CBS added that the White House further believes that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is currently behind the scenes in Iran.
U.S. intelligence shows Ali Khamenei is wary of his son replacing him as Iran’s supreme leader, CBS News reported Sunday, citing multiple people familiar with the matter.
Sources say Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s father believes he is “not very smart” and “unqualified to be a leader” and that he is also struggling in his personal life.
The information was reportedly shared with President Donald Trump, Vice President Vance and other senior officials, but Trump didn’t know if it was important to know because he believed Mojtaba “could be dead.”
Trump hinted at this in an interview with Fox News on Friday, saying Iran’s “leadership is gone. Their second leadership is gone. Now their third leadership is in trouble, and that’s not who Dad wanted.”
Last week, Iranian state television reported that Moitaba had been injured in the ongoing war, but did not provide further details about the injury or whether it affected his duties as supreme leader.
On March 12, 2026, an anti-American and Israeli demonstration was held in Baghdad. A female student held a poster of Iran’s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. At least nine Iranian-backed militants were killed in an air strike near the Iraqi-Syrian border on March 12, two senior security officials told AFP. (Photo credit: AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP, Getty Images)
Mojtaba has not been seen in public since taking office
He has shown no signs of life since his appointment as Iran’s supreme leader.
Mojtaba was also absent on Thursday, when a newscaster on Iran’s state television read out his first speech while showing his photo. In the statement, he vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed and called on neighboring countries to close U.S. bases on their soil or risk Iran targeting them.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also said on Friday that Moitaba was wounded and possibly disfigured, questioning Khamenei’s leadership after nearly two weeks of U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran.
CBS added that the White House further believes that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is currently behind the scenes in Iran.
Spokespeople for the CIA, White House and vice president declined to comment.
Shir Perets, Amichai Stein and Reuters contributed to this report.
