Donald Trump says Mojtaba Khamenei isn’t dead, but ‘very seriously wounded’ as Iran war drags on

As the mystery regarding the whereabouts of Mojtaba Khamenei continues, US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday (local time) that he believes Iran’s Supreme Leader is still alive, but had suffered serious injuries in American strikes that began earlier this year.

Trump’s remarks came during an interview with US commentator Glenn Beck. However, the 80-year-old Republican leader said Iran is maintaining an ‘elaborate deception’ if Mojtaba is incapacitated or has died.

“I don’t think he’s dead,” Trump said. “He was very seriously wounded. The left side of his body, the arm, the leg, the whole thing. He was very seriously wounded, but I don’t think he’s dead.”

“If he is, they’re putting on a pretty good show because they talk about, you know, going back to talk to him all the time… to get a final blessing on things. But, you know, you make a deal with them, it’s like–not to be–it’s not the most honorable group. I will tell you that,” he added.

56-year-old Mojtaba was made Iran’s Supreme Leader after his father and predecessor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a joint US-Israel strike in Tehran on February 28. However, Mojtaba has not made a public appearance since then; although Iranian media and the authorities have released his videos time to time. 

Trump earlier had claimed that Mojtaba had died, but later retracted and said that he was severely wounded. Further, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that communication with Mojtaba has become extremely difficult, which only fueled speculations regarding his death.

“It is very difficult to communicate with him at the moment, but in any case, his presence is a very great source of strength for us so that we can continue,” Pezeshkian had said, according to AFP. “Unfortunately, the current situation allows some malicious people to describe him differently and to present a different image of him.”

Later, Pezeshkian met Mojtaba, but the whereabouts about the meeting was not revealed. “Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian met Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and spoke with him at the start of his third year in the presidency,” Mojtaba’s office had said in a statement.

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