US President Donald Trump described Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei as “more rational” than his father and predecessor in an NBC interview aired on Sunday, and said the roughly 50,000 US troops still involved in the Iran war would not be withdrawn until “we have a completion” in the country.

“Younger, I think, more rational. Injured — he’s pretty badly injured. So, there’s a certain bravery there,” Trump told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker in the interview, which was recorded on Friday and released Sunday morning. Mojtaba Khamenei has not appeared in public since being wounded in the same Israeli strike that killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the war on February 28.

Asked whether he knew Mojtaba Khamenei’s whereabouts, Trump said he would not say but “there’s a good probability that I do.” Pressed on whether he would resume military action if Iran killed US troops in the region, he said: “It would be a good reason. I’d be honest with you, if they killed US troops, I think I would do that very quickly.”

On the troop posture, Trump said he did not consider US service members in the theatre to be in danger, citing American defensive and offensive capabilities. “I would say it would be foolhardy to do that because maybe we may use them,” he added, ruling out a withdrawal while talks remain unresolved.

Trump compared US casualties in the Iran operation to past US wars, saying 13 service members had been killed in the conflict so far. Six were killed on March 1 in an Iranian strike on Kuwait’s Shuaiba port, one died on March 8 after an Iranian attack on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, and six more died on March 12 when a US KC-135 Stratotanker crashed in western Iraq.

The “more rational” framing builds on Trump’s earlier comments — including his June 5 statement that he would be “honored” to meet Mojtaba Khamenei if a deal is reached — and comes as Washington and Tehran remain deadlocked after Iran suspended US talks and closed the Strait of Hormuz on June 1. An Iranian negotiator on Sunday floated a 30-day deadline for the US to remove threats before Hormuz reopens under Iranian administration.

Source: Ada Derana (citing CNN/Agencies).