Rumors: Iran Dictator Khamenei Has Died

Social media is ablaze with rumors that Iranian dictator Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has died. Iranian state-media has yet to confirm or deny such rumors.

Cairo-based journalist Gamal Sultan wrote on social media that Khamenei died after suffering from a bout with prostate cancer, after surgery failed to alter the course of his demise, according to Rassd News Network.

Middle East blogger Daniel J. Levy wrote on Twitter late Saturday: “Hearing unconfirmed reports from a usually very reliable source of Ayatollah Khamenei’s death today.”

On Friday, Iranian media confirmed that “The commander of the Islamic Revolution, Ali Khamenei, his health deteriorated on Friday morning, and was admitted to a Tehran hospital,” reported Al Bawaba News.

Reports on Thursday revealed that the “Supreme Leader” may have been hospitalized and was said to be in critical condition, according to Israel Hayom. Khamenei, 75, was reportedly rushed to the hospital due to complications from his ongoing bout with cancer.

France’s Le Figaro released a report regarding the Ayatollah’s health last week. Citing intelligence sources, the paper estimated that Khamenei only had two years left to live, due to his cancer reaching stage four and spreading throughout the entirety of his body. Iranian media confirmed last year that Khamenei was hospitalized due to complications with his cancer.

Since 1989, Khamenei has ruled over the ancient Persian country with an iron fist, succeeding his predecessor, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in instituting Islamic law over Iran.

Khamenei is perhaps best known for his vicious crackdown of the 2009 Iranian Green Movement, which saw millions take to the streets in protest of the dictatorial regime. In order to shut down the protests, and instill fear upon the population, Khamenei’s forces took to the streets and killed dozens of peaceful demonstrators, while arresting thousands within the political opposition.

Khamenei has wrecked countless American lives while heading the world’s largest promulgator of Islamic terrorism.

In 1983 and 1984, while he was President of Iran under Khomeini, Khamenei oversaw the Iran-backed killings of hundreds of American servicemen in Lebanon.

Iran continued to target American soldiers during the United States’ most recent war in Iraq. American officials believe that Iran was primarily responsible for supplying IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) to jihadist groups during the war. The explosive devices, many of which were utilized as booby traps and roadside bombs, killed many American soldiers.

The rumors concerning Khamenei’s possible death come at the end of the Jewish holiday of Purim, which commemorates the thwarting of a Persian plot meant to destroy the empire’s Jews. The Book of Esther states that Haman, who served as a minister to who is believed to be King Xerxes I, planned to slaughter all of Persia’s Jews, but his plot collapsed after Mordecai and Esther exposed it.

History has shown that a country’s power structure is most vulnerable when its leadership appears to be in a state of transience. It remains to be seen whether Iran’s dissidents will seize the moment of uncertainty and rise up in an attempt to take their country back from its Caliphatist despots.