US President Donald Trump said that it was unclear whether new Iranian leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei was still alive, given reports he had been injured in an air strike.
“We don’t know … if he’s dead or not. I will say that nobody has seen him, which is unusual,” he said during an event at the White House.
After Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, was killed in the initial strikes of the war, Tehran announced his son, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, had been named as his successor. Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said last week the new leader was believed to have been wounded in a strike. He has not been seen publicly.
“A lot of people are saying that he’s badly disfigured. They’re saying that he lost his leg … and he’s been hurt very badly. Other people are saying he’s dead,” Trump said.
