Israel’s Prime Minister: Iran’s Supreme Leader Can’t Show His Face in Public.
Israeli Prime Minister Says Iran’s New Supreme Leader Cannot Appear in Public
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Iran’s newly appointed Supreme Leader is unable to appear publicly after Tehran released his first official message.
“I’m not going to provide a life-insurance policy to any Iranian leader,” Netanyahu said on March 12 when asked whether Israel had plans to target Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei.
he also declined to reveal any details about Israel’s potential strategies or operations.
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, the son of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, was reportedly chosen on March 8 to become Iran’s next Supreme Leader during escalating conflict with the United States and Israel.
He would be the third Supreme Leader of Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Netanyahu claimed that Israel killed Ali Khamenei in an airstrike carried out on February 28, and said the new leader “cannot appear in public.” Since being appointed, Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen by the public. During his swearing-in ceremony in Tehran, Iranian officials reportedly displayed only a portrait of him rather than presenting him in person. Prior to this, both the United States and Israel had publicly warned that any newly appointed Iranian Supreme Leader could become a target.
Iran released the first message attributed to Mojtaba Khamenei on March 12. However, the statement was delivered as written text read on television, and he did not appear on video or speak directly.
In the message, the new Supreme Leader declared that Iran would continue blocking the Strait of Hormuz in order to increase pressure on its adversaries. He also vowed that the United States and Israel would pay a price for the damage caused by the ongoing conflict.
Rumors have circulated in recent days suggesting that Mojtaba Khamenei may have been injured during the early phase of the joint U.S.–Israel bombing campaign.
According to the New York Times, three unnamed Iranian officials said he suffered injuries, including a wound to his leg, during the February 28 attacks. They added that he remains conscious and is currently staying in a highly protected location with limited communications.
However, Yousef Pezeshkian, an adviser to the Iranian government and the son of President Masoud Pezeshkian, stated on March 11 that the Supreme Leader is “safe and in good health.”
Netanyahu said Israel’s military has already delivered a significant blow to Iran and its allied proxy groups, weakening their capabilities. He emphasized that Israel is determined to complete its mission and confirmed that Israeli forces have targeted Iranian nuclear scientists, similar to operations conducted last year.
The Israeli prime minister also indicated that Israel is considering a possible ground operation in southern Lebanon aimed at confronting Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group.
When asked whether Israel intends to take control of any territory in Lebanon, Netanyahu responded that he has urged the Lebanese government to fulfill its commitment to disarm Hezbollah.
“If they fail to do so, we will have no choice but to deal with the situation ourselves,” he said. “I won’t specify whether it will be a ground operation or another type of action, but Hezbollah will pay a very heavy price.”
The Middle East has been engulfed in escalating conflict since the United States and Israel launched large-scale airstrikes against Iran on February 28. Iran retaliated by launching missiles and drones at Israel and at U.S. military bases located in several Arab countries.
Tehran has also targeted key infrastructure in Gulf nations, including energy facilities, as well as ships attempting to pass through or anchor near the Strait of Hormuz. The fighting has reportedly resulted in around 2,000 deaths, most of them in Iran, while also affecting multiple countries in the region and causing significant disruption to the global economy.
He called me a “glorified secretary.”
My three-star general stepfather humiliated me in front of two hundred officers at Fort Bragg.
He called me a “glorified secretary.”
Then he told the entire room I only carried his last name because he was generous enough to allow it.
The officers laughed.
I didn’t flinch.
I didn’t defend myself.
I didn’t even look away.
Because seconds later, the auditorium doors flew open.
And a JSOC colonel marched straight toward me carrying a red TOP SECRET folder.
My name is Claire Bradley.
For thirty-three years, Lieutenant General Richard Bradley had treated me like an unwanted attachment to his family name.
Something he tolerated.
Something he could belittle whenever an audience was watching.
That morning, he stood behind a microphone in the Fort Bragg auditorium with three silver stars gleaming across his uniform.
His voice cut through the room.
“Who gave you permission to speak?”
He stared directly at me.
“Sit down.”
The auditorium went still.
Then Richard gave me the same cold, superior look I had seen my entire life.
“You’re allowed to wear the Bradley name because I’ve been charitable enough to let you.”
Laughter rippled through the room.
I was sitting in Row Z.
Seat 14.
The very last row.
Exactly where Richard believed I belonged.
He leaned closer to the microphone.
