The IRGC-linked outlet pointed to a gap in recent footage, a reported security buildup, and other fragments of public information, but offered no proof that the Israeli prime minister was killed.
Iran’s Tasnim News Agency published a report on Monday promoting speculation that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have been killed or wounded, reviving the kind of wartime rumor that has repeatedly spread online during the current Israel-Iran conflict.
The Persian-language item did not present evidence of a strike on Netanyahu or any official confirmation of harm. Instead, it assembled a series of circumstantial points, including the absence of recent video clips of Netanyahu, reports in Hebrew-language media about tightened security around his home, the postponement of a reported visit by Jared Kushner and US special envoy Steve Witkoff, and a French readout of a call between President Emmanuel Macron and Netanyahu that did not specify the date of the conversation.
Tasnim’s report also leaned on a secondhand claim attributed to former US intelligence officer Scott Ritter, cited through Russian media, alleging that Iran had bombed Netanyahu’s hideout and that his brother had been killed. Tasnim itself noted that the speculation had not been officially confirmed or denied.
The piece fits a familiar pattern in Iranian and pro-Iranian information warfare, with real fragments of public information stitched together into a dramatic narrative, then circulated as if they point to a hidden event. Tasnim is widely described as affiliated with or close to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the US Treasury lists the outlet as linked to the IRGC.
Publicly available information undercuts the central premise of the rumor. Netanyahu delivered an official statement published by the Prime Minister’s Office on March 7, and the Israeli government’s main portal also listed him as having visited an impact site in Beersheba on March 6. Independent reports in recent days have likewise referred to his public activity, including a phone call with Macron that was reported by the Élysée and covered by The Jerusalem Post on March 5.
Iranian claims on Netanyahu dismissed as ‘fake news’
This is not the first time Iranian claims about Netanyahu’s whereabouts have surfaced during the war. Earlier in the fighting, Iranian military claims that Netanyahu’s fate was “unclear” after a purported strike were dismissed by Netanyahu’s office as “fake news,” according to Times of Israel. Xinhua also reported on March 2 that residents near Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem saw no signs of a missile impact after similar Iranian claims.
That broader context matters. During fast-moving conflicts, the absence of a new video, a vague official statement, or a change in a visiting dignitary’s schedule can quickly become raw material for conspiracy theories. Tasnim’s latest report appears to do exactly that: it offers insinuation, not proof.
In Israeli public life, security around senior leaders often shifts during wartime, and official communications are regularly issued in text form. None of that, on its own, amounts to evidence of an assassination or serious injury. As of Monday evening, no credible public source had confirmed Tasnim’s theory.