&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei makes an appearance amid Israeli reports of his death, but...")
Days after Israeli media claimed that Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was in critical condition and had been rushed to a hospital, Iran's semi-official Mehr News agency released an undated video showing Mojtaba Khamenei appearing to be in good health. The video of Mojtaba Khamenei was evidently published to negate mounting speculation over Khamenei's health and whereabouts. The recent speculation around Mojtaba grew after Israel's Channel 14, citing sources inside Iran, and a report by The Jerusalem Post, quoting IranWire and sources close to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian's administration, flagged grave concerns over his health, claiming that it wouldn't be a surprise “if the news of his martyrdom arrives.”
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The junior Khamenei assumed the position of Supreme Leader soon after his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in joint US-Israeli military strikes on February 28. Since taking office, Mojtaba has not made any public appearances and has communicated exclusively through written statements. He did not attend his father's funeral and recent reports by CIA and Israeli media indicate that he is nowhere to be found. After he took over the top role in Iran, reports indicated that he was injured and potentially disfigured in the initial strikes that targeted his father's compound, forcing him into hiding and compelling him to communicate with senior regime figures through a slow network of intermediaries to avoid targeting.
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Adding to the speculation surrounding his status, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian acknowledged in a state TV interview that direct interaction with Khamenei is currently “very difficult.” The Iran International claimed that Pezeshkian reportedly said he was taken to a secret location in Tehran and allowed only a brief meeting in a dark, tinted-window vehicle with a man presented as Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. However, on X, Pezeshkian isaid he had spent two and a half hours with the country's new leader in a "cordial atmosphere."
