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 Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was wounded during the Feb. 28 airstrike that killed his father, Ali Khamenei, and his wife.
Some reports claim Mojtaba Khamenei may have been seriously injured in the strike. One source told a British tabloid that he could be in a coma and may have lost both legs while also suffering extensive internal injuries. Those claims have not been independently confirmed.
Another source claimed the cleric suffered only minor injuries during the initial wave of airstrikes, 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 delivered in a lengthy message broadcast on Iranian state television Thursday, where an anchor read the remarks while an image of Khamenei was displayed on screen.
“Well, they’ve been doing a lot of talking, so he’s going to have to put up,” Trump said of 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 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.”
Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz will stay closed until the war is over, according to a new statement issued on Thursday by Khamenei. A news anchor on Iranian state television read the message regarding the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial route through which a large portion of the world’s oil passes.
Khamenei also instructed Gulf neighbors to evacuate American military installations from their countries. In reaction to the United States’ Operation Epic Fury, Iran has been firing at nations throughout the Middle East on several occasions.
The statement was made without Mojtaba Khamenei being present.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Thursday that officials were considering a temporary Jones Act waiver to “ensure vital energy products” flow to U.S. ports.
Such a move, Leavitt explained, would take away the “sting” that Iran is hoping to deliver by blocking oil from leaving the Strait of Hormuz.
“In the interest of national defense, the White House is considering waiving the Jones Act for a limited period of time to ensure vital energy products and agricultural necessities are flowing freely to U.S. ports. This action has not been finalized,” Leavitt said.
Also, Trump acknowledged that there are terrorist “sleeper cells” in the United States that need to be monitored and dealt with, but he praised the prompt prosecution of the 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 president in the history of our country — and we’ve got our eyes on all of them,” the president added.
“But the war itself is being prosecuted at a level that nobody has seen before,” Trump continued.