President Donald Trump said that he thinks new Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, whose father, the former supreme leader, was killed on the first day of the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran, is alive but “damaged.”
Khamenei has not been seen by Iranians since his selection on Sunday by a clerical assembly, and his first comments were read out by a television presenter on Thursday.
“I think he probably is (alive). I think he is damaged, but I think he’s probably alive in some form, you know,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News’ “The Brian Kilmeade Show.”
His remarks were published by Fox News late on Thursday.
In Khamenei’s first comments, he vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz shut and called on neighboring countries to close U.S. bases on their territory or risk Iran targeting them.
The U.S. and Israel began attacks on Iran on Feb. 28. Iran has responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf countries with U.S. bases.
As the war approached the two-week mark, having killed thousands and shaken financial markets, the leaders of Iran, Israel and the United States all voiced defiance and have vowed to fight on.
