Israel launches Times Square billboard against ‘evil’ Iranian leader

A billboard depicting newly-minted Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei with the message, “New generation, same terror regime” went up in New York City’s Times Square over the weekend.

“Khamenei 2.0,” reads the billboard campaign, which was sponsored by the Israeli Foreign Ministry and revealed on Saturday. It adds: “Still evil.”

“In Times Square, the message is clear: The face may slightly change, the Iranian terror regime does not,” said the ministry. “Mojtaba Khamenei continues his father’s legacy of repression, war and bloodshed.”

U.S. President Donald Trump told NBC News on Saturday that he heard a “rumor” that Khamenei, the son of Ali Khamenei whom the U.S. and Israeli eliminated on Feb. 28, was dead.

“I don’t know if he’s even alive. So far, nobody’s been able to show him,” he told NBC in an interview. “I’m hearing he’s not alive, and if he is, he should do something very smart for his country, and that’s surrender.”

The younger Khamenei in his first written statement on Thursday threatened to avenge “blood of the martyrs,” including his father.

Tehran’s revenge “is not limited to the martyrdom of the great leader of the [Islamic] Revolution alone,” the newly minted supreme leader wrote in his remarks, which were read on state TV and posted to social media.

Khamenei in the statement expressed “sincere thanks” to the Axis of Resistance, which includes Hezbollah, the Houthis, Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist groups across the Middle East and beyond.

“Cooperation between the components of the Axis of Resistance will shorten the path to overcoming the Zionist sedition,” he stated. “Brave and faithful Yemen has not ceased defending the oppressed people of Gaza; Hezbollah, despite all obstacles, has aided the Islamic Republic; and the Iraqi resistance has courageously pursued the same course.”

The regime is considering “opening other fronts where the enemy has little experience and would be highly vulnerable,” Khamenei warned, adding, “Activating them—should the state of war continue—will be undertaken in accordance with the relevant considerations.”