Irans new supreme leader is wounded and likely disfigured, Hegseth says

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth ridiculed Iran’s leadership Friday — claiming the theocracy’s “rat”-like executives had “gone underground” and that new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is “likely disfigured.”“Iran’s leadership is in no better shape, desperate and hiding.They’ve gone underground, cowering.

That’s what rats do,” Hegseth jeered at a press conference.“We know the new so-called not-so-supreme leader is wounded and likely disfigured,” he added.The Secretary of War zeroed in on how Khamenei failed to appear in the flesh a day earlier as the 56-year-old’s first statement since being appointed as supreme leader was read out on Iranian state TV.“He put our statement yesterday — a weak one, actually — but there was no voice and there was no video.

It was a written statement,” Hegseth said.“Iran has plenty of cameras and plenty of voice recorders.

Why a written statement? I think you know why?” he continued.“His father dead, he’s scared, he’s injured, he’s on the run and he lacks legitimacy.

It’s a mess for them.Who’s in charge?”In his noticeable absence from public view, reports have been circulating that Khamenei was severely wounded in the US-Israeli strikes on Feb.

28 that killed his father, wife and other family members.President Trump speculated Thursday that Khamenei was “probably alive” but may have been wounded during Operation Epic Fury after one source told The Sun the supreme leader was actually in a coma. Although Hegseth claimed Iran’s leaders are underground, videos posted online Friday showed many top leaders marching in Tehran for Quds Day, an annual pro-Palestinian event — including President Masoud Pezeshkian, foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, national security adviser Ali Larijani and Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, according to Israeli, Turkish and Arab news outlets....