President Donald Trump said the U.S. has not heard from Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, and it’s not known whether he’s actually alive.
“We have not heard from the son. Every once in a while you’ll see a statement made, but we don’t know if he’s living,” Trump told reporters Monday morning.
Khamenei was reported to have been injured in the same Feb. 28 airstrike that killed his father, the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
In Khamenei’s place, Trump said the U.S. has been dealing with “a top person,” whom he did not identify, when it comes to negotiations with Iran.
“We’re dealing with the man who I believe is the most respected and the leader. It’s a little tough. We’ve wiped out everybody,” he said.
His belief that this person is Iran’s actual leader is because “things they’ve said have taken place.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier this month said Khamenei “is wounded and likely disfigured.” He also appeared to base that assessment on Khamenei’s public absence.
Many photos of Khamenei released by the Iranian government in the wake of his appointment were generated or modified by artificial intelligence, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, citing its own analysis and scholars of Iran’s visual imagery.