DID IRAN'S SUPREME LEADER DIE TODAY?

A few sources in the Middle East are starting to claim that Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, died today, although there is nothing up on Al Jazeera yet. Reports surfaced yesterday that he was gravely ill, possibly with cancer. He has been Supreme Leader since the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989. If he is indeed dead, or deemed dead enough to not be able to serve as Supreme Leader, there are 3 possibilities thought of as the most probable replacements: his son Mjtaba, ex-president Rafsanjani (a reformer, viewed by some as a moderate) and Gholam Ali Mesbah Yazdi, the most extremist ayatollah on the block (spiritual father of Ahmadinejad), almost as extremist in Iranian politics as a Cheney or DeLay would be in the U.S.


UPDATE: IRANIANS SAY KHAMENEI IS STILL RATTLING AROUND

Sorry, it looks like I was too quick to jump on unsubstantiated rumors about his death. "Javad Zarif, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, told United Press International, 'There is no truth to that' when asked about the reports. The rumor, according to usually suspect NeoCon sources, is all over Tehran but people may just be mixing up the Supreme Leader's cancer diagnosis with actual death. Of course, the cancer diagnosis could be a NeoCon rumor too.