More Stories

Informist, Friday, Mar. 13, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth Friday said Iran's new supreme leader, Mujtaba Khamenei, has been wounded and "likely disfigured" in the US-Israel attacks.

 

"We know that Iran's not-so-supreme leader is wounded and likely disfigured," Hegseth told a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, DC. "His was a written statement. No audio, no video. Doesn't Iran have enough voice recorders? Why a written statement? It's self-explanatory."

 

Thursday, Khamenei had issued a statement saying Iran will continue to fight. Hegseth said the US was "decimating the radical Iranian regime like the world has never seen before". He said, "Our fighters and bombers are picking targets as they choose. Over 15,000 targets have been hit so far. That's more than a thousand targets a day."

 

The US war secretary said Iran was exercising "sheer desperation" in the Strait of Hormuz even as the volume of its missiles is "down 90%, and their drones are down 95%".

 

"Iran's leadership has gone underground. Who is in charge there? Iran may not even know," he said, adding that the US and its ally Israel will "keep advancing, keep pushing. No mercy for our enemies." Hegseth dismissed as "ridiculous" claims that the US had underestimated Iran's capabilities.

 

A US military officer said the KC-135 refuelling plane that crashed in western Iraq Thursday was not hit by hostile or friendly fire. Four of six crew members on the aircraft, which is used to refuel other aircraft mid-air, have died while efforts are underway to rescue the other two, he said.

 

The US-Israel combine triggered the conflict in West Asia Feb 28 when it launched surprise attacks on Iran, killing the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several senior military commanders in the first wave of attacks.  End

 

Reported by Asim Khan

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.