US President Donald Trump has issued an update on the new supreme leader of Iran amid reports he is severely injured.
Asked what his advisers are telling him about Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, Mr Trump said the new leader in Tehran could even be dead. “I’m hearing he’s not alive,” he said, “and if he is, he should do something very smart for his country, and that’s surrender,” he addded.
Rumours have spread recently regarding Khamenei’s health conditions. Initial reports suggested he was in a coma, while other indicated he had one of his legs amputated. Other rumours also suggested he had been transferred to Moscow for treatment.
Mr Trump previously said about Khamenei “I don’t know if he’s even alive. So far, nobody’s been able to show him,” while US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth claimed on Friday that the son of Ali Khamenei was “wounded and likely disfigured“.
Rumours spread Mojtaba Khamenei issued his first statement last week, but the speech was read by a news anchor and he did not appear on camera.
Yesterday (March 15), Kuwait newspaper Al-Jarida newspaper had quoted an Iranian source close to the Supreme Leader as saying that Mojtaba had been transferred to Russia for treatment and that he might return as soon as his condition improved.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, however, said in press statements published yesterday, that the Iranian Supreme Leader is “in good health and fully in control of the situation”.
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