President Trump told NBC News tonight that the new Supreme Leader of Iran may in fact be dead, with Trump saying “I’m hearing he’s not alive.”
Here’s what he told them:
The president on Saturday questioned whether Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is alive after Khamenei did not appear on camera to issue his first statement as Iran’s leader on Thursday.
In a written statement, Khamenei, the son of slain predecessor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed to keep blocking the Strait of Hormuz and attacking U.S. allies in the region.
“I don’t know if he’s even alive. So far, nobody’s been able to show him,” Trump said on the phone Saturday.
“I’m hearing he’s not alive, and if he is, he should do something very smart for his country, and that’s surrender,” Trump added, but called the news of his death “a rumor.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday said that the younger Khamenei was “wounded and likely disfigured” and called his written statement a “weak one.”
I’d be surprised if her Khamenei is still alive. Iran put a huge target on his back by going ahead and making him Supreme Leader. If he is still alive, he won’t be for much longer.