‘Wounded and likely disfigured’: How US reacted to Mojtaba Khamenei’s first statement

US secretary of war Pete Hegseth on Friday claimed that the newly appointed Supreme Leader of Iran Mojtaba Khamenei is wounded and “likely disfigured” after being critically wounded in an air strike.In a press briefing on the ongoing conflict with Iran, Hegseth reacted to Mojtaba’s first statement amid the war, saying the absence of a voice or video message was telling.“We know the new so-called not-so-supreme leader is wounded and likely disfigured,” Hegseth said.“He put out a statement yesterday – a weak one actually – but there was no voice and no video. It was a written statement. He called for unity. Apparently, killing tens of thousands of protesters is his kind of unity.

Iran has plenty of cameras and plenty of voice recorders. Why a written statement? I think you know why. His father is dead. He’s scared, he’s injured, he’s on the run, and he lacks legitimacy. It’s a mess for them. Who’s in charge? Iran may not even know,” he added.During the press briefing, Hegseth also ridiculed, Mojtaba’s warning that Iran should continue using Strait of Hormuz as leverage in the conflict. Hegseth said that Iran has been “exercising sheer desperation in the Straits of Hormuz,”“We have been dealing with it, and don’t need to worry about it,” he said.“Of course, for decades, Iran has threatened shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. This is always what they do, hold the strait hostage,” he added.Earlier on Thursday, Iranian state TV broadcast what it claimed to be his first statement since coming into power in an attempt to cover up his condition. The statement, read out by a news anchor, said Iran would not hesitate to “avenge the blood of Iranians” who had been killed, and vowed to continue attacks on Dubai and block off the vital Strait of Hormuz.The new Iranian leader said Iran would not hesitate to retaliate for the killing of Iranian civilians. He specifically referenced the attack in the southern Iranian city of Minab, where a missile strike destroyed a girls’ school.In his remarks, the new Iranian leader also thanked Iran’s network of allied armed groups across the Middle East. He said the “resistance” movement in Yemen and armed groups in Iraq would continue to play a role in the war against Iran’s adversaries.Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Iran’s former supreme leader, assumed power after his father, Ali Khamenei, was killed in joint US-Israeli strikes on February 28.Meanwhile, soon after the statement, several media reports claimed that was in a state of coma after being critically wounded in an air strike.Sources told The Sun that Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, the second son of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, lost one leg and suffered serious stomach or liver damage. The source said Mojtaba Khamenei was under intensive care at the Sina University Hospital in Tehran’s historic quarter after a section of the building was sealed off and surrounded by massive security. He said he was not a medic but knew members of the hospital’s trauma team who told him Mojtaba was in “very serious” condition under the care of Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi.Meanwhile, Yousef Pezeshkian, the son of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and a government adviser, said that the new supreme leader is “safe and sound”.