Reports: Iran’s new supreme leader is in a coma after Israeli airstrike
Sources say the successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is reportedly unaware of the ongoing war and his own appointment
Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is reportedly in a coma following an airstrike and is unaware that he has succeeded his father as leader of the Islamic Republic, according to multiple sources cited in reports.
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, succeeded his father, Ali Khamenei, after the elder leader was assassinated on February 28. A source in Tehran told reporters that the new supreme leader is hospitalized in intensive care at Sina University Hospital after sustaining serious injuries in an airstrike.
According to the source, Khamenei is unaware of the ongoing regional war, the deaths of members of his family, including his wife and son, and his own appointment as supreme leader. The source said he remains in intensive care and that a large section of the hospital has been sealed off and guarded by security personnel.
Another source, communicating through messages sent to an exiled dissident in London, said the cleric had sustained severe injuries. “One or two of his legs have been cut off. His liver or stomach has also ruptured. He is apparently in a coma as well,” the source said.
Trump said on Thursday that he thinks the new leader survived his injuries sustained in the first strike of the war. “I think he is damaged, but I think he’s probably alive in some form, you know,” he said.
Reports say Khamenei is being treated by Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi, Iran’s minister of health and a trauma surgeon, along with another senior surgeon, Mohammad Marashi. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is also reported to have visited the hospital and has been briefed on Khamenei’s condition.
Some Iranian officials have indicated that senior military commanders have not received direct orders from the new supreme leader. One Iranian official told reporters that “no one knows anything about Mojtaba, whether he is alive or dead or how badly injured.” The official added, “We are all just told that he’s injured. He has no control over the war because he is not here.”
Questions about his condition intensified after a statement attributed to Khamenei was broadcast on Iranian television earlier this week. The message, which was read by a news anchor rather than delivered on camera, said Iran would not refrain from avenging the “blood of its martyrs” and added that attacks on US bases in the region would continue while maintaining relations with neighboring Gulf states.