Trump Claims Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is Dead

US President Donald Trump has claimed that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has died. Trump made the statement because Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen for a long time, suggesting he likely died as a result of war. Trump also reiterated that Iran’s military capabilities have been severely weakened. “They no longer have a Navy. They no longer have an Air Force. Everything is gone. Their anti-aircraft defences are destroyed. Their leaders are all dead,” Trump said. During an interview, Trump mistakenly referred to the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as “Khomeini”, or Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Iranian revolution who died in 1989. “Their best leaders are dead. They are finished. Khomeini is gone,” Trump said, apparently misnaming the late Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an initial wave of US-Israeli attacks on 28 February. “His son, 90 per cent gone,” the US President claimed, referring to Mojtaba, the current Supreme Leader of Iran and son of the late Ali Khamenei. Mojtaba Khamenei’s whereabouts have been a public question for months. US intelligence reported that Mojtaba was seriously wounded and suffered severe physical disabilities from the US-Israeli attack. Mojtaba was reported to be in the same residence as his father when the US and Israeli airstrikes occurred, but he survived because he was in a different room. At the time, Iran’s ambassador to Cyprus, Alireza Salarian, said Mojtaba suffered injuries to his leg, hand, and arm and was undergoing hospital treatment. Since the attack, Mojtaba has not appeared in public or delivered any speeches. He has also not appeared in public since being inaugurated as Supreme Leader in March. Speculation about Mojtaba’s whereabouts continued because he did not attend his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s funeral ceremony. When the funeral ceremonies were held over several days in cities across Iran and Iraq earlier this month, Mojtaba was not seen. Mojtaba only emerged after his late father was buried on 9 July 2026. However, he did not appear physically. Mojtaba merely released a statement vowing to avenge his father’s death. “This revenge is the will of our nation and must be carried out,” he said in a letter signed on Friday (10/7/2026). “This matter does not depend on my personal presence, nor that of other officials. Whether we are present or not, it will happen,” Mojtaba said in the statement. “We pledge to avenge the blood of the martyred leader and all the martyrs of these two wars against those criminal and despicable murderers,” Mojtaba asserted.