Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has been wounded and possibly maimed, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegsett said on Monday, casting doubt on Khamenei's ability to lead the country after nearly two weeks of US and Israeli attacks on Iran.
No photos of Khamenei have been released since the Israeli strike at the beginning of the war, which killed most of his family, including his father and wife.
Mojtaba Khamenei's first comments came in a statement read by a television presenter yesterday. In it, he pledged to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed and called on neighboring countries to close US bases on their territory or risk Iran striking their targets.
"We know that the new so-called, and not so much supreme leader, is wounded and probably disfigured. He issued a statement yesterday. Weak, actually, but there was no voice or video. It was a written statement. Iran has a lot of cameras and a lot of voice recording devices. So why a written statement? I think you know why. His father - dead. He's scared, wounded, on the run and has no legitimacy," Hegseth said at the briefing.
An Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday that the newly appointed supreme leader was slightly injured but was still carrying out his duties, after state television described him as wounded in the war.
Hegseth was joined at the briefing by General Dan Kaine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and they highlighted US military strikes aimed at destroying Iran's missile and drone capabilities, as well as its navy.
"Without mercy"
During the briefing, Hegseth said that the United States of America (US) would show no mercy in war.
"We will continue to apply pressure, to push forward, to advance. No mercy, no spare for our enemy," Hegseth said.
Reuters reports that the term "without mercy" means refusing to spare the life of someone who has expressed an intention to surrender - which is prohibited by law.
"International humanitarian law prohibits the use of such practices, namely ordering that there should be no survivors, threatening an adversary with this, or conducting hostilities on this basis," the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.
Hegseth has set out to reshape the top of the military justice system, replacing the chief legal officers of the Army, Navy and Air Force, according to Reuters.
The US has carried out strikes on more than 6.000 targets in Iran in the past 14 days. Nearly two weeks of US-Israeli bombing have killed about 2.000 people in Iran.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Pentagon was sending an additional warship, along with Marines aboard, to the Middle East. The Pentagon had previously said additional troops would be sent to the region.
But despite the US attacks on Iran, new Iranian drones have been reported to have flown towards Kuwait, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman.
In addition, six US military personnel were killed on Friday when a US military refueling plane crashed in western Iraq, in an incident that the US said involved another plane but was not the result of enemy or friendly fire.
Since the US and Israel began carrying out strikes on Iran on February 28, 11 American soldiers have been killed.
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