Trump Says Mojtaba Khamenei Alive ‘In Some Form’

Washington:

US President Donald Trump believes Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s newly appointed Supreme Leader, is still alive “in some form,” despite not being seen publicly since taking office after the war began in Iran. Trump’s remarks came after a US media report claimed that Khamenei was injured in US-Israeli strikes that killed his father during a Tehran compound attack on February 28 and was possibly in a coma.

“I think he probably is. I think he is damaged, but I think he’s probably alive in some form, you know,” Trump said, speaking to the Brian Kilmeade Show on Fox News Radio. The interview was taped on Thursday to air on Friday morning.

The US president’s comments followed Mojtaba Khamenei’s first public statement since taking office, where he signalled Iran would not back down in the war with the United States and Israel.

“We will not refrain from avenging the blood of your martyrs,” Khamenei said in an address to the Iranians. He also said Iran should close the Strait of Hormuz and keep attacking its Gulf Arab neighbours as leverage and called on people in Gulf countries to “shut down” US bases, saying promised US protection is “nothing more than a lie”.

Mojtaba Khamenei In A Coma?

Amid rumours about his condition following recent strikes, a report by The Sun claimed that the 56-year-old cleric has lost at least one leg and has also suffered serious stomach or liver damage in the strikes that killed his wife, one of his sisters, his niece and his father, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Earlier, an Iranian ambassador said Khamenei was injured in the war’s opening salvo. “I have heard that he was injured in his legs and hand and arm… I think he is in the hospital because he is injured,” Ambassador Alireza Salarian said earlier this week.
Khamenei has not appeared in public since the start of the war. His first public statement, pledging to fight on, was also not delivered in person on TV or even in a video recording.