Iran’s foreign minister has given an update on the health of the new Supreme Leader after Donald Trump said he could be dead.
Mojtaba Khamenei replaced his father, who was killed in Israeli-US strikes at the start of the conflict - but he has not been seen since.
Mojtaba issued his first statement on the war last Thursday, but he did not appear on camera and the speech was read by a news anchor. He did not specify his condition or mention his location in the speech.
“I don’t know if he’s even alive. So far, nobody’s been able to show him,” Trump told NBC. “I’m hearing he’s not alive, and if he is, he should do something very smart for his country, and that’s surrender.”
But now Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has claimed: "The Leader of the Revolution is in full health and is fully managing the situation."
It has led to plenty of debate over his health and an Israeli assessment indicated he was wounded in the war’s opening salvo, which killed other members of his family including his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. If alive he’s likely in a secure, secret location to avoid a threatened Israeli operation to kill him.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Mojtaba Khamenei was “wounded and likely disfigured” on Friday. “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."
In Mojtaba Khamenei's statement read by the state television news anchor, he said he would avenge not just the killings of his father and other leaders by the US and Israel, but that of every Iranian who has died in this war.
“I assure everyone that we will not refrain from avenging the blood of your martyrs,” he said. “The retaliation we have in mind is not limited only to the martyrdom of the great leader of the Revolution; rather, every member of the nation who is martyred by the enemy constitutes a separate case in the file of revenge.”
He also promised to keep up attacks on Gulf Arab countries and use the effective closure of the strategic Strait of Hormuz as leverage against the US and Israel. Khamenei called on Gulf Arabs to “shut down” US bases in the region, saying protection promised by Washington was “nothing more than a lie.”
He also said Iran has studied “opening other fronts in which the enemy has little experience and would be highly vulnerable” if the war continues. He did not elaborate, but Iran has been linked to previous attacks on US, Israeli and Jewish targets around the world.
Iran issues major update on Supreme Leader's health as Trump says he may be dead
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