Iran's foreign minister says there is no problem with supreme leader

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told MS Now in an interview on Saturday that there is no problem with Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, after US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed on Friday (March 13) that he was wounded and likely disfigured.

"We know the new so-called not-so-supreme leader is wounded and likely disfigured. He put out a statement yesterday. A weak one, actually, but there was no voice and there was no video. It was a written statement," Hegseth told a briefing on Friday.

"Iran has plenty of cameras and plenty of voice recorders. Why a written statement? I think you know why. His father - dead. He's scared, he's injured, he's on the run and he lacks legitimacy."

On Thursday, Khamenei said Iran will fight on and keep the Strait of Hormuz shut as leverage against the United States and Israel, in first comments attributed to him since he succeeded his slain father. 

Khamenei did not appear in person and his remarks were read out by a state television presenter. No images have been released of him since an Israeli strike at the start of the war that killed much of his family, including his father and wife.

Iranian state television offered no explanation for why the message was read out rather than delivered in person.

Additional reporting by AsiaOne

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