Mystery surrounds health and whereabouts of Iran’s new supreme leader
Speculation over the health of Mojtaba Khamenei grows amid reports he was wounded in US-Israeli attacks
Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is “safe and sound” despite reports of an injury during the war with Israel and the United States, said the son of the Iranian president on Wednesday.
“I heard news that Mr Mojtaba Khamenei had been injured. I have asked some friends who had connections. They told me that, thank God, he is safe and sound,” said Yousef Pezeshkian, who is also a government adviser, in a post on his Telegram channel. He did not elaborate.
State television had called Khamenei a “wounded veteran of the Ramadan war” but never specified his injury.
The new supreme leader is the son and successor of the Islamic Republic’s long-time ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 which triggered a war across the Middle East.
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Cheers and protests greet choice of new Iranian supreme leader
Mojtaba Khamenei survived the bombings in the heart of Tehran, but also lost his wife, mother and a brother-in-law in the process.