Ayatollah Khamenei : I'm Not Dead Yet (TBC)

Rumours are doing the rounds tonight about the alleged death of Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei :

According to numerous rumors, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reportedly died on October 14, 2009, of natural causes. The formal announcement is expected by some to be made tomorrow morning, October 15, 2009.

But according to recent online rumours, Kim-Jong Il, Fidel Castro and Jeff Goldblum are also dead.

Khamenei is yet to confirm rumours of his passing are greatly exaggerated.

But googling around on the subject of an ayatollah's death brought me to this incredible footage of the funeral of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989, which saw 10 million Iranians gathering to mourn their death of their leader :






The Guardian takes a look at where rumours of Khamenei's death originated, and, what a surprise, it's the work of the NeoCon King Of Disinformation, Michael Leeden :

Quoting an "excellent" but anonymous source, on Monday he wrote: "Yesterday afternoon at 2.15pm local time Khamenei collapsed and was taken to his special clinic. Nobody – except his son and the doctors – has since been allowed to get near him. His official, but secret, status is 'in the hands of the gods'."

Yesterday Ledeen repeated rumours that have been going around the Tehran Bazaar that Khamenei had died.

But Ledeen has a track record in spreading misinformation, according to the US magazine Vanity Fair, which claimed he was linked in the false reports that Saddam Hussein tried to buy yellowcake uranium in Niger – one of the main pretexts for the invasion of Iraq.

It's not the first time Leeden has worked this angle. He claimed Khamenei also died in 2007.

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