Summary

Iran’s missing Supreme Leader reportedly lost a leg and has ‘severe and disfiguring wounds’ Iran’s new Supreme Leader is badly disfigured following an air strike that killed his father, a new report has claimed. Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is badly disfigured and has lost a leg, three people close to his inner circle told Reuters. Mr Khamenei, 56, was severely wounded in the February 28 air strike that killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the war. These mark the first detailed accounts to emerge about his condition in the six weeks since. The younger Khamenei looks so bad that he’s only taking meetings on the phone, according to sources. He is also believed to have lost a leg, a source familiar with US intelligence said, while recovering from the devastating attack on his father’s compound in central Tehran that also wiped dozens of top regime military leaders, the New York Post reports. Mr Khamenei is still “mentally sharp,” according to the people who spoke on the condition of anonymity, putting to bed the mystery about who’s been in charge of Iran since Ali Khamenei was blown up. The new leader has been meeting with senior Islamic Republic regime officials by audio conferencing. He’s also been part of the decision making on negotiating with Washington to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war, two of the sources said. Since he rose to power following his father’s assassination, the younger Khamenei has only issued two written statements — no one has so much as heard his voice or seen him, leaving many Iranians to speculate whether he was even alive. The wife of Mr Khamenei was among other members of his family also killed in the Israeli strike. There have been no official statements from the regime on the extent of Mr Khamenei’s injuries, but a newsreader on state television recently described him as a “janbaz,” a term used for disabled war veterans. The latest accounts of his condition confirm what White House officials had suspected for weeks. “Iran has plenty of cameras and voice recorders. Why a written statement? I think you know why,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told reporters at a briefing March 13. “The new so-called not-so-supreme leader is wounded and likely disfigured.” Images of the Supreme Leader could be released within a month or two — and he might even appear in public then if his health and security situation allow, one of the people close to Khamenei’s circle said. But while he is seen as representing continuity with the regime, it’s unlikely the younger and inexperienced leader will be able to command the overarching power his father did, according to an expert. “Mojtaba will be one voice but it will not be the decisive one,” said Alex Vatanka, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. “He needs to prove himself as the credible, powerful, overriding voice. The regime as a whole has to make a decision in terms of where they are going to go.” – With Post Wires This article originally appeared in the New York Post and has been reproduced with permission.