President Donald Trump has claimed Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei may be dead, as unverified reports from anonymous sources allege he lost a leg and is in a coma following a bombing
President Donald Trump has claimed he had been told Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is “not alive,” immediately adding that if he is alive, he should surrender.
His theory about Khamenei, which emerged during a phone call with NBC News on Saturday, follows the newly installed ayatollah’s failure to appear on camera Thursday, as had been anticipated, to deliver his first statement as the embattled nation’s leader.
“I don’t know if he’s even alive. So far, nobody’s been able to show him,” Trump said during a wide-ranging phone call with NBC. “I’m hearing he’s not alive, and if he is, he should do something very smart for his country, and that’s surrender.”
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An unnamed source within the Iranian capital of Tehran reported that Khamenei, 56, allegedly lost at least one leg and sustained severe abdominal or liver injuries during a strike by the U.S. or Israel, according to The Sun.
The source provided numerous details regarding the new leader’s alleged medical condition, treatment, location and security arrangements. According to the source, he is receiving care at Sina University Hospital in the city’s historic quarter, where an area has been sealed off and heavily guarded.
Whilst Iranian state television has acknowledged Khamenei suffered injuries, the source’s claims cannot be independently verified, partly owing to Iran’s continuing internet shutdown. In an interview with the Associated Press published this morning, Türkiye’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan said he does not know the severity of the wounds but “what we know is that he is alive and functioning”.
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