Trump says he believes Iranian leader Mojtaba Khamenei still alive

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday (August 27, 2026) stated he believes Iran’s supreme chief Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since taking on after his father’s killing in February, stays alive.

“I do not assume he is useless. He was very significantly wounded. The left aspect of his physique, the arm, the leg, the entire thing. He was very significantly wounded. However I do not assume he is useless,” Mr. Trump stated in an interview with conservative radio host Glenn Beck.

Formally, Mr. Khamenei continues to guide his nation underneath U.S. and Israeli assault. Nonetheless, his public absence and the rise to energy of veteran Revolutionary Guards figures has fuelled hypothesis that he’s both useless or not absolutely in command.

His father was killed in bombing firstly of the U.S.-Israeli assault.

Mr. Trump — who has already declared victory over Iran on a number of events however stays unable to drive the opening of the Hormuz sea route or drive Iran to give up its nuclear supplies — stated once more that navy and financial stress was working.

“These issues are going towards a really large victory,” he stated. “We will have an enormous victory right here very quickly.”

Mr. Trump additionally insisted that the Strait of Hormuz, the place Iran’s navy has disrupted and to a big extent blocked delivery, is actually absolutely open.

“You would actually say, , as a result of the Strait is open. We take lots of ships by way of the Strait now. We’re taking them in. The mines are gone,” he stated.

“We can not let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That is what it is all about. That is 99.9 %. We can not allow them to as a result of they’re loopy and they’re going to use it,” he stated, earlier than including that he had already “stopped it twice.”