Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) called for Israel to assassinate Iran’s newly appointed ayatollah and “every last member of their leadership” — as the regime’s new supreme leader has yet to appear in public.
“They should kill him, too,” Fetterman said on NewsNation Wednesday, referring to Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei — the eldest son of slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who succeeded him as Iran’s supreme leader — adding that the world is “100%” better with his father dead.
Khamenei has yet to appear publicly since the 88-member Assembly of Experts appointed him as Iran’s new supreme leader on Sunday.
He also missed a rally in Tehran marking his succession. Iranian officials have said he was injured during the initial wave of airstrikes by the US and Israel on Feb. 28.
“He hasn’t been able to produce a video or seen in public at all. Why? Fetterman asked. “Maybe they’re seriously injured. It could be even harder for him to sit down and do a video and have them put that out.
“Hopefully, he is significantly wounded. And if he does recover, I do absolutely support having Israel just eliminate him, along with any other members of the leadership.”
“I’m always going to support that,” the senator added.
Fetterman also said President Trump gave Iran the opportunity to negotiate an end to the war — which they declined — and “avoid all of these things.”
The Iranian president rejected Trump’s call for the country’s unconditional surrender Friday and later scoffed at the proposal as a “dream.”
The supreme leader sits at the center of Iran’s Shiite theocracy with final authority over state affairs and serves as commander-in-chief of the military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a paramilitary force the US designated a terrorist organization in 2019.
While Khamenei has yet to appear in public, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said online Thursday the war could end if Iran’s “legitimate rights” are recognized, reparations are paid and guarantees against future attacks are put in place.
Trump has repeatedly warned Tehran not to pick a new leader without his approval, blasting Khamenei as an “unacceptable” candidate.
Trump dismissed Iran’s new leader as a “lightweight,” saying he “is not going to last long” without his approval.
Despite the commander-in-chief’s warning, thousands rallied Monday to celebrate Khamenei’s rise as Iran’s new supreme leader — but the cleric himself was a no-show, represented only by a portrait smaller than the towering image of his father.
Observers believe he may be more seriously wounded than Iranian officials are admitting — or hiding out in fear.
“It’s either he’s out cold in a hospital, or he’s scared and hiding in the deepest bunker they have after seeing his dad be turned into red mist,” Khosro Isfahani, the research director for the National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI) think tank, told The Post.
Isfahani said Khamenei lacks public support and was elevated to the role largely because of pressure from the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), adding that “He has the charisma of a boiled potato.”
With Post wires
