit us first, because it would have substantially increased the risk to our troops in the region and to our allies,” the official added.

However, a source familiar with the intelligence contradicted that assertion to CNN, saying that there were no indications that the Iranians planned to strike US forces or assets first — unless they were attacked by Israel or the US.

In his first public remarks following Saturday’s US military strikes, the US president said in a video posted to social media that Iran has been developing missiles that “could soon reach the American homeland,” and made a similar argument earlier this week in his State of the Union address.

But sources told CNN that US intelligence does not support the claim that Iran is close to fielding missiles capable of striking the United States.