New Delhi, March 13 -- US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday (March 13) that Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is wounded and "likely disfigured".

"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," Pentagon Hegseth said at a briefing.

Hegseth did not provide evidence for Khamenei's condition but criticized the absence of a video or audio statement, calling it "a weak" communication.

"Iran has plenty of cameras and plenty of voice recorders. Why a written statement? I think you know why. His father-dead. He's scared, he's injured, he's on the run and he la...