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  "path": "/2026/03/15/trump-says-hearing-irans-new-supreme-leader-not-alive-27447023/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-15T07:50:07.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
  "tags": [
    "News",
    "Politics",
    "Ayatollah Ali Khamenei",
    "Donald Trump",
    "Iran",
    "Iran war",
    "selected to replace",
    "Israel",
    "sustained injuries in the blast",
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    "**check our news page**",
    "Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source"
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  "textContent": "Mojtaba Khamenei was selected to take over from his father last week (Picture: Rouhollah Vahdati/ISNA/AFP via Getty Images)\n\nDonald Trump has said he doesn’t know if Iran’s newly chosen supreme leader is still alive – but added he is ‘hearing he’s not’.\n\nMojtaba Khamenei was selected to replace his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the top role last week after the US and Israel carried out a targeted assassination at the beginning of the war.\n\nBut he has still not made a public appearance, and did not appear on camera to issue his first message of vengeance on Thursday.\n\nInstead, state media published a written statement, saying: ‘I assure everyone that we will not refrain from avenging the blood of your martyrs.’\n\nIt is believed the younger Khamenei sustained injuries in the blast that killed his father and much of his family, but the extent of them is unknown.\n\nReports range from a fractured foot and minor lacerations to his face, to the loss of a leg or even Khamenei being placed in a coma.\n\n##  Want to understand more about how politics affects your life?\n\nMetro's senior politics reporter Craig Munro breaks down all the chaos into easy to follow insight, in **Metro** 's politics newsletter Alright, Gov? Sent every Wednesday. Sign up here.\n\nIn a new interview with NBC News, President Trump suggested the picture could be substantially more serious.\n\nHe told the US outlet: ‘I don’t know if he’s even alive. So far, nobody’s been able to show him.’\n\nThe President added: ‘I’m hearing he’s not alive, and if he is, he should do something very smart for his country, and that’s surrender.’\n\nThe US President told NBC News there are other people who would be ‘great leaders’ of Iran (Picture: Reuters)\n\nHowever, he also described news of the new supreme leader’s death as a ‘rumour’.\n\nIran may also be reluctant to reveal the whereabouts of its leader following repeated threats from Israel that he will be killed like his father.\n\nBefore Khamenei was chosen, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said ‘every leader’ appointed to lead the regime ‘will be an unequivocal target for elimination’.\n\nIn a press conference on Friday, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested the demise of his father was behind the new leader’s decision not to appear in public.\n\nHe said: ‘Iran has plenty of cameras and plenty of voice recorders. Why a written statement?\n\n‘I think you know why. His father: dead; he’s scared, he’s injured, he’s on the run, and he lacks legitimacy.’\n\nHegseth also said the younger Khamenei was ‘wounded and likely disfigured’ following the US and Israeli military action.\n\nAsked if he had a preference for who might replace Khamenei, Trump said in the new interview: ‘We have people that are living that would be great leaders for the future of the country.’\n\nHe also declined to say if he was in touch with any possible future leaders, saying: ‘I don’t want to put them in jeopardy.’\n\n******Get in touch with our news team by emailing us atwebnews@metro.co.uk.******\n\n**For more stories like this,****check our news page**.\n\nComment now Comments  Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source ",
  "title": "Trump says he is ‘hearing’ Iran’s new supreme leader is ‘not alive’"
}