Israel has claimed that Iran’s new supreme leader was wounded in both legs the day his father was k!lled in airstrikes, warning he could be next.
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, who has not been seen in public or pictured since taking over from his late father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday, was described as a ‘wounded veteran’ of the war by Iranian state TV.
Mojtaba suffered wounds in his legs on the opening day of the conflict, according to Israeli and Iranian officials cited in the New York Times.
His injuries could be the reason behind his absence from the public eye, the report claims, although others suggest he wants to avoid the glare of Israel and the US.
The Iranian officials claim he remains alert and is sheltering at a highly secure location with limited communication.
The cleric has been marked for assassination by Israel after it vowed to ‘eliminate’ whoever succeeded the slain Ayatollah, having killed him, Mojtaba’s wife Zahra Haddad-Adel, and one of his sons in strikes on Tehran on the first day of the war.
Donald Trump also ramped up his threats against the supreme leader, claiming he won’t be able to ‘live in peace’ and warning Iran to brace for ‘death, fire and fury.’
In one report on Mojtaba’s ascension to the supreme leader on Iranian state TV, it refers to him as being wounded in the war.
The anchor describes him as ‘janbaz’, or wounded by the enemy, in the ‘Ramadan war,’ which is how media in Iran refer to the current conflict.
It did not elaborate on how he was injured, although his wife and father were killed in Israeli strikes.
Komiteh Emdad, a powerful government religious charity, also branded Mojtaba a ‘janbaz jang’, the Persian term for a veteran wounded in war.
But the supreme leader is ‘safe and sound’ according to Yousef Pezeshkian, son of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
On Wednesday, Mr. Pezeshkian, who is also a government adviser, said: ‘I heard news that Mr Mojtaba Khamenei had been injured. I have asked some friends who had connections. They told me that, thank God, he is safe and sound’.