President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he believes Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is still alive, despite nearly six months of secrecy surrounding the hardline cleric’s condition.
“I don’t think he’s dead. He was very seriously wounded. The left side of his body, the arm, the leg, the whole thing. He was very seriously wounded. But I don’t think he’s dead,” Trump said during an interview with conservative radio host Glenn Beck.
Mojtaba has remained completely hidden from public view since succeeding his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the U.S.-Israeli strikes that launched the war in February.
The mystery deepened last Tuesday when Mojtaba failed to appear at a wake he hosted for his father and predecessor at Tehran’s largest mosque.
Trump on Iran:
I don’t think Mojtaba Khamenei is dead.
He was very seriously wounded, left side of his body, the arm, the leg, the whole thing was seriously wounded.
But I don’t think he is dead.
If he is dead, they are putting on a pretty good show because they are talking… pic.twitter.com/UjvWm0vFKS
— Clash Report (@clashreport) August 26, 2026
Thousands of people attended the gathering, including some of Iran’s most powerful political figures and several of Ali Khamenei’s other sons. The event’s official host, however, was nowhere to be seen.
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Not a single current photograph, video or audio recording of Mojtaba has been released since he was elevated to supreme leader nearly six months ago.
Several senior Iranian officials have acknowledged that they have not seen him, including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, a member of the country’s National Security Council.
IranWire, a London-based opposition outlet, reported that no cabinet member has met with Mojtaba since he took power.
Even some of Mojtaba’s close friends and relatives reportedly have not seen him.
Fewer than five people have met with the Iranian leader since his rise to power, former official and Khamenei relative Mohammad Hossein Khoshvaght told The Atlantic, “due to security precautions.”
Mojtaba’s extraordinary disappearance has fueled widespread speculation about his fate, but Trump said he believes the Iranian leader survived despite suffering serious wounds to the left side of his body.
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