An Israeli source told Reuters that Khamenei's body has been found. According to Israeli channel Keshet 12, pictures of the body have been shown to both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Netanyahu said earlier on Saturday evening that "there are more and more signs that Khamenei is dead," without elaborating further.
When unofficial reports that the Ayatollah had died reached Iran, cheers and applause were heard from windows in the capital, Tehran, witnesses told the AFP news agency.
But the message from the regime remains firm: Ali Khamenei is alive. According to state media, he was supposed to give a speech in the afternoon, but it has not been broadcast.
"The enemy is resorting to psychological warfare," the Ayatollah's office said, according to Reuters, during the evening.
Ali Larijani, former commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, wrote on X that "criminal and shameless" Israel and the U.S. will regret their actions. "Iran will give them an unforgettable lesson," he wrote.
Larijani has reportedly been given a central role in resolving the crisis if the Ayatollah were to die. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Ali Khamenei had drawn up a contingency plan for how to secure power if he were killed in a possible American or Israeli attack.
The Ayatollah's headquarters were razed to the ground in Saturday's attacks on Iran, according to several media outlets. It is not known where the 86-year-old leader was at the time of the attack, and he has not been seen in public for several days.
