Donald Trump does not know whether Mojtaba Khamenei is alive or not and admits an “unusual” appearance
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that it was unclear whether Iran's new leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, was still alive, given reports that he had been injured in an airstrike, Reuters reports.
“We don't know … if he's dead or not. I will say that nobody has seen him, which is unusual,” Trump said during a White House event.
After Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, was killed in the first attacks launched by the US and Israel on Iranian territory, on February 28, Tehran announced that his son, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, had been appointed as the country's successor.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said last week that the new leader was believed to have been injured in an attack.
Last Thursday, Mojtaba Khamenei delivered his first message as the new supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, but without appearing in pictures, his statement being read by a presenter on Iranian state television. Mojtaba Khamenei called for the Strait of Hormuz to remain closed, threatened US bases in the Middle East with further attacks and vowed that “the blood of the martyrs will be avenged”.
In fact, it has not been seen in public until now, since the beginning of the war.
“A lot of people say he's badly disfigured. They say he's lost his leg … and he's very badly injured. Others say he's dead,” Trump said on Monday.
Oman has tried several times to open a line of communication between the United States and Iran, but the White House has made it clear that it is not interested at this time, Reuters reported on Saturday.
“We don't know who their leader is. There are people who want to negotiate. We have no idea who they are,” Trump said.
The US-Israeli bombings in Iran mainly target nuclear facilities, ballistic missile production and launch facilities, ammunition depots, army and Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) bases, as well as locations where political and military leaders are estimated to be.
Iran is retaliating with drone and missile strikes in waves on Israel and US bases and interests in the Gulf.
Contrary to the expectations of the American president, the Iranian population did not start any uprising that would remove the current regime and allow the installation of a pro-Western regime in its place, the main objective pursued by Trump, beyond the declared elimination of the Iranian nuclear program and ballistic missiles, notes .
Former commander of the Revolutionary Guards, appointed military adviser to Mojtaba Khamenei
Earlier on Monday, Iran's new supreme leader appointed a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a military adviser, local media reported on Monday, according to AFP.
“General Mohsen Rezaei has been appointed military adviser by order of Supreme Commander Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei,” the Mehr news agency reported.
It is the first appointment made by Iran's new leader publicly announced so far.
Rezaei, 71, led the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological arm of Iran's military, from 1981 to 1997. Since then, he has held several senior positions in Iran's political system.
His predecessor in the position of military adviser to the head of state was, under Ali Khamenei, Rahim Safavi, about whom it is not clear if he still exercises his duties. Mojtaba Khamenei released a statement on Monday saying that state officials appointed by his father must continue to perform their duties.
