As Washington and Tehran accuse one another of breaching an increasingly precarious ceasefire, US President Donald Trump stated on Wednesday that he "would like to meet" Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
Since being named Ali Khamenei's successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, has not been seen in public. It is believed that he was injured in US-Israeli strikes that killed his father on Feb. 28, 2026.
The US president stated on the "Pod Force One" podcast of the New York Post, "I would like to meet him, and we probably will meet at some point, depending on how it all works out."
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When questioned about the health of the Iranian cleric, Trump replied that Khamenei was "involved, absolutely."
Trump remarked, "I don't hear he's doing great. He's missing a lot of different parts, if you believe the stories. They say he is giving approval."
Mojtaba Khamenei is still alive and becoming more active, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a congressional panel on Tuesday.
Rubio stated to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, "I believe there are indications out there that he is increasingly engaging at some level."
One of the harshest tests of a precarious ceasefire since April 8 was an Iranian strike on Kuwait's airport on Wednesday.
The attack was claimed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which said it was revenge for US attacks on an Iranian island and oil tanker.
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In the past, Trump called Mojtaba a "lightweight" and an "unacceptable" candidate to lead Iran, claiming that the suspicions about his sexual orientation "put him off to a bad start in that particular country."
In March, intelligence officers informed Trump that Mojtaba was most likely gay. The president and his aides "laughed aloud" at the unverified spy-agency lead, which said he had a long-term romantic relationship with a childhood tutor, as per the New York Post.
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