U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday that Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is “wounded and likely disfigured,” while also claiming Iran no longer has air defenses, an air force or a navy as U.S. military operations continue.
Speaking during a Pentagon press conference on March 13, 2026, alongside Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Hegseth said the United States remained on plan to “defeat, destroy, disable” Iran’s meaningful military capabilities. He also said Iran’s defense companies would soon be destroyed.
Hegseth said Iran’s military had been rapidly devastated during what he called Operation Epic Fury. He said Iranian missiles, missile launchers and drones were being destroyed or intercepted, and claimed the country’s missile volume had dropped by 90%.
He also told reporters that Iran was showing “sheer desperation” in the Strait of Hormuz, which he said had been closed by the war, disrupting a significant portion of global oil flows. Hegseth said the United States was “dealing with it,” but did not provide details.
Caine said the U.S. military has made it a priority to target Iran’s minelaying enterprise affecting the strategic waterway.
Hegseth further said Iran’s military, which he described as once modern and capable, had been made combat ineffective in a short period of time. He said the campaign had not been a fair fight for Iran and portrayed the operation as moving at a pace “the world has never seen before.”
The briefing included no evidence to support Hegseth’s statement about Khamenei’s condition. According to the source material provided, Israel suspects Khamenei was wounded at the start of the war, and he has not been seen in public since taking over leadership.
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