US President Donald Trump raised questions in an interview with NBC News on Saturday about the fate of Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of slain former Iranian leader Ali Khamenei.
“I don't know if he's even alive. So far, nobody has been able to show him,” Trump said.
“I hear he's not alive, and if he's alive, he should do something very smart for his country, which is turn himself in,” Trump added, before describing reports of his death as a “rumor.”
Earlier on Thursday evening, Trump said that Mojtaba Khamenei “is probably alive in some form” but “I think he is affected”.
Later on Friday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Mojtaba “is injured, probably disfigured”.
Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since the start of the Middle East war. He was elected supreme leader on March 8 following the killing of his father in US and Israeli attacks. His election was made with the support of the Revolutionary Guards, the paramilitary force of Iran's Islamic regime.
Khamenei issued his first statement on Thursday, which was read by an Iranian television host instead of speaking to the cameras.
An Iranian official told Reuters that the new supreme leader was slightly wounded but continued to serve, after state television described him as war-wounded.
