War Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed President Donald Trump’s comments, doubting Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, can lead the country.
In a Pentagon press briefing on Friday morning, Hegseth boasted of the U.S.’s degradation of Iran’s capabilities, specifically targeting the confusion around the lack of signs of life from Khamenei.
“Iran’s leadership is in no better shape, desperate and hiding. They’ve gone underground, cowering. That’s what rats do,” Hegseth said. “We know the new so-called, not-so-supreme leader is wounded and likely disfigured.”
He noted that Khamenei put out his first statement as leader on Thursday, but only a written one that was read on state TV. Hegseth derided the inaugural statement as “a weak one, actually.”
“Iran has plenty of cameras and plenty of voice recorders. Why a written statement? I think you know why? His father’s dead, he’s scared, he’s injured, he’s on the run, and he lacks legitimacy. It’s a mess for them,” Hegseth continued.
He questioned who was actually running Iran, and said the government was “barely” able to communicate, “let alone coordinate,” due to the U.S.-Israeli onslaught.
Trump gave similar details on Thursday, indicating that U.S. intelligence wasn’t even completely sure he was alive.
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“I think he probably is,” he told Fox News Radio host Brian Kilmeade when asked if he thought the new supreme leader was alive. “I think he’s damaged, but I think he’s probably alive in some form.”
Khamenei is an opaque figure, with almost no footage existing of him, in stark contrast to his media-savvy father. Speculation around his whereabouts and the process by which he was selected is rife, with reports circulating that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps pushed his appointment through despite lacking the typical qualifications.