New Iranian supreme leader injured, ‘likely disfigured,’ Hegseth says

War Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a press briefing Friday morning that the United States is “decimating the army of the radical Iranian regime” and that the Islamic Republic’s new supreme leader has been injured and “probably disfigured.”

“Desperate and hidden, they went underground, cowering,” Hegseth said of Iran’s leaders.

“That’s what rats do. We know the new so-called not-so-supreme leader is injured and probably disfigured,” he said.

TRUMP SAYS WE ‘TOTALLY DESTROY’ IRAN AND ‘WATCH WHAT HAPPENS’ FRIDAY

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attends a joint press conference with Admiral Charles Bradford “Brad” Cooper II, Commander, U.S. Central Command, at U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Headquarters, MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, March 5, 2026. (Octavio JONES / AFP via Getty Images)

Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who was killed early in the war, issued a statement Thursday that Hegseth called “weak.”

“It was a written statement,” Hegseth said. “Iran has lots of cameras and lots of voice recorders. Why a written statement? I think you know why. His father is dead. He’s scared, he’s hurt, he’s on the run and he lacks legitimacy. It’s a disaster for them. Who’s in charge? Iran might not even know.”

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In this photo obtained from Iranian news agency ISNA, Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, looks on in Tehran on October 13, 2024. (Hamed JAFARNEJAD/ISNA/AFP via Getty Images)

“We plan to defeat, destroy and disable all of their significant military capabilities at a pace the world has never seen before,” Hegseth said.

“Soon, and very soon, all Iranian defense companies will be destroyed,” he noted.

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Smoke and flames rise from the site of airstrikes on an oil depot in Tehran, March 7, 2026. (Sasan/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

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“I serve and answer only to God, the troops, the country, the Constitution, and the President of the United States, all in service of victory on the battlefield and the military goals we set out on day one: defeat the missiles, missile launchers, and defense industrial base I laid out today. Defeat the Navy and deny Iran the capability to have a nuclear weapon. Clear, decisive, achievable.”