“In this room, you’ll always be a zero.”
Another wave of laughter.
Then came the part he wanted me to remember.
“Don’t disgrace my reputation.”
I kept my expression perfectly still.
Richard had always been obsessed with the idea of “Bradley warrior DNA.”
He talked about it at dinners.
At military functions.
At family gatherings.
Especially when he bragged about his biological son, Tyler.
According to Richard, Tyler represented everything the Bradley name stood for.
Strength.
Discipline.
Leadership.
There was just one problem.
Tyler had been thrown out of West Point after repeatedly failing fitness standards.
Richard never mentioned that part.
Instead, he polished Tyler’s reputation until it shined like one of the medals on his chest.
Me?
I was the family embarrassment.
The stepdaughter who supposedly never accomplished anything important.
A glorified secretary.
A woman who spent her days buried behind a desk filing logistics reports.
That was the version of me Richard wanted everyone to believe.
Three nights earlier, at the Officers’ Club, he had shoved a junior captain aside just so he could order me to bring a senator a gin and tonic.
Not ask.
Order.
Like I was waitstaff.
Like I worked for him.
Like I was nothing.
Richard needed everyone around him to believe I was weak.
Insignificant.
Forgettable.
So I let him.
That morning, I stayed seated while the laughter slowly died away.
Richard stood beneath the lights looking completely satisfied with himself.
Then the auditorium doors burst open.
Every head turned.
Colonel Nathan Vance of Joint Special Operations Command stepped inside.
He wasn’t wearing the immaculate dress uniform Richard loved displaying.
Vance wore a faded tactical jacket.
Battered combat boots.
The kind of clothes that looked like they had actually been somewhere dangerous.
And he wasn’t walking casually.
He was advancing.
Straight down the aisle.
Straight toward the front.
Richard’s expression changed immediately.
He stiffened behind the podium.
“Colonel, listen here—”
Vance didn’t slow down.
He reached the stage.
Richard moved as if he intended to stop him.
Vance brushed past him with one hard movement of his shoulder.
No apology.
No hesitation.
Then he kept walking.
Down the center aisle.
Past row after row of officers.
The laughter disappeared.
So did the whispers.
Within seconds, the entire auditorium was silent.
Major Thomas Yates, Richard’s favorite shadow, suddenly found the floor fascinating.
I watched Colonel Vance approach.
One row closer.
Then another.
Then another.
Until he finally stopped beside my table.
Up close, I caught the faint metallic smell of gun solvent clinging to his jacket.
Vance looked at me.
Then he reached inside his coat.
The movement made several officers shift in their seats.
He pulled out a red folder.
Not an ordinary military file.
The folder was reinforced with steel mesh.
Pentagon flash traffic.
Stamped across the front were two words that every officer in that auditorium recognized immediately.
TOP SECRET.
Vance slammed it onto the table in front of me.
The sound cracked through the auditorium.
Then he spoke.
Quietly.
Firmly.
“My asset.”
His eyes never left mine.
“Right now.”
No one laughed.
From the front of the auditorium, Richard finally found his voice.
But it sounded different now.
Smaller.
Less certain.
“Colonel, you’ve made a mistake.”
Vance didn’t turn around.
Richard continued.
“She handles administrative logistics.”
Nothing.
“She files paperwork.”
Still nothing.
Then Richard tried the one argument he thought mattered most.
“She’s my stepdaughter.”
Vance remained perfectly still.
Richard’s voice sharpened.
“She isn’t under your jurisdiction.”
I said nothing.
Colonel Vance didn’t even bother looking at him.
I placed both palms flat against the table.
Then I stood.
The plastic chair scraped backward across the floor.
In the silence, the sound seemed deafening.
Two hundred officers turned toward me.
Men and women who had been laughing less than a minute earlier were now staring without saying a word.
I looked toward the stage.
For the first time that morning, my stepfather was no longer smiling.
Because Richard Bradley finally understood something.
The red folder sitting between Colonel Vance and me wasn’t there by accident.
JSOC didn’t send a colonel racing into a three-star general’s auditorium to retrieve someone who merely filed paperwork.
And Pentagon flash traffic didn’t come wrapped in steel mesh for a glorified secretary.
That folder meant only one thing.
The woman Richard Bradley had spent decades calling useless was connected to something classified enough that even a three-star general had never been told.
And judging by the look on his face...
He was finally beginning to realize just how little he knew about me.
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