Pete Hegseth claims Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei is ‘wounded and likely disfigured’
A visibly irate Pete Hegseth has compared Iran’s leaders to “rats” in hiding and urged a “patriotic press” to rewrite headlines about the deadly, costly and escalating war.
“The U.S. is decimating the radical Iranian regime’s military in a way the world has never seen before,” the defense secretary boasted at a Friday morning press briefing. “We said it would not be a fair fight, and it has not been.”
To date, more than 15,000 Iranian targets have been hit, obliterating the nation’s air defenses, air force, and navy, while its missile capabilities have plummeted by 90 percent, Hegseth said. He then warned Friday will be the most intense day of U.S. strikes on Iran to date.
“Iran’s leadership is in no better shape. Desperate and hiding, they’ve gone underground, cowering. That’s what rats do,” Hegseth said. The former Fox News host described Iran’s new leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, as the “so-called not-so-supreme leader” who is “wounded and likely disfigured.”
Hegseth’s comments came on the 13th day of the U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iran as the conflict engulfs the broader Middle East region. On Thursday, six crew members were killed on a refueling aircraft that went down in western Iraq, U.S. Central Command confirmed. At least 13 U.S. service members have died in the Iran war and 140 have been injured.
Hegseth began the Friday morning briefing by berating the press, specifically targeting ABC News and CNN, and maintained a tone of barely concealed contempt throughout.
“Another example of a fake headline I saw yesterday: ‘war widening,’” he said. “Here’s a real headline for you, for an actual patriotic press: ‘Iran shrinking, going underground.’”
Despite reporting to the contrary by multiple news outlets, Hegseth said there is no evidence that Iran has laid mines in the Strait of Hormuz — a vital artery of international trade through which 20 percent of the world’s oil passes. He then claimed Americans “don’t need to worry about it.”
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair General Dan Caine, who also attended the briefing, appeared more circumspect, calling the situation in the strait “complex.” On Thursday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that the U.S. is not ready to escort tankers through the waterway, following strikes on several vessels.
Oil prices have surged past $100-a-barrel multiple times in the past week. In order to ease prices, the Trump administration announced Thursday it will release 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve over the next four months.
President Donald Trump has telegraphed little concern about oil prices, even as his energy secretary acknowledged this week that Americans could feel pain at the pump for “weeks.”
“The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday. “BUT, of far greater interest and importance to me, as President, is stoping an evil Empire, Iran, from having Nuclear Weapons, and destroying the Middle East and, indeed, the World.”
Hegseth refrained from providing a clear timeline for the war’s completion. “President Trump holds the cards, he’ll determine the place, the tempo and the timing of this conflict,” he said Friday.
Later in the briefing, Caine provided more details on the KC-135 refueling aircraft that crashed in Iraq.
