OMM Redaksiyası
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has not appeared in public six months after strikes that killed his father. His absence has raised questions about his health, his ability to lead the country and how power is being exercised behind the scenes.
Fifty-six-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei was elected supreme leader by Iran’s Assembly of Experts on March 8, several days after his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in US and Israeli strikes on February 28. No verified photographs, videos or audio recordings of him have been released since his election. Mojtaba Khamenei also did not attend his father’s funeral in July.
Iranian officials and senior figures close to the country’s supreme leadership say he is alive and exercising the country’s highest authority from a secure location. They say his absence from public view is linked to an ongoing assassination threat. Written statements and decisions continue to be issued in his name.
Mojtaba Khamenei is reportedly believed to have been injured during the first strikes of the war. Tehran has not disclosed the precise extent of his injuries. However, the lack of publicly verifiable information has continued to fuel speculation about his condition and the way Iran’s leadership is functioning.
Iran’s supreme leader holds broad powers over the country’s political, military and security institutions. The Assembly of Experts, a clerical body responsible for selecting and overseeing the supreme leader, formally announced Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment after his father’s death.
