Trump: New Iran supreme leader ‘probably alive in some form’

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Iran’s New Leader Mojtaba Khamenei Vows To Keep Vital Oil Trade Route Closed | 12:30 REPORT

Iran’s New Leader Mojtaba Khamenei Vows To Keep Vital Oil Trade Route Closed | 12:30 REPORT

President Trump said he believes that Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is alive. 

“I think he probably is. I think he’s damaged, but I think he’s probably alive in some form, yeah,” the president told Fox News commentator Brian Kilmeade in a interview that will air Friday morning.

Khamenei was injured during the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Tehran at the end of February that killed his wife and his father, former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. 

In his first public message since being appointed to succeed his father, the younger Khamenei warned he would “avenge the blood” of those who were killed during the strikes. 

His words were read aloud on Iranian state media by an anchor. While Khamenei’s exact condition is unknown, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at a Friday morning briefing that the U.S. believes he is “wounded and likely disfigured.”

Trump responded to Iran’s threats in his interview with Fox News, saying that the Iranian regime has “been doing a lot of talking” and Khamenei is “going to have to put up.”

“We’ll have to see because we are decimating them.” the president said. “We’ve knocked out most of their missiles. We’ve knocked out many of their drones. We knocked out a lot of the manufacturing areas where they manufacture the missiles and now the drones. We’re hitting them harder than anybody’s been hit since World War II.”

Hegseth said Friday that the U.S. military has hit around 15,000 Iranian targets since launching Operation Epic Fury with Israel on Feb. 28 and has hit or sunk over 90 Iranian vessels, including more than 30 mine-laying boats. 

The Iranian regime has responded with strikes on U.S. military operations in the Middle East, killing seven service members. Khamenei demanded that the Persian Gulf nations shutter U.S. bases stationed in their countries, adding, “otherwise, we will be forced to attack them.”

The new leader also demanded reparations for the costs incurred by his country during the ongoing strikes. 

“If the enemy refuses, we will seize as much of its assets as we deem appropriate; and if that is not possible, we will destroy an equivalent amount of its property,” Khamenei said in the statement. 

In a message on Truth Social posted just after midnight Friday, Trump threatened further attacks on the country. 

“We have unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time – Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today,” the president wrote in the post. 

“They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them,” he continued, adding, “What a great honor it is to do so!”

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