Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed there are indications that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, may be dead.
Netanyahu made the assertion during a televised address on Saturday evening, stating that Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Iran would continue “as long as it is needed,” adding that the conflict would ultimately result in “true peace.”
According to him, “such a murderous regime” should not be allowed to possess nuclear weapons capable of “continuing to threaten the entire humankind.”
“We would like to thank the brave Iranian people that they are being freed of those horrific ties with that regime,” Netanyahu said.
He added that airstrikes had destroyed Khamenei’s compound, declaring, “Signs show that Khamenei is no longer with us. All indications show this tyrant is no longer with us.”
The statement contradicts earlier claims by Iran’s foreign ministry, which maintained that the Supreme Leader and the country’s president were “safe and sound.”
Addressing what he described as the “courageous” Iranian people, Netanyahu said the strikes would help them “unshackle themselves from tyranny.”
He said Iranians now have a “once in a generation chance” to overthrow the regime and urged them to “take to the streets en masse” to “get the job done.”
“It is high time you come together and unite for a historic mission,” he said.
“This is an opportunity to do something. Do not sit with your arms crossed, because this moment will come and you will be demanded to go out on the streets in the masses, because you have to complete this work, and you have to bring down and eradicate this regime.”
Netanyahu further stated that Israeli forces had successfully targeted senior figures involved in Iran’s nuclear program as well as other top officials.
