WASHINGTON (The Thursday Times) — US President Donald J. Trump has claimed that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead, describing it as “justice” and presenting it as a turning point for Iran, while warning that US bombing will continue “throughout the week, or as long as necessary”.
In a statement on Truth Social, Trump said that Khamenei and other senior Iranian figures were killed after being tracked by US intelligence capabilities, and said the operation was carried out in close coordination with Israel. He did not provide evidence in the statement, and Iran has not issued confirmation within the text of his remarks.
Trump framed the claimed death as a moment of reckoning for Iran and for those he said had been harmed by Khamenei’s actions, using highly charged language to describe the Iranian leader and his associates.
He called it “the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country”, and urged a rapid political shift inside Iran. He also claimed that elements within Iran’s security apparatus, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), military, and police forces, no longer want to fight and are seeking immunity.
Trump said such immunity could be offered now, but he paired that with an explicit warning that those who do not comply later would face lethal consequences. He called for Iranian security forces to “peacefully merge” with what he described as “Iranian Patriots” to rebuild the state.
The President also asserted that Iran had been severely damaged “in only one day”, and said US bombing would continue, describing it as “heavy and pinpoint”, until the United States achieves what he termed an objective of “peace throughout the Middle East and, indeed, the world”.∎
