Is New Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei “Disfigured” In Strikes? What Iran Said

Tehran, March 15: Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi on Saturday said that there was “no problem” with the Islamic Republic’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, as US President Donald Trump questioned whether he is alive.

Khamenei, 56, has not been seen in public since the airstrike that killed his father and former supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and other key family members. Iranian officials have previously confirmed reports that he is injured but have given no further detail. “There is no problem with the new supreme leader. He sent his message yesterday, and he will perform his duties,” Araghchi told a news channel.

Trump on Saturday said he doesn’t know if Iran’s new supreme leader is alive. “I don’t know if he’s even alive. So far, nobody’s been able to show him,” Trump told NBC News. “I’m hearing he’s not alive, and if he is, he should do something very smart for his country, and that’s surrender,” he added, but called the news of his death “a rumour.”

Trump on Thursday had said that he thinks Khamenei is alive but “damaged”. “I think he probably is (alive). I think he is damaged, but I think he’s probably alive in some form, you know,” he told Fox News. A day later, his Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, said he believed Khamenei “is wounded and likely disfigured”. “We know the new so-called, not-so-supreme leader is wounded and likely disfigured,” he told a press conference.

Mojtaba Khamenei’s First Statement
Mojtaba Khamenei on Thursday issued his first statement after becoming the new supreme leader and vowed to avenge the deaths since the start of the war with the US and Israel.

“A limited amount of this revenge has so far taken concrete form, but until it is fully achieved, this case will remain among our priorities,” Khamenei said in a statement read out by a presenter on state TV.

“We will seek compensation from the enemy, and if they refuse, we will take as much of their property as we determine, and if that is not possible, we will destroy the same amount of his property,” he added.

He also vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz shut and called on neighbouring countries to close US bases on their territory or risk Iran targeting them. The US and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran on February 28, killing 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran responded with strikes on Israel and Gulf countries with US bases.