Iran’s newly appointed supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has reportedly been injured but is “safe and sound,” according to a statement shared Wednesday by the son of Iran’s president.
Yousef Pezeshkian made the remark in a post on his Telegram channel, offering the first official explanation for the leader’s absence from public view since he was named to the powerful position over the weekend.
“I heard news that Mr Mojtaba Khamenei had been injured. I have asked some friends who had connections,” he wrote.
“They told me that, thank God, he is safe and sound,” added the son of President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Khamenei, 56, who had long been viewed as a discreet yet influential figure behind the scenes in Iran’s political system, assumed the role of supreme leader after his father, Ali Khamenei, was killed in an air strike during the early phase of the US-Israeli conflict with Iran.
However, his disappearance from public view since his appointment by the Assembly of Experts had raised growing speculation about his condition and whereabouts.
The clerical body formally selected him to lead the Islamic Republic, but he has yet to appear or address the public.
Iranian state television previously referred to Khamenei as a “wounded veteran of the Ramadan war,” without offering further details. The conflict erupted during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
A report by The New York Times on Wednesday, citing three unnamed Iranian officials, said the new leader “had suffered injuries, including to his legs, but that he was alert and sheltering at a highly secure location with limited communication.”
Speculation has suggested he may have been wounded during the daytime strike on a compound in Tehran that killed his father, along with his mother and wife, on the first day of the war on February 28.
Despite his absence, authorities have launched a symbolic campaign promoting him.
Giant billboards across Tehran display his portrait, including one showing him receiving the national flag from his father while Iran’s revolutionary founder, Ruhollah Khomeini, looks on.
Thousands of pro-government supporters also carried posters of him during a major rally in central Tehran on Monday.
Yet opposition sentiment has surfaced as well, with reports of residents shouting “Death to Mojtaba!” during night-time protests in the capital. Critics accuse him of playing a major role in suppressing anti-government demonstrations since 2009.
His father, Ali Khamenei, spent much of his later life with a partially paralysed arm after surviving an assassination attempt in 1981 that Iranian authorities blamed on the People’s Mujahedin of Iran.
Under Iran’s political system, the supreme leader holds office for life and serves as both the country’s highest political authority and a religious guide for Shia Muslims.
Target for assassination
Analysts say Mojtaba Khamenei is likely to remain hidden for security reasons, given that he immediately became a potential target following his appointment.
Emile Hokayem of the International Institute for Strategic Studies said the leader could stay in hiding for an extended period.
He expected him “to sit in a bunker somewhere for a very long time because he saw what happened to his father, his wife, his mother who were all killed in the initial attack.”
“Killing him early is certainly an Israeli priority. If he survives, he becomes a totem, a testimony to the resilience of the system,” Hokayem said during an online event organised by the think tank.
The analyst suggested Khamenei might delegate day-to-day governance to national security chief Ali Larijani while entrusting the war effort to parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
Iran’s military establishment, including the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has pledged loyalty to the new leader.
Allied groups such as the Hezbollah and the Houthi movement have also declared their support.
International backing has also emerged, with Russian President Vladimir Putin promising “unwavering support”.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump had earlier warned that Khamenei’s leadership would be unacceptable to Washington.
“He’s going to have to get approval from us,” Trump told ABC News on Sunday. “If he doesn’t get approval from us he’s not going to last long.”
