THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Iran's Supreme Leader has terminal cancer and could die within months US officials were told by a well-placed Iranian informant, diplomatic cables show.
Ayatollah Khamenei, the chief religious leader of Iran, who holds the final word in state affairs is a hardliner well-known to be hostile to America. Details of the health and lifestyle of the 71-year old are shrouded in secrecy.
Any credible information that he was dying would fundamentally change the diplomatic stakes in negotiations between Tehran and its Western adversaries.
The US consulate in Istanbul reported in August, 2009 that a businessman close to Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former Iranian president, that the Supreme Leader had been diagnosed with a fatal form of Leukaemia. The source said Ayatollah Rafsanjani believed his great rival would be dead in a "matter of months". >>> Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Monday, November 29, 2010
