Trump claims Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is dead after reported strikes; claim unverified
Former U.S. President Donald Trump said on his Truth Social platform that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is dead, calling him “one of the most evil people in history.” Trump’s post came as he described a massive wave of U.S. and Israeli strikes targeting sites across Iran, including Khamenei’s compound in Tehran. The claim could not be independently verified.
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Khamenei, 86, has dominated Iran’s political and religious life for more than three decades, ascending to the post of supreme leader in 1989 following the death of revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. As the Islamic republic’s ultimate authority, he has overseen a system that blends clerical rule with elected institutions while retaining final say over state policy, the armed forces and the security apparatus.
Over the years, Khamenei weathered multiple crises that tested the durability of Iran’s theocratic structure. He survived the 2022-2023 “Woman, Life, Freedom” protest movement that erupted after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurdish woman detained over alleged dress-code violations. His authority also endured periodic bouts of domestic unrest and international pressure over Iran’s nuclear program and regional policies.
The ayatollah lived under tight security and made relatively infrequent public appearances, which were typically unannounced or not broadcast live. As supreme leader, he never left Iran—adhering to a precedent set by Khomeini after his 1979 return to Tehran from exile in France. Khamenei’s last known foreign trip occurred in 1989, when, as Iran’s president, he paid an official visit to North Korea and met Kim Il Sung.
Speculation about Khamenei’s health has mounted at times due to his age, though his most recent public appearances offered little to fuel fresh rumors. His right arm has long appeared immobilized, the result of a 1981 assassination attempt that authorities have blamed on the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), a group once allied with the revolution and now outlawed in the country.
Before becoming supreme leader, Khamenei emerged from the revolutionary clergy’s ranks, repeatedly jailed under the U.S.-backed shah for anti-imperial dissent. He served on the front lines during the Iran-Iraq war and became Tehran’s Friday prayer leader shortly after the 1979 revolution. In 1981, following the assassination of President Mohammad Ali Rajai—an attack also blamed on the MEK—Khamenei was elected president.
In the 1980s, the leading candidate to succeed Khomeini had been senior cleric Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri. But Khomeini changed course shortly before his death after Montazeri publicly objected to mass executions of MEK members and other dissidents. When the Assembly of Experts, the Islamic republic’s top clerical body, convened to pick a new supreme leader, it chose Khamenei. He initially balked, at one point putting his head in his hands and saying, “I am opposed,” before the clerics stood in unison to seal his ascent.
As leader, Khamenei worked with six elected presidents of varying political stripes, including reformist Mohammad Khatami. While periods of cautious opening toward the West were tolerated at times, Khamenei ultimately sided with hardliners when stakes rose, reinforcing the state’s conservative core and its web of revolutionary institutions.
Khamenei is believed to have six children, though only one—Mojtaba—has had notable public prominence. The United States sanctioned Mojtaba Khamenei in 2019, depicting him as a powerful behind-the-scenes player. A family rupture also drew attention: Khamenei’s sister Badri fell out with the family in the 1980s and fled to Iraq during the war, joining her dissident cleric husband. Some of their children, including a nephew now in France, have since become outspoken critics.
Trump’s assertion about Khamenei’s death, and his depiction of coordinated strikes inside Iran, remained unconfirmed late Saturday. Details could not be independently corroborated. This is a developing story.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
