Iran’s new supreme leader ‘lightly injured’ but active, Iranian official says
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An Iranian woman holding a poster of new Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen by Iranians since his selection on March 8 by a clerical assembly.
PHOTO: EPA
- Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's new Supreme Leader, was lightly wounded but continues to operate, according to an Iranian official.
- Khamenei's appointment followed the death of his father in strikes that also "martyred" his mother, sister and wife, state TV reported.
- Israel's intelligence suggests his injuries explain his public absence; his leadership is backed by the Revolutionary Guards.
AI generated
DUBAI - Iran’s newly-appointed Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, was lightly injured but is continuing to operate, an Iranian official told Reuters on March 11 after state television described him as war-wounded.
Mr Khamenei has not been seen by Iranians since his selection on March 8 by a clerical assembly, and is widely rumoured to have been wounded in the Israeli and US strikes.
Seen as a hardliner close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Mr Khamenei was the leading contender to succeed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the first wave of strikes on Feb 28.
The official did not give details about when Mr Khamenei was injured or why he had not made any statement to the public since his appointment.
The first air strikes in the war were aimed at decapitating Iran’s leadership, and besides his father, they also killed his mother, sister and wife, state television said.
“His Eminence, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, is today the heir to the blood of his martyred father, his martyred mother, his martyred sister and his martyred wife,” a news anchor read out on state television, using Mr Khamenei’s full titles and honorifics.
“He, who is a janbaz of the Ramadan War, inherits the path of the proud and steadfast martyrs of this land,” the anchor added, using an Iranian term for a wounded veteran, and the name Iranian officials have given the current conflict because it is happening during Islam’s fasting month.
Israel’s intelligence assessment is that Mr Khamenei was lightly wounded and that is why he has not been seen in public, a senior Israeli official told Reuters.
The new supreme leader was pushed through with extensive support from the Revolutionary Guards, sources have told Reuters.
Long the head of his father’s office, known in Persian as the beyt, he has had a direct role in running the Iranian state for years.
However, he is not well known to ordinary Iranians, having made few public speeches or other appearances in the past.
REUTERS
