Last week noted wingnut media blog, Pajamas Media, was reporting that the Supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei was either dead or dying.

A source close to Pajamas Media has learned that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has apparently succumbed to the cancer that hospitalized him last month, as exclusively reported by Pajamas Media, at age 67. He has been Iran’s most powerful figure since replacing Ayatollah Khameini in the role of Supreme Leader in 1989.

Well today, the Washington Post lays this unsubstantiated rumor to rest with this report:

(Update at end of diary)

On Monday [today], Khamenei addressed hundreds of citizens of Qom, a holy city 80 miles south of Tehran, who gathered outside his residence in the city center.

Speaking from a first-story balcony, Khamenei reiterated that Iran would never back down on its enrichment of uranium, a process that produces the ingredients for nuclear reactors as well as weapons. Last month, the U.N. Security Council imposed limited trade sanctions on Iran because it refused to halt enrichment.

“The Iranian nation undoubtedly won’t give up its (nuclear) rights,” Khamenei told the crowd in a hoarse voice. “The officials of the Islamic republic don’t have the right to give up the rights of the Iranian nation.”

An Iranian photographer said Khamenei coughed a few times during his speech, a part of which was broadcast on state television.

“He appeared to be healthy. He only coughed a few times,” photographer Saman Aghvami told The Associated Press.

Khamenei coughed a few times? Well we all know what that means: no retraction from Pajamas Media or Michael Ledeen for their poorly sourced story and incredibly moronic speculation. Accountability only applies to organizations like the Associated Press, and liberal blogs, after all.

In fact, Pajamas Media were the only ones reporting this spurious story, which apparently relied upon a single source who told this amazing scoop to the infamous Michael Ledeen, the PJ boys’ newest addition to their cast of second tier conservative pundits, shakers and movers. No other major news outlet reported on Khamenei’s alleged demise, though the conservative blogs went wild with joy that God had struck down the heathen leader of another member of the Axis of Evil. Indeed, here’s the last update I found on the Pajamas Media site regarding this story:

UPDATE FROM MICHAEL LEDEEN (Fri. Jan 5):

The source still insists Khamenei is dead, but I cannot find any direct or indirect confirmation. To my knowledge only one person says Khamenei is dead. That said, the regime would have every reason to keep the fact secret, and Khamenei’s physical condition has certainly been grave. In addition to the reports of his emergency hospitalization, his message to the Islamic Community on the Eid festival was released, not publicly read, as he had always done in the past. He has made no public appearances for several days, and Persian web sites have declared—several days ago now—that he cannot carry out his responsibilities and will have to be replaced. The struggle for succession is well under way.

Poor Ayatollah Khamenei. He refuses to die, and let Michael Leddeen speculate to his heart’s content about the power struggle for the position of Supreme Leader of Iran. How rude of him. And how idiotic of Pajamas Media to run with this story in the first place.

Indeed, it’s been a bad week for the right wingnutosphere. The existence of Iraqi police captain Jamil Hussein was admitted by Iraq’s interior Ministry, after their earlier denials had led to a feeding frenzy by Michelle Malkin and others regarding his use by the Associated Press as a source for their stories from Baghdad. Then the “Lonely Kerry” picture from the Senator’s recent trip to Iraq, which conservative blogs tried to demonstrate showed that the troops hated Kerry so much they refused to sit down to eat with him, was exposed as so much horse manure. Now the alleged death of Iran’s Supreme Leader heralded by Pajamas Media has been proven to be indisputably false.

I guess that’s what’s we can now call hitting the trifecta, eh?

Update [2007-1-8 12:50:44 by Steven D]: Here’s Michael Ledeen’s latest reaction at Pajamas Media to the reports that Khamenei is alive and well and spoke at Qom today:

I spoke to some Iranian friends in Europe who have spoken to people in Tehran (not Qom, Tehran). They say that there is no credible first-hand account of Khamenei speaking in public today, and they add that there is no photograph evidence of such an event, which would seem to be pretty easy to provide (for that matter, you’d think they could manufacture such “evidence” wouldn’t you? I would). They say there is nothing on Iranian tv showing Khamenei actually speaking, and they say that the “AP photographer” has not been identified to their knowledge. They believe that the tv broadcast of today is a montage, not real coverage.

There is one point that might get lost in all the excitement, which is political. I have no dog in this fight. I am not “rooting” either for Khamenei’s death or good health. I am trying to get this right, because it might be important, it might have consequences for the future of Iran and our own future. Of course, it also might not. If Khamenei is dead, the chances are that the regime leaders will fight it out and name a successor, and the oppression of the Iranian people and the war against the West will continue apace.

Which is what matters most.

Still in denial. Well, I’m sure Ledeen’s friends are far more credible than Reuters, AP and the Washington Post. We all know how unreliable they are compared to Pajamas Media and the great Michael Ledeen. Have to admit, though, that this line of his is a howler: I have no dog in this fight.

Yeah, right. The man who originated the “Khamenei is dead” story has no dog in this hunt. And bears don’t shit in the woods, either.