US-Iran war: Mojtaba Khamenei ‘pulled from rubble’ after strikes – New claim after Trump says supreme leader ‘not dead’ | Today’s news
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was “nearly killed” in February in US-Israeli strikes on his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Mojtaba was then taken to a Tehran hospital to be “pulled out of the rubble” again after the US and Israel bombed the medical center, an Iranian cleric said this week.
According to the New York Post, Mohsen Heydari, a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, revealed this in an interview with Qatar’s Al Araby TV network on Thursday (local time).
After Tehran wiped out Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in February – killing the 86-year-old supreme leader and dozens of his top leaders – the US-Israel also reportedly bombed three different hospitals in Tehran sometime in the following days.
“Even after (Mojtaba Khamenei) was 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,” Heydari said.
Where is Mojtaba Khamenei?
The New York Post reported that Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, subsequently disappeared and has not been seen or heard from in public since.
The New York Post also reported that speculation about Mojtaba Khamenei’s condition continued after the earlier strikes. US intelligence reports reportedly indicated that he was badly disfigured in the attacks.
Last month, US President Donald Trump said he believed Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was still alive despite being seriously injured during ongoing military operations, as the Iranian leader’s identity remains shrouded in mystery.
In an interview with American commentator Glenn Beck, Trump addressed widespread speculation about Khamenei’s fate after months of public absence.
“I don’t think he’s dead,” Trump told Beck. “He was very seriously injured. The left side of his body, the arm, the leg, the whole thing. He was very seriously injured, but I don’t think he’s dead.”
Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in an interview with Fox News this week that Mojtaba Khamenei is “completely” healthy.
“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 had conversations.
How was Mojtaba Khamenei chosen as Supreme Leader?
According to a news report, Hejdarí also spoke about the process by which Mojtaba Khamenei was selected as Iran’s new supreme leader on March 8.
He said Mojtaba Khamenei apparently did not know he had been selected until the announcement was broadcast on Iranian state television.
The gathering of experts tasked with selecting Iran’s supreme leader was reportedly itself the target of the attacks.
The New York Post reported that its Qom secretariat was bombed, killing eight people and destroying reports and recommendations regarding the selection of a new supreme leader.
Heydari said the assembly members then wrote their votes on paper before being summoned to a secret room for the selection process. He recalled that he was the first member to suggest the name of Mojtaba Khamenei.
“Due to the position of the enemy, we will not choose and elect anyone as the leader and supreme guide of the Islamic Republic except Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei,” Heydari recalled, according to a news report.
“We have received information that Mojtaba Khamenei is healthy and fit to lead, and we have found that he meets the requirements of religious qualification, righteousness and fitness to lead the country,” he said.
The New York Post reported that Mojtaba Khamenei received 50 out of 59 votes during the meeting, while eight members voted for Ayatollah Alireza Arafí and one member abstained.
Mojtaba Khamenei, the “man of the shadows”
According to the New York Post, Heydari also referred to Mojtab Khamenei as a “man of the shadows”.
He said Mojtaba did not hold a political position in the Iranian state before becoming supreme leader, although he reportedly served as an adviser to his father.
