Mojtaba Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran, expresses loyalty to IRGC and armed forces 
Mojtaba Khamenei
President Donald Trump and Melania Trump pay their respects to the six US soldiers killed in Kuwait at Dover Air Force Base in the United States. March 7, 2026
President Trump, J.D. Vance and Pete Hegseth receive the bodies of six U.S. soldiers killed in Kuwait at Dover Air Force Base. March 7, 2026
Mojtaba Khamenei has been declared Iran's Supreme Leader. The country's Assembly of Experts elected him to the position.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has congratulated Mojtaba Khamenei, recognizing him as the country's new Supreme Leader.
In a statement carried by state media, the IRGC declared its "sincere and lifelong loyalty" to Khamenei. It stressed that "they will obey all orders and are always ready to carry them out."
The IRGC added that Khamenei's election by the 88-member Assembly of Experts "proved to everyone that the progress of the Islamic system does not stop and that this revolution and the Islamic system do not depend on any specific person."
Iranian armed forces declare allegiance to Khamenei
Iran's armed forces are the latest to declare their support for the new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei.
In a statement carried by state media, the military described Mojtaba Khamenei as "just, wise... pious and prudent." It added that the Assembly of Experts had shown its wisdom in electing Khamenei.
Who is Mojtaba Khamenei in the race to become the Supreme Leader?
Mojtaba Khamenei is the second son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He is 56 years old. In addition to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his wife, Mojtaba Khamenei's wife, and a sister were killed in the joint Israeli-US aggression on February 28. However, Mojtaba Khamenei was not present at the scene of the attack that day.
For several years, there has been much discussion about Mojtaba Khamenei as a possible main successor to his father. His father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was the president of Iran for about eight years, and then served as the country's supreme leader for about 37 years.
Iran claims to have captured US soldiers, Trump administration denies
Ali Larijani, the head of Iran's National Security Council, has claimed that several US soldiers have been captured since the start of the war last week.
Ali Larijani made the claim in a post on the microblogging site X on Saturday. He did not specify the number of US soldiers captured, but he did say that the US soldiers had been captured.
Larijani wrote, "I have been informed that several American soldiers have been captured. However, the Americans claim that these soldiers were killed in battle. Despite their futile efforts, the truth is not something that can be hidden for long."
However, the US military quickly refuted the claim in a statement. In response to Larijani's post, US Navy Captain Tim Hawkins said, "The Iranian regime is doing everything possible to spread lies and deception. This is another clear example of that."
A spokesman for the US Central Command (Centcom) echoed Hawkins’s words in a statement to Al Jazeera Arabic. “The Iranian regime’s claim of capturing American soldiers is yet another example of its lies and deceit,” the spokesman said.
At least six members of the US armed forces have been killed since the war began in Iran on February 28 with a joint US-Israeli strike.
The military operation, dubbed Operation Epic Fury by US President Donald Trump’s administration, has been launched.
An estimated 1,332 people have been killed in the war since it began last week, according to a report this week by Iran’s Tasnim news agency.
The death toll includes about 180 children. They were killed in an attack on a school in the southeastern city of Minab.
A New York Times analysis suggests that the US carried out the attack on the school.
Trump, however, has blamed Iran for the attack. Trump made the remarks in response to questions from reporters aboard Air Force One.
Trump said yesterday, “Based on what I saw, it was Iran that did it.”
Trump spent the day traveling between a resort in South Florida and Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. In Florida, he was hosting Latin American officials. And the bodies of the soldiers who were killed were being transferred to the Dover base.
A day after the war began, on March 1, all six soldiers were killed in an Iranian drone attack on a port in Kuwait. They were Declan Cody, Jeffrey O’Brien, Cody Khork, Noah Tietjens, Nicole Amor and Robert Marjan.
After the “honorable transfer” of the bodies from Air Force One, Trump said, “This is a very sad day. I’m glad we were able to pay our respects. It’s tough, it’s a tough situation.”
Yet Trump has spoken optimistically about the war, describing its progress as “proper and expected.”
In reference to Iran, Trump said, “We’re winning the war by a huge margin. We’ve destroyed their entire evil empire.”
Trump has not yet ruled out deploying U.S. troops to Iran.
In an interview with the New York Post on Monday, Trump declined to make any specific commitments on the matter. “Every president says there will be no boots on the ground,” he said. “I’m not saying that.”
Trump and officials like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have warned that the U.S. death toll could rise.
“We expect casualties. But at the end of the day, it’s going to be a great thing for the world,” Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC News.
Trump estimates the war could last four to five weeks.
The war has divided Trump's "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) supporters, many of whom have expressed disappointment with the president's latest military campaign.
Critics point out that Trump campaigned on a promise not to "get into endless wars."
Conservative media host Megyn Kelly tweeted on Friday that Trump was considering sending US troops directly to Iran, saying, "I can't believe we're doing this again."
Former US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene criticized Trump for breaking his "America First" campaign promise.
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