Trump says unclear if new Iran leader is ‘dead or not’

2026-03-16 - 17:36

US President Donald Trump said Monday that he does not know whether Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei is still alive, adding that Washington was unclear whom it could negotiate with in Tehran. “We don’t know... if he’s dead or not,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “A lot of people are saying that he’s badly disfigured. They’re saying that he lost his leg — one leg — and he’s, you know, been hurt very badly. Other people are saying he’s dead. Nobody’s saying he’s 100 percent healthy. You know he hasn’t spoken.” “We don’t know who we’re dealing with” in Iran, Trump said. “We don’t know who their leader is.” AFP