United States President Donald Trump said that he thinks new Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is alive but “damaged.”
Khamenei, whose father, the former supreme leader, was killed on the first day of the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran, has not been seen by Iranians since his selection on Sunday by a clerical assembly, and his first comments were read out by a television presenter on Thursday, March 12, 2026.
“I think he probably is (alive). I think he is damaged, but I think he’s probably alive in some form, you know,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Thursday.
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In Khamenei’s first comments, he vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz shut and called on neighbouring countries to close U.S. bases on their territory or risk Iran targeting them.
The U.S. and Israel began attacks on Iran on February 28. Iran has responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf countries with U.S. bases.
As the war approached the two-week mark, having killed thousands and shaken financial markets, the leaders of Iran, Israel, and the United States all voiced defiance and have vowed to fight on.
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