US President Donald Trump. (Photo: AP) US President Donald Trump said he believes reports that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been killed in Israeli airstrikes are “a correct story,” as Washington and Tel Aviv intensify their military campaign against Tehran.
Speaking to NBC News, Trump said: “We feel that that is a correct story.” He added that “most” of Iran’s senior leadership is “gone,” saying many of “the people that make all the decisions” had been killed in the strikes.
In a separate interview with ABC News, Trump said the US attacks had caused significant damage. “A lot of it is, yeah. But we don’t know all, but a lot of it is. It was a very powerful strike,” he said, referring to Iran’s leadership.
Asked who could replace Khamenei, Trump told NBC: “I don’t know, but at some point they’ll be calling me to ask who I’d like,” adding that he was “only being a little sarcastic.”
Israeli officials earlier told The Associated Press (AP) that Khamenei was dead, though there has been no formal confirmation from Tehran. Israel’s military said it had killed several senior Iranian officials, including Mohammad Pakpour, Aziz Nasirzadeh and Ali Shamkhani.
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Trump has said that Iran’s supreme leader Khamenei – “one of the most evil people in history” is dead.”
In a post on Truth Social, Trump described Khamenei as “dead” and said the strikes had created “the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their country. He claimed that some members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and security forces were seeking “immunity,” adding: “Now they can have Immunity, later they only get Death!”.
“This is not only justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
He said of Khamenei: “He was unable to avoid our Intelligence and Highly Sophisticated Tracking Systems and, working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do.”
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Trump said US and Israeli forces had worked closely together and warned that bombing would continue “as long as necessary” to achieve what he called “peace throughout the Middle East and, indeed, the world.”
