Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is “wounded and likely disfigured,” US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a briefing Friday, questioning Khamenei’s ability to govern after nearly two weeks of US and Israeli attacks on the Islamic Republic.
Hegseth’s comments came as a large explosion was reported where top Iranian regime leaders had gathered in Tehran for an annual Quds Day demonstration, though the cause of the blast was unclear.
Khamenei was not present at the rally, and 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. His first apparent public comments came in a statement read out by a television presenter on Thursday.
“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 said during a press briefing Friday.
“Why a written statement?” asked Hegseth. “I think you know why. His father — dead. He’s scared, he’s injured, he’s on the run and he lacks legitimacy.”
Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the terms
“Who’s in charge?” Hegseth taunted. “Iran may not even know.”
A woman holds a picture of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei during the annual anti-Israeli Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, rally in support of Palestinians in Tehran, Iran, March 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
An Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday that the newly appointed supreme leader was lightly injured but was continuing to operate, after state television described him as war-wounded.
Meanwhile, Hegseth said, the US will keep its foot on the gas.
“No quarter, no mercy for our enemies,” he said, using a military phrase denoting a lack of compassion.
Hegseth added that US President Donald Trump “will determine the pace, tempo and timing of this conflict…America First, Peace through Strength in action.”
He also claimed that Iran has lost the capability to rebuild its destroyed military assets, adding: “Very soon, all of Iran’s defense companies will be destroyed,” indicating a focus of US-Israeli operations in the coming days.
Every company that builds components of Iran’s ballistic missiles “has been defeated, has been destroyed,” Hegseth said, and Iran’s military has been made “combat ineffective, devastated.”
US Air Force military ground personnel prepare Joint Direct Attack Munitions for a B-1 Lancer bomber on the tarmac at RAF Fairford in southwest England on March 12, 2026. (Henry NICHOLLS / AFP)
Hegseth said that over 15,000 Iranian targets have been hit and that “no other combination of countries in the world” can do what the US and Israelis are doing over Iran.
He boasted that when the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps looks up in the sky, they only see two things on the sides of aircraft: “the Stars and Stripes, and the Star of David — the evil regime’s worst nightmare.”
“Iran has no air defenses,” he continued, “Iran has no air force, Iran has no navy. Their missiles, missile launchers and drones are being destroyed or shot out of the sky.”
A UAE navy vessel patrols next to cargo ships and oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz as seen from Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Tehran’s missile launches are down 90 percent, he claimed, and its drone attacks are down by 95 percent, leading it to begin “exercising sheer desperation” by attempting to block the Strait of Hormuz, where oil and gas tanker transit has all but completely halted amid Iranian attacks.
“It’s something we’re dealing with, have been dealing with, and you don’t have to worry about it,” he promised, amid fears of an extended spike in oil prices.
Hegseth also seemed to indicate that some Arab states could take a larger role in the conflict, as they have continued to be targeted by relentless Iranian drone and missile fire: “The only thing that is widening is our advantage. Not to mention our Gulf allies stepping up even more now, going on the offense.”
No Arab state has so far announced taking part in any strikes against Iran since the war began almost two weeks ago.
Blast near Tehran square as leaders attend Quds Day rally
Meanwhile, in Tehran, a large explosion struck near a central square filled with demonstrators as several top leaders had gathered to mark Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, Iranian state television reported.
According to state media, one person was killed in the explosion in an area home to many government buildings.
Video published by the semiofficial Tasnim news agency showed a plume of gray smoke rising as demonstrators screamed “Death to Israel!” and “Death to America!” Footage from Ferdowsi Square showed people shouting “God is the greatest!” as smoke rose.
The cause of the blast was not immediately known, and there was no immediate comment from the IDF or Iranian authorities.
Video posted on social media on Friday shows an explosion near a Quds Day rally in support of Palestine in Tehran, Iran.
At least one person was killed on Friday in an explosion that went off close to the rally, Iran’s official IRNA news agency said. pic.twitter.com/w28HKZNe7G
— Roya News English (@RoyaNewsEnglish) March 13, 2026
Iran’s national security chief Ali Larijani, who was present at the rally along with other top officials, dismissed the suspected Israeli strike as an act of “desperation.”
“These attacks are out of fear, out of desperation. One who is strong wouldn’t bomb demonstrations at all. It’s clear that it has failed,” Larijani told state TV while marching at the rally, held each year since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 in a show of support for the Palestinian cause and opposition to Israel.
Striking a defiant tone, he said Trump “doesn’t understand that the Iranian people are a brave nation, a strong nation, a determined nation. The more he presses, the stronger the nation’s determination will become.”
High-profile Iranian figures Ali Larijani and Mohammad Eslami ,head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, seen marching through Tehran today .@amichaistein1 pic.twitter.com/0IzEFyie6Y
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) March 13, 2026
The attendance by Larijani is one of the most high-profile public appearances by an Iranian official since the February 28 strike that killed supreme leader Khamenei and other top officials.
Judiciary chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei and national police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan were also in attendance, state TV pictures showed.
Holding images of the slain supreme leader and his son and successor, people marched through Tehran in the annual event, trampling on images of Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
An Iranian man pokes his crutch at an image of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as others stand on the poster in the Al-Quds Day rally, in Tehran on March 13, 2026 (AFP)
Al Quds Day, named after the Arabic name for Jerusalem and marked on the last Friday of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, originated in Iran and has been held annually since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Marches are held in cities worldwide.