Iran’s new supreme leader purportedly issues fresh statement as questions linger over his health

Trump says ‘we don’t know’ if Mojtaba Khamenei ‘dead or not’; leaked audio from official suggests he narrowly survived airstrikes by stepping outside, was lightly wounded

A new statement was issued in the name of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei on Monday, amid persistent questions about his whereabouts and health, as he has yet to make any public appearance since being appointed to the role.

The brief statement, carried by Iranian state media, simply said that all those previously appointed to government positions by his father, the late ayatollah Ali Khamenei, will remain in their posts and should “continue to carry on with their work.”

Khamenei also appointed the former chief of the Revolutionary Guards, General Mohsen Rezaei, as a military adviser, the Mehr news agency reported.

Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since he was chosen to replace his father, who was killed in the initial wave of US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran that started the war. Last week, a statement was issued in his name, carried by state media, vowing to “avenge the blood” of Iranians killed in the strikes.

It marked the first ostensible public statement from the younger Khamenei since he became supreme leader. State TV offered no explanation for why those remarks were read out by a presenter rather than delivered in a video or audio address.

US President Donald Trump suggested Monday that it is unclear if the new Iranian leader is alive.

“We don’t know… if he’s dead or not,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

“A lot of people are saying that he’s badly disfigured. They’re saying that he lost his leg — one leg — and he’s, you know, been hurt very badly. Other people are saying he’s dead. Nobody’s saying he’s 100 percent healthy. You know he hasn’t spoken,” he said.

“We don’t know who we’re dealing with” in Iran, Trump added. “We don’t know who their leader is.”

On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed that Khamenei “is in excellent health” and remains “in control of the situation, and present at his post.”

Two days earlier, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asserted that Khamenei is “wounded and likely disfigured.”

Iranian state media have said that Khamenei was wounded in the February 28 Israeli strike that killed his father, wife, son and brother-in-law.

Leaked audio obtained by The Telegraph and published on Monday asserted that Khamenei narrowly survived the airstrike after stepping outside his residence minutes before missiles hit the compound.

The recording purportedly features remarks by Mazaher Hosseini, head of protocol in the office of Ali Khamenei, delivered to senior clerics and commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps at a March 12 meeting in Tehran.

According to Hosseini, Mojtaba had stepped into the compound’s yard shortly before Israel struck the residence at 9:32 a.m. local time.

“God’s will was that Mojtaba had to go out to the yard to do something and then return,” Hosseini says in the recording, speaking in Persian. “He was outside and was heading upstairs when they struck the building with a missile.”

According to Hosseini, Mojtaba Khamenei sustained only “a minor injury to his leg” in the strike that killed many of his family members.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.