Conflicting reports on Iran Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s health, role in governance

Numerous reports and official statements offer conflicting insights into the health and level of governance of Iran’s unseen Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

Iran’s Supreme Leader, who has not been seen in public since he took office in March, is alive and actively taking part in formulating war strategies, according to new US reports relying on multiple sources familiar with the intelligence.

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The report reaffirmed previous estimates that he continues to receive treatment for serious burns on his body from an air strike that killed his father and predecessor, Ali Khamenei, but that he is contributing toward the negotiations with the US to end the ongoing war.

It added that he does not use electronic devices and is communicating only with a limited number of people, either through limited direct access or via an intermediary.

However, another source said that Khamenei is relatively detached from the decision-making process and can only be reached intermittently.

This has led to senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders managing day-to-day operations alongside Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqir Ghalibaf.

Separately, the Iran Project Director at the International Crisis Group, Ali Vaez, stated that the new leader’s role mainly includes approving and confirming final, major decisions.

It supposedly does not include managing the details of negotiations. This procedure essentially serves as a “protective cover” for Iranian negotiators against internal criticism.

Yet the chief of protocol for the supreme leader’s office, Mozaher Hosseini, said on Friday that Khamenei is in “complete health,” stressing that he has only been “marginally injured” on his foot and lower back and hit by “a small piece of shrapnel had hit him behind the ear.”

“The enemy is spreading all kinds of rumors and false claims. They want to see him and find him, but people should be patient and not rush. He will speak to you when the time is right,” Hosseini told a crowd in Tehran.

Khamenei’s predecessor and father Ali Khamenei, who had ruled as Supreme Leader since 1989, was killed in an airstrike on the first day of the US-Israeli war on Iran, on February 28.

Mojtaba Khamenei succeeded him as supreme leader but has shied away from the public eye. Some public announcements attributed to the leader have been read by TV presenters.

His absence from public life has sparked rumors about his health, and even raised speculation whether he is actually still alive.

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