Hegseth: New Iranian ‘Supreme Leader is Wounded, Likely Disfigured’

Hegseth: New Iranian ‘Supreme Leader is Wounded, Likely Disfigured’

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told the media that the new Iranian Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is injured.

Hegseth said:

We know the new so called, not so Supreme Leader is wounded and likely disfigured. He put out a statement yesterday, a weak one, actually, but there was no voice and there was no video. It was a written statement. He called for unity. Apparently killing tens of thousands of protesters is his kind of unity.

Iran has plenty of cameras and plenty of voice recorders. Why a written statement? I think you know why.

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? Iran may not even know.

.@SecWar: “We know the new, so-called (not so) Supreme Leader is wounded — and likely disfigured.” pic.twitter.com/3LtUBVimjp

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 13, 2026

Mojtaba, son of Ali Khamenei, vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed.

“We will not refrain from avenging the blood of the martyrs,” he claimed.

No one seems to know Khamenei’s location or what has happened to him. The New York Times reported that his legs are injured.

Is Khamenei even alive?

Hegseth reiterated that the U.S. and Israel have destroyed Iran’s military.

“Iran has no air defenses,” Hegseth declared. “Iran has no air force. Iran has no navy. Their missiles, their missile launchers, and drones are being destroyed or shot out of the sky.”

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine relayed that Iran will witness the heaviest kinetic fires today:

As the Secretary said, today will be our heaviest day of kinetic fires across the operating area. CENTCOM continues to attack ballistic missile and drone capabilities so that they are no longer a threat to U.S. forces, our bases, or our partners. They’re continuing to destroy the Iranian Navy to ensure freedom of navigation, and this means going after Iran’s mine laying capability and destroying their ability to attack commercial vessels. And we’re targeting their defense industrial base so they cannot rebuild the capabilities that can harm America’s interests or our partners in the future.

As Admiral Cooper said in his update on Wednesday, Iranian combat power continues to decline as a result of the continued strikes. As the Secretary talked about, we’ve attacked over 6,000 targets, and our strike packages continue to launch every hour, and we’ve maintained an unprecedented number of sorties up overhead of Iran. CENTCOM is now persistently over the enemy, and as a result, we’ve seen a reduction in missile and one way attack fires.

As the Secretary said, in less than two weeks, we’ve rendered the Iranian Navy combat ineffective and continue to attack naval vessels, including all of their Soleimani class warships, which were armed with anti-ship missiles and anti-aircraft weapons. We’ve made progress, but Iran still has the capability to harm friendly forces and commercial shipping, and our work on this effort continues.

But I want to make something clear. The only thing preventing commercial traffic and flow through the Straits right now, which there is some traffic the Straits is, is Iran. They are the belligerents here, holding the Straits closed. Although there is some traffic moving through there, we’ve made it a priority to target Iran’s mine laying enterprise, their mine layers, the naval bases and depots, in addition to the missiles that could influence the straits. And CENTCOM continues to attack those efforts, and we continue to make progress on the industrial base, to include factories, weapons, warehouses that are stored in and we will continue to do so in the coming days, especially today.

Gen. Dan Caine: "Today will be our heaviest day of kinetic fires across the operating area… We've attacked over 6,000 targets, and our strike packages continue to launch every hour." pic.twitter.com/ffsRBHqmkp

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 13, 2026

Hegseth also slammed the mainstream media, the day after Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt refuted an ABC News story about Iranian drones possibly striking California.

Hegseth pointed out other examples of fake news:

Yet some in this crew, in the press just can’t stop. Allow me to make a few suggestions.

People look up at the TV and they see banners. They see headlines. I used to be in that business, and I know that everything is written intentionally.

For example, a banner or a headline “Mideast war intensifies” splashing on the screen the last couple of days alongside visuals of civilian or energy targets that Iran has hit because that’s what they do.

What should the banner read instead? How about, “Iran increasingly desperate” because they are. They know it, and so do you if it can be admitted. Or more fake news from CNN, reporting that the Trump administration underestimated the Iran war impact on the Strait of Hormuz. Patently ridiculous. Of course, for decades, Iran has threatened shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. This is always what they do, hold the Strait hostage. CNN doesn’t think we thought of that. It’s a fundamentally unserious report. The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.

Another example of a fake headline that I saw yesterday: “war widening.”

Here’s a real headline for you, for an actual patriotic press, how about “Iran shrinking, going underground.”

You see, Iran’s leaders are hiding in bunkers and moving into civilian areas. The only thing that is widening is our advantage, not to mention our Gulf partners stepping up even more now, going on the offense and have always been with us on the defense with collective and integrated air defenses.

.@SECWAR JUST LIT UP THE FAKE NEWS: pic.twitter.com/oAnTZbOuaC

— DOW Rapid Response (@DOWResponse) March 13, 2026

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