Israel has warned Iran‘s new Supreme Leader it ‘knows where he is’ after Donald Trump suggested he might already be dead.
Mojtaba Khamenei was wounded in US-Israeli strikes and has not been seen since the start of the war prompting wild speculation over his condition.
A statement attributed to the Iranian leader was read out on state TV last Thursday to stifle rumours that he was killed after his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was assassinated. But he was not seen.
Mr Trump responded by fanning the flames over the weekend, telling NBC News: ‘I don’t know if he’s even alive. So far, nobody’s been able to show him.’
He said he had heard a ‘rumour’ of his death, adding: ‘I’m hearing he’s not alive, and if he is, he should do something very smart for his country, and that’s surrender…
‘Some of them think he’s alive but very badly wounded.’
But on Sunday night, an Israeli security official told the Daily Mail bluntly: ‘We know where he is.’
It comes as supposed Iranian sources have pushed conspiracy theories that Khamenei, 56, was smuggled out the country to Russia for treatment on the orders of Vladimir Putin.
An Israeli security official offered a chillingly brief assessment to the Daily Mail, stating simply: ‘We know where he is.’ (pictured: Benjamin Netanyahu – Prime Minister of Israel)
One newspaper quoted ‘regime insiders’ bizarrely suggesting a ‘secret operation’ was launched last week and the Supreme Leader is now recovering in a private hospital in Moscow.
Others have peddled false claims that Benjamin Netanyahu has died from a heart attack.
The Israeli security official said: ‘I recommend not following every report Iran puts out.’
The Ayatollah was killed by US missiles on the first day of the war and speculation over the whereabouts of his son is only spiralling as the conflict enters its third week.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi gave an interview to The New Arab in which he said: ‘The leader of the revolution is in good health and is fully managing the situation.’
Security expert Professor Anthony Glees said: ‘At times of war, the dark arts will play a significant part as the weapon of choice on all sides.
‘But the really big thing is that Mojtaba has not been seen, and that suggests to me that the regime may well be in trouble.
‘It would be such an easy thing to show him alive and well, and that would be the most powerful propaganda message of all that in the third week of the war Israel and the US have failed to cut the head off the snake, as it were.
‘However, I have still not seen the smoking gun to suggest that this regime is on the verge of collapse.’
Avner Vilan, a former senior security official in Israel and expert on Iran, added: ‘The whereabouts and condition of Khamenei are a strategic asset for both sides.
‘Neither side would want to share information publicly, and both may make efforts to create false impressions about his condition and location.
‘They did admit quickly that the Ayatollah was killed, but not the son.
How much should we trust official reports about leaders’ lives during wartime chaos and propaganda?
Last Thursday, a statement from Iran’s new leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was broadcast on state TV in an attempt to quash reports that he had been killed alongside his father
‘It’s unlikely Iran would elect Khamenei Jr if he were already dead, because eventually they would have to admit both Supreme Leaders were killed during this conflict – which would not project strength.’
Even if Israel and the US believe they have taken out Khamenei they would want to ensure they are 100 per cent certain before publicly declaring it.
Most notably it took Israel two weeks to declare the assassination of Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif in August 2024.
Deif was dubbed ‘The Cat with Nine Lives’ after repeatedly thwarting multiple assassination attempts and Hamas only admitted he had been killed six months later.
Likewise, after the IDF killed October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar in Gaza in October 2024, despite a picture of his dead body going viral they took his remains for DNA testing before confirming his death.
On Sunday, Israel posted a rogues’ gallery showing all 16 of the senior Iranian officials they assassinated on the opening day of the war.
It shows the faces of the Ayatollah alongside his top military, intelligence and defence officials with the word ‘eliminated’ branded above their heads.
Among them are Mohammed Shirazai, Head of the Military Bureau, Jalali Pour Hossein, Head of the Espionage Directorate, Abd al-Rahim Mousavi, Chief of the General Staff of the Iranian Army, and Mohammad Fakhpour, Commander of the IRGC.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Mr Netanyahu mocked fake news that he had died from a heart attack by filming himself calmly sipping a coffee in Tel Aviv.
He told supporters: ‘They say I’m dead? I’m dying for a coffee.’