Iran appointed Mojtaba Khamenei as the new Supreme Leader of Iran last week amid a rapidly escalating war with the United States and Israel. But he has remained completely absent from public view — triggering widespread speculation about his health and whereabouts. US President Donald Trump also flagged the “rumours” on Saturday and said he was “hearing Khamenei is not alive”. Iran has pushed back vehemently against the claims and insisted the new leader was fine.

“I don’t know if he’s even alive. So far, nobody’s been able to show him. I’m hearing he’s not alive, and if he is, he should do something very smart for his country, and that’s surrender,” Trump told NBC News on Saturday.

Trump acknowledged that the reports were currently “a rumour” but noted that the new leader of Iran had remained out of view since his appointment. His remarks came a day after US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth claimed Khamenei was “wounded and likely disfigured” in the recent military strikes.

Iran pushes back

“They will see soon that there is no problem with the new supreme leader. He is performing his duties according to the constitution, and he will continue to do that,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview with MS Now on Saturday.

Somewhat confusingly, discussions about his health had first begun after Iranian state television referred to him as a “wounded veteran of the Ramadan war” soon after the election. Some analysts believe this was a subtle acknowledgement that he was injured during the strikes that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Mojtaba Khamenei was injured in Israeli strikes: Reports

Meanwhile Israeli media recently suggested that Mojtaba Khamenei was critically injured during the February 28 strikes that killed his father. According to Ynet News, Israeli intelligence officials believe Mojtaba was wounded in the opening strike of “Operation Roaring Lion.”  Two Israeli military officials later told The New York Times that intel suggested Khamenei had suffered serious leg injuries.

UK-based tabloid The Sun cited a source who ‘smuggled messages out of Tehran during an internet blackout’ to claim the Supreme Leader had lost a leg and remained in a coma. Sources cited by The Sun claimed he had “also suffered serious stomach or liver damage”. The publication claimed he was being kept within a high-security, sealed-off trauma ward at Sina University Hospital but did not specify when or how he was ‘injured’.

A source-based CNN report, meanwhile, claimed Khamenei had sustained minor injuries during the first day of strikes — including a fractured foot, bruising around his left eye, and small cuts on his face.