U.S. President Donald Trump told NBC News on Saturday that he heard a “rumor” that Iranian regime leader Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ali Khamenei whom U.S. and Israeli forces assassinated on Feb. 28, is dead.
“I don’t know if he’s even alive. So far, nobody’s been able to show him,” Trump told NBC in a phone 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.”
NBC added that Trump called that news a “rumor.”
Pete Hegseth, the U.S. defense secretary, said during a Friday press conference that “we know the new so-called not-so-supreme leader is wounded and likely disfigured.”
“He put out a statement yesterday, a weak one, actually, but there was no voice and there was no video. It was a written statement. He called for unity,” Hegseth said. “Apparently killing tens of thousands of protesters is his kind of unity.”
“Iran has plenty of cameras and plenty of voice recorders, why a written statement? I think you know why. His father, dead. He’s scared. He’s injured. He’s on the run and he lacks legitimacy,” the secretary said. “It’s a mess for them. Who’s in charge? Iran may not even know.”
“With every passing hour, we know and we know they know, that the military capabilities of their evil regime are crumbling,” he added. “They can barely communicate, let alone coordinate. They’re confused and we know it.”
