US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Iran's new leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is wounded and possibly crippled.
He said this during a press conference.
"We know that the new so-called not-so-supreme leader is wounded and possibly crippled," he said.
Hegseth also called the released statement by Mojtaba Khamenei "pretty weak." He emphasized that it contained neither voice nor video - it was a written statement.
"He called for unity... probably killing tens of thousands of protesters is his idea of unity," the Pentagon chief claims.
Speaking about the reasons why the Iranian leader chose a written address, Hegseth said: "I think you know why."
As a reminder, Iran's state television broadcast an address by the new leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, read out by an announcer.
Earlier, The New York Times, citing Iranian and Israeli officials, reported that Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US and Israeli strikes on the country, was wounded on the first day of the attacks, February 28.
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