In an unsettling introduction to his global audience, Iran’s newly designated supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, included a menacing warning about potential attacks on American soil. Analysts suggest that Khamenei’s failure to personally deliver this message may indicate emotional distress or a lack of capability.

During his inaugural speech to the Iranian populace, Khamenei declared that the Islamic Republic intends to “obtain compensation” from adversaries in retaliation for the joint US-Israeli operations that resulted in the deaths of his father, his wife, and other high-ranking officials.

“If compensation is refused, we will take from their assets as we see fit, and if that is unfeasible, we will destroy their assets equivalently,” he asserted.

This pronouncement appears to be an explicit call for Iran’s international allies to seek vengeance, according to insights from Khosro Isfahani, the research director at the National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI), a Washington-based think tank.

“It suggests a potential activation of terror cells, echoing the warnings emerging from Europe and the US, along with reports of planned strikes on the West Coast,” Isfahani conveyed to The Post.

He further commented, “These actions reflect a desperate regime on the brink of collapse, seeing escalation as their sole remaining option.”

Since the war began, law enforcement officials around the world have issued warnings about the possibility of sleeper cell attacks from Tehran’s agents and supporters. 

President Trump said Wednesday that he had been briefed on those threats after an alarming FBI alert warned that Iran could deploy drones from a vessel off the California coastline to attack the mainland. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified Thursday that the California alert was “based on one email that was sent to local law enforcement in California about a single, unverified tip.”

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Khamenei’s message demonstrated that he would maintain his father’s hardline position against the US and Israel, but the method used to put out the statement suggests it may not have been the supreme leader’s words, Isfahani noted. 

“It’s clear that he has not written this himself, or we would have seen him on air or in a recorded message,” he said. “They clearly know he’s not capable of stringing these lines together or even reading them on a teleprompter.” 

Various reports have claimed that Khamenei, who has yet to make a public appearance since the war began, was seriously wounded following the initial strike on Feb. 28 that killed his father.

While some sources claimed that the ayatollah suffered injuries to his leg and face, one Iranian source claimed to The Sun that Khamenei was actually in a coma and undergoing intensive care at the Sina University Hospital in Tehran. 

“One or two of his legs have been cut off. His liver or stomach has also ruptured. He is apparently in a coma as well,” the source alleged.

Annika Ganzeveld, the Middle East Portfolio Manager for the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute, noted that if the reports were true, Iran’s military leaders are likely shielding Khamenei from the public eye until he can recover, if that is even possible.

“Right now, they want to portray strength, and if he’s injured, they might not want to put him on display,” she said. 

Isfahani, who previously described Khamenei as having the “charisma of a boiled potato,” said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps might continue to keep him out of sight to hide not just his reported injuries, but his ineptitude. 

“He’s just being used as a puppet for the IRGC’s message to the world,” he said, “and if he’s alive, he’s not even a good enough puppet to be put in front of a camera.”