Amputations, AI fakes and a Russian flight: Understanding the bizarre disappearance of Iranian leader Mojtaba Khamenei

The White House and the US military are actively using the Supreme Leader’s absence as a weapon. In a recent press conference, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly mocked the faceless broadcast, saying that Iran had many cameras but had chosen not to use them. Hegseth specifically stated that US intelligence assesses the new Iranian leader as “wounded and likely disfigured,” adding that he is “scared…on the run and lacks legitimacy.”