U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered a startling assessment on Friday, claiming that Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei is wounded and “likely disfigured” following the devastating military strikes in the country.
The statement comes in the wake of “Operation Epic Fury”, a joint U.S.-Israeli campaign that resulted in the death of the previous leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on February 28.
The claims regarding the health of Mojtaba Khamenei, who was formally elevated to the position by the Assembly of Experts on March 8, intensified after he failed to appear for his first official address.
Instead of a televised speech, a written statement was read by an anchor on state media, a move Hegseth viewed as proof that Iran’s Supreme leader is allegedly wounded.
“Iran’s leadership is in no better shape, desperate and hiding. They’ve gone underground, cowering. That’s what rats do. We know the new so-called not-so supreme leader is wounded and likely disfigured,” Hegseth told reporters during a press briefing at the Pentagon.
“He put out a statement yesterday. A weak one, actually, but there was no voice. And there was 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,” Hegseth added.
Speaking further, Hegseth declared on Friday that “today will be yet again the highest volume of strikes that America has put over the skies of Iran and Tehran.”
“The number of sorties, the number of bomber pulses, the highest yet, ramping up and only up,” he said.
“Iran has no air defenses. Iran has no air force. Iran has no navy,” Hegseth said earlier.
“Their missiles, their missile launchers, and drones are being destroyed or shot out of the sky. Their missile volume is down 90%. Their one way attack drones yesterday, down 95%.”
“And as the world is seeing, they are exercising sheer desperation in the Straits of Hormuz. It’s something we’re dealing with. We have been dealing with it and don’t need to worry about it. We’re on a plan to defeat, destroy, and disable all of their meaningful military capabilities at a pace the world has never seen before,” Hegseth also said.
He also stated that the administration of United States President Donald Trump is taking an “opposite approach” with its mission in Iran compared to the foreign policy under previous U.S. administrations.
“I’ve addressed this before, and I think it’s worth saying again, mission creep or expansive missions or prolonged timelines or democracy building or nation building, you name it, has not been part of what President Trump wants us to be involved in,” Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon.
“We’re solving for something here. This particular mission set, but also recognizing this country’s conditioning to previous leaders, whether it’s George W. Bush or Barack Obama, or Joe Biden, who had these expansive, nebulous mission sets that kept changing all the time.
“So the timeline kept moving, and we kept pouring more troops in and on the ground. And then pretty soon, everyone wonders, like I did in Afghanistan in 2012, what’s our mission here? I’m not clear what it is.”
“We’re taking the opposite approach here and saying we’ve defined these objectives. We’re pursuing those objectives. The president has his hand on the throttle and will ultimately decide when they’ve been reached, which serves the purposes of the United States of America. American interests first,” he added.
