Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was pulled from the rubble of a Tehran hospital following US and Israeli strikes, according to a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts. The revelation comes amid conflicting international claims about his health status following months of secrecy.
Hospital Strikes and the Rescue of Mojtaba Khamenei
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei survived an onslaught of military attacks after being pulled from the rubble of a Tehran medical center. The revelation emerged from Mohsen Heydari, a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, during an interview with the Qatari television network Al Araby on Thursday.
According to Heydari, the strikes specifically targeted medical facilities where the Iranian leader had sought shelter following earlier bombardments. Even after he had been wounded and taken to the hospital, three hospitals in Tehran were bombed,
Heydari said, according to the New York Post. Mojtaba Khamenei was in the third hospital and was pulled from the rubble,
he added. Afterward, 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei vanished to an undisclosed destination and has neither been seen publicly nor heard from since, according to an account published by the New York Post.
Conflicting Reports Surround the Iranian Leader’s True Health Status
The circumstances surrounding Mojtaba Khamenei’s physical condition remain heavily disputed by foreign leaders and domestic officials. Intelligence assessments and international statements paint vastly different pictures of the injuries he sustained during the ongoing conflict. Speculation has continued over Mojtaba Khamenei’s condition following the earlier strikes.
US intelligence reports had reportedly suggested that he was badly disfigured in the attacks. Amid ongoing uncertainty regarding the Iranian leader’s public visibility, former US President Donald Trump expressed his belief last month that Mojtaba Khamenei remained alive despite sustaining heavy injuries in ongoing military engagements. Addressing widespread questions about Khamenei’s fate following his months-long absence from public view, Trump discussed the matter during an interview with American commentator Glenn Beck.
“He was very seriously wounded. The left side of his body, the arm, the leg, the whole thing. He was very seriously wounded, but I don’t think he’s dead.”
Donald Trump
Meanwhile, during an interview with Fox News earlier this week, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian maintained that Mojtaba Khamenei was in ‘complete’ good health. We met for about seven hours,
Pezeshkian told ‘Special Report’ host Bret Baier, referring to a meeting between the two Iranian leaders last month. We conducted talks.
Secret Selection Inside a Targeted Secretariat
The disclosure from Assembly of Experts member Heydari also sheds light on the secretive transition of power that elevated Mojtaba Khamenei to the nation’s highest office on March 8. Mojtaba apparently remained unaware of his selection until the decision was publicly announced via Iranian state television. The leadership selection took place while the Assembly’s Qom Secretariat was itself targeted and bombed in the strikes, an attack that killed eight people and destroyed reports and recommendations related to the selection of a new supreme leader.
Faced with intense security pressures, members wrote their votes on paper before being summoned to a secret room for the selection process. Having previously served as an adviser to his father, Mojtaba Khamenei was initially proposed by Heydari—the first member to do so—who characterized him as a political figure operating behind the scenes without any prior official state positions.
“Given the enemy’s position, we will choose and elect no one as leader and supreme guide of the Islamic Republic except Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.”
Mohsen Heydari, member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts
We obtained information that Mojtaba Khamenei was healthy and able to lead, and we determined that he met the requirements of religious qualification, justice and competence to manage the country,
he said. During the gathering, Mojtaba Khamenei secured 50 out of 59 total votes, with eight members casting ballots for Ayatollah Alireza Arafi and one member choosing to abstain, as reported by the New York Post.