Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said on Saturday that avenging his slain predecessor and father was "the will of the nation" and "must inevitably" take place "soon," according to a written message attributed to him and released on his Telegram account. The statement was published after the burial ceremony for his father, former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israeli airstrikes on February 28.
Funeral Procession and Calls for Revenge
Throughout the weeklong funeral procession, there were massive public calls for the death of President Trump. "We pledge to avenge the blood of the martyred leader and all the martyrs of these two wars from the criminal and disgraced killers," Khamenei was quoted as saying in the message. The new supreme leader has not been seen or heard since assuming the role, with only written statements being issued in his name.
"This vengeance is the will of our nation and must inevitably be carried out," the letter said. "These criminals — of whom we have a complete list from top to bottom — will take with them to their graves the wish for a peaceful death in bed." "This matter depends neither on my personal existence nor on that of other officials. Whether we are present or not, it will come to pass," it said. "Soon individuals among the freedom-seekers across the world will each carry out part of this divine mission."
Mojtaba Khamenei's Whereabouts and Condition
Ali Khamenei was buried on Friday in Mashhad in northeast Iran after a week of mass funeral processions, rallies and mourning ceremonies that coincided with renewed conflict with the United States following weeks of truce in the four-month-old war. The whereabouts of Mojtaba Khamenei, proclaimed supreme leader by a clerical assembly in early March, a week after his father's death, have remained a mystery to Iranians. He is reported to have suffered debilitating injuries in the strike that killed his father, his face disfigured and limbs badly wounded.
Senior sources in Tehran have said he is recovering but that he is not yet well enough to manage public appearances. State security services are also trying to limit his exposure in case of more US attacks. At the funeral, the crowd chanted slogans demanding revenge on US President Donald Trump for his killing. "I swear by the blood of the supreme leader, Trump, we will kill you!" they shouted, with women holding up placards reading "Kill Trump."
Trump's Threat of Massive Strikes
Trump said Saturday that he had ordered the military to be prepared to launch major strikes against Iran if the Iranian government carries out or attempts his assassination. "1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the Globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME!" he said in a Truth Social post.
"Orders have already been given, and the US Military is ready, willing, and able, for a one year period of time, subject to extension, to completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran — PRAISE BE TO ALLAH!" Trump's remarks came two days after The Wall Street Journal reported, citing individuals familiar with the matter, that Israel had shared intelligence with the United States about Iranian plans to kill the American president. Two US officials told Channel 12 news that the information related to general dialogue between Iranian officials on potentially assassinating Trump, rather than a specific plot, and that Israel had given similar information on plans by Iran and Iran-linked groups over the past year. The officials said that they believed Israel gave the information to the US to improve ties between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump and to try to influence Washington's policies on Iran.
US Demands on Strait of Hormuz and Nuclear Materials
The United States is demanding that Iran publicly state it will stop attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz and that all lanes in the strait will be open to shipping with no tolls, senior US officials said Friday. Iran has adamantly refused to give up control of the strait, the strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world's oil supply typically flows, and which, prior to the war, was traversed freely by vessels. Earlier this week, three ships, including a Qatari gas tanker, were allegedly attacked by Iran, causing damage but no injuries.
The string of Iranian attacks revived concerns about freedom of navigation after a memorandum of understanding that the US and Iran reached last month required Tehran to lift its blockade of the waterway. The US officials said Friday that conversations between the two countries have been productive in recent days. They made the comments to a small group of reporters in a conference call. "What we're demanding is that the Iranians issue a public statement that acknowledges all channels of the Strait of Hormuz are open, and they're not shooting at ships anymore. They're either going to give us that statement, or we're not having a good outcome for them," one official said.
Iran has told Washington that recent attacks on shipping in the strait were from "an errant part of their system," one senior official said. There appears to be a power struggle unfolding in real time between hardliners in Iran and pragmatists, an official said. "We are hoping to get to a place where they publicly say that they will stop shooting at ships and sort of explicitly or at least implicitly acknowledging that they screwed up. We are working on that now," one official said. "The president has directed us to talk but as he's shown a willingness to do, if they keep on shooting at ships or they engage on any other hostile acts, then we're going to hit them back," the official said.
The remarks came ahead of Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi's arrival in Oman on Saturday to discuss arrangements for the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, with CBS News and its UK partner the BBC both reporting that US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner were expected to lead negotiations on Saturday with the top Iranian diplomat. Iran's Fars news agency later cited a source saying no negotiations would take place until the US retreated from its positions. "There can only be mutual compliance," Araghchi wrote on X, accusing the US of violating the ceasefire agreement for revoking the license authorizing the sale of Iranian crude after this week's attacks on ships.
The fundamental demand from the US side is that Iran turn over its nuclear materials. Tehran is believed to possess more than 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium, which Trump and other US officials have called "nuclear dust." The nuclear issue is supposed to be dealt with within a 60-day period for negotiations based on the MOU. "I just want to be clear here that if we don't get the dust, we do not have a deal with Iran," one official said.
Satellite Imagery Shows Nuclear Site Activity
Meanwhile, satellite imagery obtained by CNN showed Iran may be trying to rebuild its nuclear facilities during the fragile ceasefire in the war with the US and Israel. The images from several nuclear and missile sites suggest that Iran may have violated the MOU it signed with the US last month, in which it committed to maintaining the status quo in its nuclear program. At one nuclear facility, in Parchin, where explosive material for nuclear bombs is thought to be held, images from June and this month show efforts to repair holes made by bunker-busting bombs during the recent war.
