US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he believes Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is still alive, contradicting earlier claims by Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the Iranian leader had been killed.
“I don’t think he’s dead,” Trump said in an interview with conservative radio host Glenn Beck. He said Khamenei had been “very seriously wounded,” particularly on the left side of his body, including his arm and leg, but maintained that he did not believe the Iranian leader had died.
Trump and Netanyahu had previously declared Khamenei dead in February after Israel and the United States launched an unprecedented military strike against Iran.
“Khamenei, one of the most evil people in history, is dead,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform at the time.
Netanyahu similarly said in a televised address that a surprise strike had destroyed Khamenei’s compound in Tehran and that there were “many signs” the Iranian leader was no longer alive.
The strikes triggered a barrage of Iranian missile attacks, sending residents scrambling for shelter in cities across the Middle East.
