US President Donald Trump was briefed recently on American intelligence showing that Iran’s late supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, was wary about his son Mojtaba Khamenei replacing him as ruler in the event of his death, according to a Sunday report.
Sources familiar with the matter told CBS News that the elder Khamenei’s fears stemmed from the perception that Mojtaba, who was recently named as his father’s successor, was “not very bright, and was viewed as unqualified to be leader,” as well as from an awareness that Mojtaba had “issues in his personal life.”
The report came as the newly elected 56-year-old supreme leader has remained conspicuously absent from the public eye in the week since he was elected, fueling rumors of injury or death, or that he has fled Iran.
The only public comments attributed to him since he was elected on March 8 were delivered in the form of a statement read out by a television presenter on Thursday.
The sources cited by CBS were said to include people within the Trump administration, the US intelligence community, and figures close to the president. The outlet said both Trump and Vice President JD Vance had been briefed on the intelligence information.
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In a possible reference to the intelligence he was allegedly briefed on, Trump told Fox News in an interview on Friday night that Khamenei was “not somebody that the father even wanted.”
A banner is displayed at Valiasr Square in central Tehran on March 10, 2026, depicting Iran’s late supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (left) watching as his successor, the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (center), hands over an Islamic Republic of Iran flag to his son and new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei (right). (AFP)
According to CBS, Trump has told people close to him that he is not putting too much weight on the intelligence briefing, as he already considered Iran to be “essentially leaderless,” and believes Mojtaba, like his father, may already be dead.
Other US officials have voiced similar opinions, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who on Friday said Khamenei was “wounded and likely disfigured.”
On Friday, the US announced that it was offering a reward of up to $10 million for information about Khamenei, as well as several other senior Iranian military and intelligence officials.
Iran has fiercely denied any suggestion that all may not be well with the new supreme leader, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi telling the pan-Arab Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news outlet on Sunday that he “is in excellent health” and “in control of the situation, and present at his post.”
“The timing of televised messages or direct appearances before the people is his prerogative,” he said.
Araghchi made similar remarks a day earlier, insisting that there was “no problem” with Khamenei, and that he “will perform his duties.”
These assurances have not convinced everyone.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi looks on after he delivered a speech during a session of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament, on the sideline of a second round of US-Iranian talks with Washington in Geneva, on February 17, 2026. (Valentin Flauraud / AFP)
On Sunday, citing “a senior source close to the new Iranian leader,” Kuwait’s Al-Jarida news outlet reported that Khamenei had been smuggled out of Iran in a secretive Russian operation on Thursday to receive medical treatment in Moscow for injuries sustained in the same airstrikes that killed his father and wife on the first day of the ongoing US-Israeli offensive.
The report alleged that Russian President Vladimir Putin had proposed bringing Khamenei to Russia for treatment to ensure that he would be able to recover properly, without being targeted by Israeli and American airstrikes.
He was accompanied to Russia by a team of Iranian doctors, the report said.
The newspaper further cited a source close to Khamenei as saying that not only did the new supreme leader not write the statement that was delivered by a television presenter last week, but that he did not even see it before it was read out.
The source suggested that it may have been written by Iran’s national security chief, Ali Larijani, as it was nearly identical to several statements he has put out in recent days.
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