Is Ayatollah Khamenei still living?

Iran on November 17 published a picture of its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei after some unsourced reports on social media claimed that he was in a coma or had died.

In the picture, Khamenei is seen at his office talking with the Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani. The envoy was injured in Beirut in Israel’s attacks in September against Hezbollah.

False news circulated through social media in recent days which had claimed that Khamenei was in a coma. Meanwhile, other reports claimed that Khamenei had died and his son was nominated as his successor.

The photos shared on social media backing those claims were allegedly showing Khamenei lying on a hospital bed which were actually from 2014.

Meanwhile, Iran’s state media also did not address those rumors, leaving the situation unclear.

Some users even referenced an earlier New York Times report which had inferred that Khamenei was suffering from a terminal illness.

However, the New York Times later published a correction after its first report stating that there had been no credible reports on Khamenei’s health in the last two years.

Israel-based Ynet was the first to claim in its report on November 16, citing an Iran International report, that Tehran secretly chose Khamenei’s second son Mojtaba Khamenei as its next leader.

Such reports were not confirmed by credible sources.