Rubio says Mojtaba Khamenei alive and 'increasingly engaging'

The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, stated on Tuesday that the Iranian Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has been injured in US-Israeli attacks and has not appeared in public since becoming the country’s head of state, is very much alive and increasingly active.

"I think there are indications out there that he is increasingly engaging at some level," said Marco Rubio while addressing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Mojtaba Khamenei, aged 56 years, took over the position after his father, Ali Khamenei, was killed during the initial strikes that the US and Israeli forces carried out to launch their war against Iran on February 28.

The Secretary appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today as part of the Trump administration's attempts to seek the approval of Congress to impose a 30 percent reduction in the US foreign affairs budget while increasing military expenditure by 50 percent.

Apart from addressing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio was expected to make other three appearances at other hearings within the two days, as many Republicans in the Congress are increasingly expressing their fears about the Iran war.

The Secretary of State expressed hope for a deal with Iran, while insisting that Tehran must severely limit its nuclear program to see sanctions lifted.

"There is the prospect before us, which could happen today, it could happen tomorrow, it could happen next week," Rubio said.

Rubio said that Tehran must agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping channel for Gulf oil and gas.

"They have to announce very clearly 'The straits are now open, we're not charging a toll'."  We will help remove the mines that they put in there, and they will not fire on ships."

Additionally, he said: "They have to agree on negotiating severe and long-term limitations and/or cancellation of enrichment activity."

Rubio continued: "Iran is being sanctioned because they've highly enriched uranium, Iran is being sanctioned because of their nuclear activities, if they agree to give up those things, there will be sanctions relief."

He insisted that any sanctions relief was tied to Tehran giving up its nuclear program.

"Right now, everything that's been discussed with them (Iran) is that … any sanctions relief is condition-based, which means it has to be in return for the reason why those sanctions were put in place in the first place, which is their nuclear program," Rubio told a Senate hearing.