President Donald Trump said he believes Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is “probably alive,” though he suggested the leader may have been wounded during Operation Epic Fury.
Mojtaba Khamenei has not made any public appearances, and Iranian authorities have not released new images of him since he was appointed supreme leader earlier this week following the death of his father, Ali Khamenei.
“I think he probably is. I think he’s damaged, but I think he’s probably alive in some form,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News Radio host Brian Kilmeade.
Reports citing Iranian sources say Mojtaba Khamenei was wounded during the Feb. 28 airstrike that killed his father and his wife.
Some reports claim he may have been seriously injured. One source told a British tabloid that he could be in a coma, may have lost both legs, and suffered extensive internal injuries. These claims have not been independently confirmed.
Another source said the cleric suffered only minor injuries during the airstrike, including a fractured foot, a bruised eye, and facial lacerations.
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, later issued his first statement as Iran’s new supreme leader, vowing to close the Strait of Hormuz and avenge the death of his father, as well as “every member of the nation who is martyred by the enemy.”
The statement was broadcast on Iranian state television Thursday. An anchor read the remarks while showing an image of Khamenei on screen.
“Well, they’ve been doing a lot of talking, so he’s going to have to put up,” Trump said about the new leader’s message during his appearance on The Brian Kilmeade Show.
“We’ll have to see because we are decimating them,” the president continued. “We’ve knocked out most of their missiles. We’ve knocked out many of their drones. We’ve knocked out a lot of the manufacturing areas where they make the missiles and drones. We’re hitting them harder than anybody’s been hit since World War II.”
Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the war ends, according to a new statement issued Thursday by Khamenei. The strait is a key route for global oil shipments.
Khamenei also instructed Gulf nations to evacuate American military installations from their territories. In response to Operation Epic Fury, Iran has launched attacks across the Middle East on several occasions. The statement was issued without Mojtaba Khamenei being physically present.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that officials are considering a temporary waiver of the Jones Act to ensure vital energy products reach U.S. ports.
Leavitt explained that such a waiver would mitigate the impact Iran hopes to cause by blocking oil exports from the Strait of Hormuz.
“In the interest of national defense, the White House is considering waiving the Jones Act for a limited period to ensure vital energy products and agricultural necessities flow freely to U.S. ports. This action has not been finalized,” Leavitt said.
Trump also mentioned the presence of terrorist “sleeper cells” in the United States that require monitoring, while praising the speed and effectiveness of the U.S. military campaign against Iran.
“A lot of people came in through Biden with his stupid open border, but we know where most of them are. We’ve got our eye on all of them, I think,” Trump said.
“They came in through the open-border policies of Sleepy Joe Biden, one of the worst — the worst presidents in U.S. history — and we’ve got our eyes on all of them,” he added.
“But the war itself is being prosecuted at a level that nobody has seen before,” Trump concluded.
