Trump claims Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei '90% gone'

By Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Iran's top military commanders have been killed and claimed that Mojtaba Khamenei, son of late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his successor, was "90% gone."

Speaking in an interview with Fox News, Trump said Iran's military capabilities had been severely degraded.

"They have no navy. They have no air force. It's all gone. Their anti-aircraft is gone. Their leaders have all been killed," Trump said.

“Their best leaders have been killed. They’re gone. Khomeini is gone,” he said, using the name of the late Iranian revolutionary leader who died in 1989, while apparently referring to Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February. "His son is 90% gone," he said.

Mojtaba Khamenei is said to be recovering from injuries suffered in the airstrike, and was not present at his father's funeral ceremonies held this month in Iran and Iraq.

The remarks came as US and Iran exchanged renewed strikes over the weekend, and Trump said the US was "reinstating" a blockade on Iran, and that it will charge ships for safe passage in the Strait of Hormuz.