President Donald Trump announced early Saturday morning that the United States and Israel launched massive joint air strikes against the Iranian regime.
The Times of Israel reports that Israeli intelligence is now assessing that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the longtime puppet master of the world’s biggest terror state, was likely killed in the strike on his compound in Tehran. However, there has been no confirmation yet.
Israel “assesses” that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was likely killed in an Israeli strike earlier today, Channel 12 says, citing unnamed Israeli sources. It says there are “growing indications” to this effect.
There is no official confirmation of the report.
The TV station had minutes earlier said the Israeli assessment was that Khamenei was “hurt at the very least, ” and that this was not an assessment based on satellite imagery showing Khamenei’s presidential compound being flattened, but rather on information from unnamed sources.
Khamenei is reportedly expected to deliver an address shortly. The TV report suggests that, if so, it was recorded in advance.
Channel 12 also reports that the strikes today have caused “very significant harm” to the leadership of the Iranian regime and its military commanders.
Israel’s Kan state TV says “there is no contact” with Khamenei and his condition is not known.
It’s not just Khamenei. Israeli television is reporting that Iran’s defense minister, Amir Nasirzadeh, and senior Islamic Revolutionary Guards corps (IRGC) commander Mohammed Pakpour were also killed in the operation. Other high-ranking regime and IRGC officials are reportedly among the dead. In other words, this was no symbolic hit. It was the biggest decapitation strike on the Islamic Republic in its history.
Of course, none of this is officially confirmed yet. There are similar reports from the Jerusalem Post.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has been cut off from contact, and there is no certainty about his fate, Israeli officials told Walla on Saturday afternoon. Iranian officials promised to release a recording from Khamenei soon after Israeli strikes targeted his Tehran compound.
The preliminary assessment among Israeli officials was that Khamenei was hurt in the strike. No official confirmation has been received by Israeli, American, or Iranian sources.
According to the Jerusalem Post, “Iran's Defense Minister Amir Nasirzadeh and Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammed Pakpour are believed to have been killed in Israeli attacks,” based on sources familiar with Israel's military operations. They also report that the strikes killed several senior IRGC commanders and Islamic regime political officials.
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If the reports hold true, this will have huge implications for the Middle East. Iran without Khamenei is an entirely different beast — fractured, angry, and leaderless. And for the first time in decades, the possibility of real change inside Iran isn’t a fantasy. It’s a tangible reality.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made clear that the objective of the operation is nothing less than regime change in Tehran, declaring that it was designed to remove the ayatollah’s grip on power and open the door to a different future for Iran.
The operation “will create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their destiny into their own hands,” he said. “The time has come for all sections of the people in Iran… to remove the yoke of tyranny from (the regime) and bring a free and peace-loving Iran.”
Netanyahu pointed to the regime’s decades-long hostility toward both Israel and the United States. “For 47 years, the Ayatollah regime has called for ‘Death to Israel’ and ‘Death to America.’ It has spilled our blood, murdered many Americans, and massacred its own people,” Netanyahu said.
President Trump’s bold strikes with Israel may have just decapitated Iran’s regime, potentially ending Khamenei’s reign of terror against America and Israel. PJ Media stands as a vital conservative voice exposing these game-changers. Join PJ Media VIP today to fuel our fearless reporting and keep us fighting—use promo code FIGHT for 60% off. Don’t let the left bury this victory!
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