Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Saturday that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “no longer exists,” citing evidence that he was killed during the recent air strikes that targeted the capital, Tehran.
In a televised speech, Netanyahu explained that Israeli forces had destroyed Khamenei’s main headquarters in the heart of Tehran, stressing that this attack resulted in the liquidation of a large number of senior regime leaders and Iranian Revolutionary Guard officials, according to his statements.
In a related context, Israeli Channel 12 reported that the Israeli army dropped 30 bombs on the residence of the Iranian leader during the joint American-Israeli attack on Iran, which began on Saturday morning. The channel indicated that “Khamenei” was underground at the time of the bombing, although it is likely that he was not in his private shelter.
The channel also showed a satellite image, which it claimed showed a compound belonging to Khamenei, with traces of destruction visible in several buildings inside it.
An Israeli official had previously stated that the joint air attacks targeted locations where Khamenei and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian were believed to be present, pointing out that the results of the strikes “are not yet clear.”
Netanyahu indicated that Israel was carrying out a military operation called “The Lion’s Roar,” adding: “Today, with a surprise attack, we destroyed Khamenei’s site in the heart of Tehran,” stressing that Tehran was planning a “plan to annihilate Israel” and that this plan “has been destroyed.”
He added, “There are many indicators that this dictator also no longer exists.”
The Israeli Prime Minister stressed that operations would continue in the coming days, and that the army would strike “thousands of targets of the terrorist regime,” as he described it.
During his speech, Netanyahu called on the Iranian people to “take to the streets in large numbers to complete the mission and topple the regime,” considering that “the opportunity will not be repeated in this generation,” he said.
On the other hand, the Iranian Students News Agency reported that a column of smoke was seen rising from the vicinity of the Pasteur neighborhood in central Tehran, where the headquarters of the Iranian leader and the presidential headquarters are located, which gives the site strategic and symbolic importance.
