Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday suggested there are “growing signs” the overnight U.S.-Israel strikes against Iran killed the country’s supreme ruler.
There are growing signs that Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “is gone,” Netanyahu said during a press conference addressing the strikes. There has not yet been official confirmation that Khamenei was killed. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, claimed Saturday morning that “as far as I know,” both Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian are still alive, during an interview with NBC News.
In his press conference, Netanyahu urged the Iranian people to overthrow Khamenei’s theocratic government, similar to President Donald Trump’s calls.
The strikes offer protestors an opportunity to “unshackle themselves from tyranny,” the Israeli leader said, calling the moment a “once in a generation chance” to overthrow the Iranian regime.