President Trump said Monday it was unclear whether Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is alive following reports that he was injured in the early hours of Operation Epic Fury.
“We have not heard from the son,” Trump told reporters as he departed Palm Beach International Airport for an event in Memphis, Tenn. “We don’t know if he’s living.”
Moments earlier, the president had stated that the US was engaged in discussions that could end the Middle Eastern war “with the man who, I believe, is the most respected and the ‘leader’” of Iran.
When asked if he was referring to the younger Khamenei, Trump responded: “No.”
“[Ali] Khamenei was killed,” the president said. “Khamenei’s son is unavailable. Nobody knows what happened to him. I can say they haven’t seen him there either. Something is going on with him. But regardless, I don’t consider him really the leader, but they do have some leaders left.”
The Jerusalem Post reported soon after Trump spoke that the focal point of US-Iranian talks was Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament.
Ghalibaf, 64, previously served as the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps air force and has appeared on Iranian state TV leading lawmakers in chants of “Death to America! Death to Israel!”
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, was tapped March 8 to replace his father, 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of the joint US-Israeli bombing campaign Feb. 28.
Mojtaba Khamenei is believed to have been injured in the strike that killed his father, though reports have varied concerning the extent of his wounds.
The New York Times, citing Iranian officials, reported March 11 that the supreme leader had suffered a fractured foot, bruised eye and face lacerations.
The following day, an Iranian source claimed to The Sun that Khamenei was actually in a coma and undergoing intensive care at the Sina University Hospital in Tehran.
“One or two of his legs have been cut off. His liver or stomach has also ruptured. He is apparently in a coma as well,” the source alleged.
Since being named supreme leader, Khamenei has only issued written statements that have been read out by state TV broadcasters, raising speculation about the severity of his condition after he was a no-show at his own succession rally.
