Donald Trump has claimed the US is ‘totally destroying Iran’ while issuing a sinister warning that he is about to escalate the conflict. 

The president appeared to signal that major action would be unfolding on Friday, writing in the early hours on Truth Social: ‘Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today.’ 

‘We are totally destroying the terrorist regime of Iran, militarily, economically, and otherwise,’ he wrote at 12.33am. 

‘Iran’s Navy is gone, their Air Force is no longer, missiles, drones and everything else are being decimated, and their leaders have been wiped from the face of the earth,’ he added. 

‘We have unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time – Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today. 

‘They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them. What a great honor it is to do so!’

In a Fox News radio interview, Trump also addressed rumors that Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei might be dead, saying he believes he is ‘still alive in some form’. 

The son of recently killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not been seen in public since assuming office, and a speech was read on his behalf via Iranian state TV on Thursday.

US President Donald Trump has said he believes that new Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is ‘alive in some form’ despite rumors he has died

Mojtaba Khamenei (pictured), the son of recently killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has not been seen in public since assuming office, with a speech allegedly written by him read aloud on Iranian state TV Thursday

A plume of smoke covers the city skyline following reported Israeli strikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut, after an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, Lebanon, March 13, 2026

However, Trump dismissed rumors that he is dead. When asked whether the new leader was still alive, he said: ‘I think he probably is. 

‘I think he is damaged, but I think he’s probably alive in some form, you know.’

The president’s comments came during an interview with The Brian Kilmeade Show scheduled to air via Fox News Radio Friday at 10.06am ET.  

Mojtaba’s words were read aloud by an Iranian news anchor and broadcast into American homes by CNN Central News on Thursday afternoon.

The Iranian leader did not appear on camera to deliver the message personally, doing little to dispel the rumors that he is in a coma or has lost a leg following the US-Israeli strikes which killed his father, the nation’s previous Ayatollah, on February 28.

In his speech, Mojtaba declared that ‘the leader of the Islamic Republic’ was ‘addressing the great nation of Iran and the brave fighters of Iran’, according to an English translation provided for viewers.

The message took on an anti-American tone, as he vowed Iran would avenge the ‘blood of its martyrs.’ 

The decision to air the unfiltered message was met with fury by viewers who noted that the liberal network will frequently cut away from Donald Trump’s speeches.

Despite the release of the statement, Mojtaba is said to be in intensive care at the Sina University Hospital in the city’s historic quarter surrounded by security officials, according to a source in Tehran. 

A section of the hospital has been sealed off to guard Iran’s Supreme Leader. 

It is unclear whether Mojtaba was injured in the same air strikes which killed his 86-year-old father.

A source, who does not want to be named out of fear for his life, said the new Supreme Leader is under the care of Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi, Iran’s Minister of Health, Treatment and Medical Education and one of the country’s top trauma surgeons. 

Zafarghandi’s Persian Wikipedia page details eight years’ experience operating in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. The regime’s most trusted doctor was also injured by chemical weapons himself in the war. 

He is believed to be assisted by another senior surgeon, Dr Mohammad Marashi – the brother of former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s wife and a trusted figure in the Islamic regime. 

The allegedly wounded Supreme Leader is also reported to have received a visit from the current Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian two days ago. The president is believed to be being fully briefed on Khamenei’s condition. 

CNN broadcasted the first purported message from Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, on Thursday

A source also told the Sun through secret messages sent to an exiled dissident based in London: ‘One or two of his legs have been cut off. His liver or stomach has also ruptured. He is apparently in a coma as well.’ 

While the new Supreme Leader has also not been seen for weeks, Iran is being run by regional commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who are believed to be under orders to fight on indefinitely – even without a leader.

It comes as another source, a former study partner of Mojtaba, revealed that the new Supreme Leader is said to be ‘obsessed with the end of days’ and is ‘more dangerous’ than his father. 

It is impossible to verify the condition of Iran’s new Supreme Leader due to the regime’s current internet blackout, but Iranian state TV have referred to Mojtaba as ‘Jaanbaz of Ramadan’ – meaning ‘wounded war veteran’. 

Many believe the regime is being run by a ‘Ghost Ayatollah’, as the rogue state continues hitting neighboring Gulf nations and sending oil and gas prices soaring. 

Iran is trying to inflict enough global economic pain to pressure the United States and Israel to halt their bombardment. 

The nation’s president said its attacks would continue until Iran gets security guarantees against another assault, indicating that even a ceasefire or US declaration of victory might not halt the conflict.

Trump has meanwhile promised to ‘finish the job,’ even though he claimed Iran is ‘virtually destroyed.’

Mojtaba was named as the Islamic Republic’s next ruler after US-Israeli airstrikes killed his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

It is still not known whether Mojtaba was injured in the same US-Israeli airstrikes that killed his dad

Iran-backed Hezbollah militants meanwhile launched some 200 rockets from Lebanon at northern Israel while sirens rang out and loud booms from the interception of Iranian missiles could be heard in other areas. 

Israel launched another wave of attacks on Tehran and in Lebanon, where 11 people were killed.

The UN refugee agency said up to 3.2 million people in Iran have been displaced by the ongoing war. It said most have fled from Tehran and other major cities toward the north of the country or rural areas. It says at least 759,000 people have been internally displaced in Lebanon.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian suggested on Thursday that for the war to end, the world would need to recognize Iran’s ‘legitimate rights,’ pay reparations and offer guarantees against future attacks. 

The US and Israel say that destroying whatever remains of Iran’s nuclear program is one of the central aims of the war. They have long suspected Iran seeks nuclear weapons, while the Islamic Republic says its nuclear program is peaceful.